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Is Trust Breaking Down in the United States?
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11516 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
10 / 1986 |
2,348 Words |
| Author
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Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller is director of American programming for Radio
Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. He is the author of several books
and numerous articles on political, literary, and cultural
questions. |
Americans have been continually reminded in recent years that one should be wary of strangers, even - or perhaps especially - very polite strangers. They may turn out to be muggers, child molesters, or even paranoid schizophrenics unaccountably released from mental institutions.
Moreover, Americans have become fearful that some of the products they buy may have been tampered with. In July of this year several different products - including packaged desserts, sodas, and toothpaste - were removed from shelves of stores because they may have been laced with poisonous substances.
When I was a child the scary aspects of Halloween were all make-believe. Now, it seems, Halloween is a time when many people are scared for good reason: The apple given by a friendly old lady may have a razor blade embedded in it.
Is the United States becoming a society riven with distrust?
If that were the case, it would be bad news, since a society animated mainly by distrust would not function very well. It would not necessarily collapse but it would stagnate, since distrust is debilitating.
Of course, any sensible person cultivates a certain amount of distrust. No sense looking for trouble, we say to ourselves when we refuse to pick up a hitchhiker or even to help someone with car trouble (better to notify the police). But we do, after all, trust a neighbor t look after out pets when we are on vacation, or drive our kids to school if we are sick. Indeed, all day long we
... (1996 of 13685 Characters)
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