A Defense of Bureaucrats, Institutions and One Truth
There can be no civil society without institutions. That’s why I love them.
I trust journalism and I love journalists, because they write fact-based and sourced stories about people, places and things. When they screw up, they go on record and retract or correct. The networks, cable and broadcast, do a lot of dumb things and focus on a lot of silly things. There‘s a reason for that. But in the end, they are telling truths known at the time. So I read, listen and watch respected journalism with no worry about accuracy or propaganda. I can smell a bot Tweet or a ridiculous social media article from a mile away. Because if I check the source, I can have confidence in the validity of the information.
I voted today. Tossed it in the mailbox in my hometown. It’ll get where it’s supposed to go, in time and secure. I don’t worry about election fraud, because respected journalists have told me it’s a conspiracy theory with no basis in fact.
I don’t believe in Qanon, contrails, flat earthers, moon freaks or election fraud. I do not believe in conspiracy theories of any kind, because the overwhelming lack of evidence is the reason people claim “It’s a coverup!” They are stories concocted by people to help make sense of their life in a vacuum of facts.
The last four years have really made me love the bureaucrat. The stereotypical government robot with his pocket protector and her sensible shoes is a real American hero/ine. They do their job, doing what the politicians they work for tell them to do. They are public servants, with no loyalty to party or clique. Are the people at your Department of Motor Vehicles horrible people who get up in the morning with the expressed desire to make your day a living hell? No. The politicians who ordered the installation of crappy Department of Motor Vehicle software which doesn’t work are those people we should despise. Bureaucrats are essential, because if you have nothing but political loyalists inside an agency, you have before you the imminent destruction of democracy and government.
Now, let’s praise the scientist. I saw NASA land a spacecraft on an asteroid recently. NASA is the same agency who put a few guys on the moon, remember? That was awesome to witness. They do amazing things because they are smarter than we are, and they know stuff. When I want to get my car fixed, do I take it to an orthodontist? I take my car to a person who is an expert at fixing cars. Sure, sometimes they screw up, but they fix their mistakes and don’t charge me extra when they do. Scientists are not politicians. They are seekers of truth. To figure out why something is they way it is, they research and experiment. They make mistakes because they don’t know much of anything when they begin. They told us they weren’t sure about masks in the early days of SARS-CoV-2. They did some research and experiments, then discovered that in fact it’s an imperfect but pretty incredible way to try and stay healthy. I trust scientists because they are experts on finding facts and course correcting along the way.
Why do you think humans with years of college and scientific experience wearing a white lab coat are on a mission to lie to you? This is the essence of the personal worldview. They’re right in front of you, but you cannot see them. You don’t want to see them.
There are a few really bad people in our world. They kill, they rape, they steal, they traffic women and kids, they sell drugs. A few also run for public office. And they’ve been running for public office for 244 years, lying, grifting, stealing, raping and killing. We have proof right in front of us. We know this because historians, those brave seekers of truth, have told us so. I believe historians. They are on a perpetual search for truth, to take their best shot at telling us what may have happened back in the day.
Four out of ten of you who read this will believe me to be a simpleton, a silly naive sheep, a snowflake unicorn floating on currents of rainbow fantasy. And that’s fine. But I want to ask you a question. Why do you need to believe in Q in order to get out of bed in the morning? You (meaning people who completely disagree with me) and I have a different view of the world. Mine is this: Stuff happens. Life shows up. It is what it is. 5G cell towers don’t implant brain waves in our skulls. 9/11 was caused by a bunch of bad people, not George Bush. Conspiracy theory dictates that a lot of people do something bad, and no one ever leaks the truth to a reporter. Fans of conspiracies seem to put a ton of faith into hundreds or thousands of people all being on the exact same page with their evil plan to, I don’t know, turn us all into communists. No one ever goes rogue in your world. Not one person. And it’s the complete lack of evidence which convinces you it has to therefore be true.
Why? Why do you need to believe that climate change is a hoax, a perfect propaganda program created by liberal scientists and supported by their friends in the socialist media? What is it about feeling that way that gets you through your day? Why do you need to believe this in order to make sense of your world? Do we all have to burn in hell and roast like a burger on a grill before you believe our planet is enacting revenge on us for screwing up our air, water, animals and plants? When it does happen, and while it’s happening, you still won’t believe humans did it. When presented with absolute factual evidence, you’ll be even more convinced it’s a hoax. It’s astonishing and incredible.
These questions I ask of you are the basis of my interest in something called social psychology. It’s the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. There’s a reason you need to believe in 5G phone towers speading Coronavirus, God, or global warming, or the Russians, or John F. Kennedy’s assassination. There is no reason to live unless it all falls into place.
You need to feel as if you are on the right side of the world. You want to feel special, smarter. You know your truth. The rest of us are wrong and this pleases you. You don’t wear a mask because you and your tribe know better. I understand why you want to feel confident in your bias, but don’t blame me for being intensely curious about why. You possess this confidence that the world your eyes see is right and just and noble. And I’m living on a different planet. Why can’t we both try and live on one?
Social media is fun and funny. It’s a connector of friends, old lovers and families. But it’s also the worst thing which has ever been given to us intellectually. There have always been people who believe vaccines are lethal toxins created by pharmaceutical companies to make us autistic. Social media levels the opinion playing field and makes these fringy beliefs seem widespread, even normal. Everyone has a say in how our society and planet operates, and I submit putting people like you and me in a news feed blathering about the ten million things we do not know about epidemiology and climate is really, really bad for the earth.
You’re reading this in private. No one knows you’re looking. Ask yourself this question: “If there was no Pizzagate, could I get through the work day and come home and play with my kids?” Yes, you could. You can. You should. Because not everything needs to make sense in your head for you to have a great life. Just go about your business, be kind and polite. Love your brother and sister. Work hard. Accept that it is what it is. Isn’t that so much easier than arguing with people on Facebook about things you know absolutely nothing about? Think of the amazing amount of resources your brain uses to convince yourself antifa is an organized movement and Q is real. I have no such burden, and that pleases me.
A maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, conspired to addict millions of us with their opioids. Yes, a conspiracy. And we have proof they did it. We have overwhelming evidence it was true. These horrible people will now spend years trying to weasel their way out of paying us back for the fuckery they caused. Justice was served, but will it impact the executives? Likely not. We should care about the greed and evil in front of us, not imagined grievances with no proof. We grumble and troll about Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell but most of us cannot name a city council member in our town, a person who can have great and immediate and real impact on our block, our street and our cities.
Occam’s razor is a fancy name for the principle that, of two explanations that account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct. The vast majority of the time, there’s a reason why stuff happens, and it’s not hard to figure out.
I’m happy to live in a world of trust in institutions, science and journalism. It’s comforting to know I can make a change in the world and I can sleep at night knowing the truth is always right there — even when the news is really awful.
