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When trust falters: Bridging the credibility gap

27 0
06.05.2026

The Internet is great for many things: bringing people together, streaming entertainment, allowing quick access to products and services around the world, the ability for some to work remotely, and more. And then there are the other things.

Trolls. Division. Frustration when systems fail and make working more difficult than it has to be. Sock-puppet accounts. Misunderstandings. And the lies. Oh, so many lies.

A friend recently asked me why I don't trust the word of a certain politician. I had to tell him it was because she has a lack of credibility, having a confirmed history of lying to the press and others, as well as a history of being awfully quick to paint herself as a victim in several situations. That credibility gap matters.

The same goes for one of my trolls, who has made several claims about me (such as my having written an entire column claiming I'm nonpartisan, though I've certainly not found it [because I've never made that claim] in anything I've ever written) and others who comment on the newspaper's website, and has never provided proof of his claims. (Ahem, the burden of proof lies with the person making the claim; it's not on the readers of that claim to do the work.)

So it should come as no surprise that so many distrust the president's claims on so many things now. The story of the boy who cried wolf comes to mind for some reason ...

For........

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