The importance of being trustful

Iyer, Prakash (2019) The importance of being trustful. Teacher Plus. ISSN 0973-778

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Abstract

“Itis notfair,to give fake news, such full credit.” This was a colleague’s response to my earlier article on the phenomenon of fake news. I had argued that all instances of fake news are not examples of blatant lying; most of them are instances where people say what they believe. My concern was that all instances of “fake news” are misconstrued as wanton lying, and it is causing an epidemic of distrust. We need to trust that everyone has actively thought about things they say and share. Humans are not fundamentally untruthful and untrustworthy, neither are they fundamentally gullible or credulous. My colleague agreed that we should be seriously concerned about the depletion of trust among human beings but saying that we need to adopt a stance of trust towards everyone was a bit too much. Trusting that people share only what they believe to be true veers too close to an acceptance of what they say as truth.

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Article

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Iyer, Prakash

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