Thread by @steak_umm

ok it's time to talk about societal distrust in experts and institutions, the rise of misinformation, cultural polarization, and how to work toward some semblance of mutually agreed upon information before we splinter into irreconcilable realities

(beefy thread incoming)

science the *term* has been politicized—not the *process* of it. as that process has evolved on issues, both public and private institutions have taken inspiration from it, but those decisions are still driven by economic and political interests which muddy how the term is used

distrust in institutions is complex. it's accelerated by people's access to infinite information, credible sources being paywalled, corruption, honest misteaks, or propaganda, but underneath it all is a cultural polarization dating back decades that won't be solved overnight

in the past year various experts and public figures have changed positions with new findings, made good faith errors, politicized the virus, spread misinformation, and had disagreements across institutions. every possible narrative on these occurrences has been amplified by media

the path to restore trust in institutions must be shared between experts and laypeople alike. it’s an uphill battle. people naturally distrust power. experts have knowledge laypeople don't. polarization, fear, and otherizing sell. there's a bottomless market for misinformation

experts need to earn trust back by acknowledging misteaks and being transparent about their processes, what's known, and what's still being learned. they need to address valid concerns. they need to meat people where they are and deliver tangible benefits to improve their lives

laypeople need to hold both their skepticism and trust of experts in an open hand. they need to acknowledge their limitations in accessing or interpreting fields or resources outside their expertise. they need to keep learning media literacy and grappling with empirical evidence

the shortcomings within experts and institutions don't make fringe sources equally credible or trustworthy. if a doctor gets something wrong, you try another doctor, not a plumber. if a study gets something wrong, you don’t rely on anecdotes for truth, you rely on better studies

the usefulness of skepticism in experts and institutions is strongest within competing experts and institutions, not outsiders. an outsider may have certain insights worth engaging, but they can't be weighed as equally credentialed as a relevant expert or institutional consensus

an institution may have structural biases that need to be acknowledged, but alternative sources in media are littered with their own biases and have little to no accountability, so no matter where you get information from you're still extending a degree of trust in something

one universal goal everyone should prioritize is getting people from across the ideological spectrum closer to the same reality of baseline facts and evidence. it won't be perfect, but that needs to be the trajectory, rather than the current divergent trend into split realities

ideological divides will never go away in society, but they need to be fought over by using mutually understood language and comparable information or else conversations can't get off the ground—people will just continue talking past one another and escalating tension

solutions to societal distrust, media literacy, and polarized realities have to come on both institutional and cultural levels. people need to be inspired. ideas need to be proposed. awareness is easy. everyone sees the problem. mass participation and solutions are the hard part

you can maintain healthy levels of skepticism while also extending trust where it's earned by empirical evidence and expertise. use critical thinking. work toward solutions with one another. and remember, this whole thread was an ad so please buy our frozen meat

steak-umm bless

if you enjoyed the latest steak-umm thread here’s a steak-umm thread of other steak-umm threads

https://twitter.com/steak_umm/status/1336348473713680385

anthropomorphized steak-umm talks about societal distrust, polarization, misinformation, and splintering realities

(full video linked below)

vm.tiktok.com/ZMdvgrqXm/