GraspingForCertainty

With TheEndOfConsensus we are desperate for authority to tell us which of the many competing narratives is more likely to be true.

And most of us have no hope of actually deciding between the many flavours of FakeNews and propaganda aimed at us.

Media organizations have both tried to bolster their declining readership and status by claiming to be authoritative. To engage in "fact checking" etc.

(MattTaibbi on FactChecking : https://taibbi.substack.com/p/fact-checking-takes-another-beating)

For the best motives. They want to be diligent and right.

BUT ...

capturing truth is hard. And when they fail, this discredits them further and accelerates the cycle of mistrust and the loss of authority.

The harder we try to grasp certainty and establish authority, the more it slips through our fingers.