Yesterday, I had a phone conversation with Senator Stephen Brewer of the Mass. State Legislature. I asked him several questions about his perspective on the state of public affairs today as well as about some legislation he is sponsoring.

He characterized the state of public affairs today as acrimonious… a state we’ve reached because of political malfeasance and distrust that goes all the way back to Nixon lying about Watergate and Johnson lying about Viet Nam. The senator noted that “a healthy mistrust of power is important” but once that distrust reaches the point of abject cynicism, then we’ve got a problem because there also needs to be a certain amount of trust in the decisions that government makes.

I also asked him about the influence of social media on public affairs and discourse. Senator Brewer hit on two topics that I’ve mentioned before in other blog posts: the speed by which information is distributed via social media, and the ease of spreading misinformation. He mentioned an old adage: “A rumor can get around the world before the truth even gets out of bed in the morning.”

This completely ties back to our desire to hear the truth, yet our apathy towards actually working to discover what the truth is.

He also noted that “you can vilify an individual very rapidly without a lot of accountability.”  Telling lies and spreading misinformation is nothing new. It has been done throughout history. The practice is not new but the technology we have today – that is the variable. Rumor and innuendo have always been spread but the speed with which those rumors spread today? That’s the game-changing element and all the more reason why we ought to make even more of an effort to understand the truth (or lack thereof) of the messages we are spreading.

I’m guilty of it myself – I’ve forwarded emails, Tweets, and other communications and realized later that I didn’t have the whole story. I’m not proud of it, but I like to think that now I try to be a little more discerning with what I share and what I say.

It would be nice to think that others think before they speak or share as well, but I think I’m in the cynic camp on that one.