I’m ready to name 2020 the Year of Hypocrisy.

The year where organizations, governments, and companies destroyed their institutional trust across the board.

A thread of some of the biggest dumpster fires from the last twelve months. 🧵

Municipal leaders in NYC, who we trust to keep us safe, were far too concerned about their woke credentials than they were about public health. The result was the second-worst hit state in the country (after NJ)
Remember when the Surgeon General told Americans not to wear masks?

Then, a few weeks later reversed himself and taught us how to make them at home?

Wonder why so many people don’t trust government guidance on masks now? Maybe a reason there. https://t.co/cGkb0L328K
Remember when Dr. Fauci said not to wear masks in March on 60 minutes.

Then later said he knew masks were good but wanted to protect mask supplies for first responders?

Then he didn’t wear a mask at the ballgame?
Media - where do we even begin? Infinite examples to choose from on both sides of the partisan aisle.

For the vast majority of *national* media, their only consistency in 2020 was that they would take whatever position made Trump look good or bad.
Media companies like @voxdotcom covered themselves in glory with stories like “don’t worry about the Chinese flu but definitely mock people who think it's serious!”

They mocked @balajis and others trying to raise alarm bells about covid early on. https://t.co/NNzmnfBcod
If you casually pay attention to the news, you knew that coronavirus was NO BIG DEAL because your favorite media sources told you so throughout February and March 2020.
In 2020 Big tech made it clear they actively curate what's allowed based on their partisan bias.

The Hunter Biden story is a great example of how Facebook and Twitter moved, ideologically, to ban a negative Biden story from circulating prior to the election.
Educators - This one is personal for me.

In August, Teachers Unions began a shameful campaign to tell parents and taxpayers that in-person education wasn’t essential for children
When Georgia opened schools in early August, the nation mocked them

When that didn't lead to increased transmission for months, there were no apologies

Kids are missing school and the impacts on inequality will be felt for decades, and teachers unions are squarely to blame
Cuomo is the everything for 2020's failures of institutional trust: Government, media, entertainment all rolled together

-Cuomo said covid was no big deal
-He did horribly with covid
-His brother, a popular anchor, helped his image
-THEY GAVE HIM AN EMMY!
126 Republicans cosigned an amicus brief to overturn the results of the electoral college.

Destroying trust and predictability in our election process SHOULD be a third rail of American politics.
https://t.co/WytrFhatGR
Scientists said that outdoor church was unsafe, that anti-lockdown protests were unsafe, but that Black Lives Matter protests were safe

Anyone with a brain in their head trusts these people less going forward.
Even though it's a late entry, I think that the @NewYorker's attempt to resuscitate the public image of convicted child sex offender Anthony Weiner should rank here among one of the most heinous violations of public trust this year. https://t.co/e65gHSQnWZ
I could go on and if there are any good ones share I'll add them to the thread, but the overall takeaway from this is that institutions are losing trust one betrayal at a time.

Soon a time will come when they aren't able to influence behavior the way they once could.
So media won't be able to scare people or shape their ideas, government won't be able to enforce lockdowns, social media platforms won't be able to slow news, and Democrats and Republicans won't be able to control their constituents.

What happens then? Is it freedom or anarchy?
Most people are far too busy to constantly research what's happening in Wuhan to take precautions against faraway threats.

Overall it's probably a net negative that these institutions won't have credibility - but it's better than them having it and abusing it.
If 2021 crossed the rubicon in terms of erosion of institutional trust, it wasn't because of Q, Antifa, or Facebook.

It was because our organizations gave people good reason to stop trusting them.

More from Government

You May Also Like

दधीचि ऋषि को मनाही थी कि वह अश्विनी कुमारों को किसी भी अवस्था में ब्रह्मविद्या का उपदेश नहीं दें। ये आदेश देवराज इन्द्र का था।वह नहीं चाहते थे कि उनके सिंहासन को प्रत्यक्ष या परोक्ष रुप से कोई भी खतरा हो।मगर जब अश्विनी कुमारों ने सहृदय प्रार्थना की तो महर्षि सहर्ष मान गए।


और उन्होनें ब्रह्मविद्या का ज्ञान अश्विनि कुमारों को दे दिया। गुप्तचरों के माध्यम से जब खबर इन्द्रदेव तक पहुंची तो वे क्रोध में खड़ग ले कर गए और महर्षि दधीचि का सर धड़ से अलग कर दिया।मगर अश्विनी कुमार भी कहां चुप बैठने वाले थे।उन्होने तुरंत एक अश्व का सिर महर्षि के धड़ पे...


...प्रत्यारोपित कर उन्हें जीवित रख लिया।उस दिन के पश्चात महर्षि दधीचि अश्वशिरा भी कहलाए जाने लगे।अब आगे सुनिये की किस प्रकार महर्षि दधीचि का सर काटने वाले इन्द्र कैसे अपनी रक्षा हेतु उनके आगे गिड़गिड़ाए ।

एक बार देवराज इन्द्र अपनी सभा में बैठे थे, तो उन्हे खुद पर अभिमान हो आया।


वे सोचने लगे कि हम तीनों लोकों के स्वामी हैं। ब्राह्मण हमें यज्ञ में आहुति देते हैं और हमारी उपासना करते हैं। फिर हम सामान्य ब्राह्मण बृहस्पति से क्यों डरते हैं ?उनके आने पर क्यों खड़े हो जाते हैं?वे तो हमारी जीविका से पलते हैं। देवर्षि बृहस्पति देवताओं के गुरु थे।

अभिमान के कारण ऋषि बृहस्पति के पधारने पर न तो इन्द्र ही खड़े हुए और न ही अन्य देवों को खड़े होने दिया।देवगुरु बृहस्पति इन्द्र का ये कठोर दुर्व्यवहार देख कर चुप चाप वहां से लौट गए।कुछ देर पश्चात जब देवराज का मद उतरा तो उन्हे अपनी गलती का एहसास हुआ।
Trump is gonna let the Mueller investigation end all on it's own. It's obvious. All the hysteria of the past 2 weeks about his supposed impending firing of Mueller was a distraction. He was never going to fire Mueller and he's not going to


Mueller's officially end his investigation all on his own and he's gonna say he found no evidence of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election.

Democrats & DNC Media are going to LITERALLY have nothing coherent to say in response to that.

Mueller's team was 100% partisan.

That's why it's brilliant. NOBODY will be able to claim this team of partisan Democrats didn't go the EXTRA 20 MILES looking for ANY evidence they could find of Trump campaign/Russian collusion during the 2016 election

They looked high.

They looked low.

They looked underneath every rock, behind every tree, into every bush.

And they found...NOTHING.

Those saying Mueller will file obstruction charges against Trump: laughable.

What documents did Trump tell the Mueller team it couldn't have? What witnesses were withheld and never interviewed?

THERE WEREN'T ANY.

Mueller got full 100% cooperation as the record will show.
First thread of the year because I have time during MCO. As requested, a thread on the gods and spirits of Malay folk religion. Some are indigenous, some are of Indian origin, some have Islamic


Before I begin, it might be worth explaining the Malay conception of the spirit world. At its deepest level, Malay religious belief is animist. All living beings and even certain objects are said to have a soul. Natural phenomena are either controlled by or personified as spirits

Although these beings had to be respected, not all of them were powerful enough to be considered gods. Offerings would be made to the spirits that had greater influence on human life. Spells and incantations would invoke their


Two known examples of such elemental spirits that had god-like status are Raja Angin (king of the wind) and Mambang Tali Arus (spirit of river currents). There were undoubtedly many more which have been lost to time

Contact with ancient India brought the influence of Hinduism and Buddhism to SEA. What we now call Hinduism similarly developed in India out of native animism and the more formal Vedic tradition. This can be seen in the multitude of sacred animals and location-specific Hindu gods