the_era_of_distrust.pdf
the_era_of_distrust.mp3
6 Minute English
?Is this the era of distrust
This is not a word-for-word transcript
Neil
Hello This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English I’m Neil
Rob
And I’m Rob
Neil
As well as bringing the world to a halt, the coronavirus epidemic has led to an
increase in misinformation, lies and conspiracy theories on the internet
Rob
In an era of fake news, where even a president of the United States is accused of
spreading misinformation, could it be that we are living through a crisis in trust?
What is trust? And who should we place our trust in? – these are some of the
questions we’ll be discussing in this programme
Neil
And we’ll be hearing from a philosopher who believes the problem is not about
trust itself but about trustworthiness – the ability to be trusted as being honest
and reliable
Rob
And as always we’ll be learning some related vocabulary along the way Of
course telling lies and lacking trustworthiness is nothing new - just think of the
Trojan Horse used to trick the ancient Greeks
Neil
More recently, the American financier Bernie Madoff become infamous as ‘the
biggest swindler in history’ In 2009 he was sentenced to 150 years in prison for
his part in the Ponzi scam, but how much did he defraud from investors? That’s
my quiz question Was it
?a) 65 million dollars
b) 65 million dollars? or
?c) 65 billion dollars
Rob
I’ll say b) 65 million dollars
Neil
OK, Rob, we’ll come back to that later Generally speaking, trust can be
described as a judgement that someone can be believed and relied upon When
we trust each other it makes life easier, quicker and friendlier
Rob
Society can’t function without trust - so does that mean the more trust the
?better
Neil
Well, not according to philosopher, Onora O’Neill Here he is speaking to David
Edmonds, presenter of the BBC World Service programme, The Big Idea
Onora O’Neill
We have another word, which is gullible, and if you simply place trust
indiscriminately without making a judgement about whether the other person or
institution is trustworthy then just trusting to luck as we say, is probably not a
virtue
Rob
There’s a difference between trusting someone because you have good reason to
believe them and being gullible – that's easy to deceive because you trust and
believe people too quickly
Neil
If you don’t judge who is trustworthy and who is not, you are trusting to luck –
simply believing or hoping that things will happen for the best
Rob
But being gullible and trusting to luck is exactly how Bernie Madoff was able to
trick so many people into giving him their money Their biggest mistake was to
trust him indiscriminately - in a way that does not show care or judgement,
usually with harmful results
Neil
?So, if indiscriminately trusting people is such a bad idea, how do we avoid it
How can we tell who is trustworthy and who is not? Here’s BBC World Service’s
The Big Idea presenter, David Edmonds, asking Onora O’Neill to give some
details
David Edmonds
An individual or organisation is trustworthy is they can justifiably be trusted To
be trustworthy they need three ingredients First, honesty – people have to be
able to believe what they’re told Second, competence Beyond honesty and
competence there’s a third element to trustworthiness reliability
Onora O’Neill
That’s the boring one That’s just being honest and competent each time so that
it’s not enough to be episodically honest and competent for some of the things
you claim to be able to do but not others
Rob
Philosopher Onora O’Neill identifies three ingredients for trustworthiness
honesty, competence and reliability
Neil
Competence means the ability to do something well You would trust a car
mechanic to fix your broken car engine, but you wouldn’t go to them for dental
work – they’re not competent to remove your tooth like a dentist is
Rob
And you wouldn’t trust your dentist to fix your broken down car, either Onora
O’Neill also mentions reliability – being trustworthy because you behave well all
the time and keep all the promises you make
Neil
It’s the combination of these three – being honest, competent and reliable – that
makes someone truly trustworthy
Rob
And not someone like Bernie Madoff, who would run off with your money and
entire life savings
Neil
?All of which brings me to my quiz question Do you remember, Rob
Rob
Yep, I do You asked how much Bernie Madoff stole from the American investors
he lied to And I said b) 65 million dollars
Neil
But in fact it was c) 65 billion dollars – a lot of money to give to such an
untrustworthy man
Rob
So we’ve been discussing whether there is a crisis of trust and asking how to
know who is trustworthy – able to be trusted as honest, competent and reliable
Neil
Placing your trust in someone trustworthy is very different from being gullible –
easy to trick because you trust and believe people too quickly
Rob
And it can also be unhelpful to trust things to luck – simply hope or believe that
everything will work out for the best
Neil
Both of these problems come about when people trust indiscriminately - in an
unsystematic way that does not show care or judgement, usually with harmful
results – as Bernie Madoff’s victims found out to their cost
Rob
But luckily there are many trustworthy people around and we can spot them
using three criteria honesty, in other words not lying; competence; and
reliability
Neil
Competence means an ability to do something well, in the correct and effective
way
Rob
And reliability means being honest and competent, all the time, not just being
honest sometimes or reliable in some actions but not others
Neil
That’s all for 6 Minute English Bye for now
Rob
Bye bye
VOCABULARY
trustworthiness
quality of being able to be trusted as honest and reliable
gullible
easy to deceive because you trust and believe people too easily
trust to luck
believe that things will happen for the best
indiscriminately
done is a random way that does not show care or judgement, usually with
harmful results
competence
the ability to do something well, in a satisfactory or effective way
reliability
quality to being trusted to do what you say you will, all the time
