From: Brett Paatsch (paatschb@ocean.com.au)
Date: Sun Mar 23 2003 - 20:26:24 MST
Ron writes:
> paatschb@ocean.com.au writes: Its hard to see how this
> confidence could arise with President Bush still in the
> Presidency. Too much of the world doesn't trust him.
>
> Brett,
> Do they distrust the guy as in believing he is dishonest?
> Is the fraction of the world that "distrusts" him a large
> fraction or just an important one? Do they object to them
> because they have found he will not be their pawn for their
> benefit?
> My impression is that his problem with France and
> Germany but with few others is he will not be their pawn.
Very good question (imo). And I agree with your implication
that there can be a variety of reasons for not trusting someone
and that it is not necessary to think someone is dishonest not
to trust them. Please allow me to fork this thread so that I can
address both the specific question that you raise about why
people distrust President Bush as well as the more general and
very interesting (to me at least) question of how and why people
trust (or distrust) other people generally. (I will return to your
specific question next.)
Trust is quite complicated. But to handle it intellectually and
to operationalise it in real life I slice it this way. When I
consider trusting others I think in terms of their motives
AND in terms of their judgement. (I don't know if others
think of trust in this way. But I'd like to know. I think some
may do it similarly to me but perhaps less 'formally'.)
In terms of motive, I can usually determine, based on previous
information I have gathered, whether or not the person under
consideration is well or adversely disposed to me. Clearly, if
they wish me harm and I recognize that, then I won't trust
them. And often this approach to trust isn't that useful when
considering interactions with strangers.
That consideration of the other's motives is the first part of
trust. The other aspect of trust is consideration of the others
judgement.
I would not trust my mother to fly a jumbo jet. She is not
trained. She has very little practical conception of the laws
of physics. She would mean well but she would get herself,
me and whoever else happened to be on the plane killed
- almost certainly. Judgement of the judgement (and skills
and competence of the other) has to be a factor in trust.
I can think of no circumstances where it would be
useful to ask myself the question is the person who seems
to want me to trust them (explicitly or implicitly) a good
person or an evil person. Strictly speaking, I never fully
trust anyone, including myself, because of the judgment
aspect of trust. But perhaps my approach to trust is
unusual. I would really like to hear what others think
about the general nature of trust. I think that such a discussion
would be very healthy anytime but perhaps especially now.
Regards,
Brett Paatsch
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[Note to newbies]: The views above are only the views of this poster.
For a statement of Extropian Principles see:
http://www.extropy.org/ideas/principles.html
Other documents worth a look:
The Constitution of the United States of America.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html
The Charter of The United Nations.
http://www.un.org/aboutun/charter/index.html
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