We don’t trust anyone?

Our attitude towards stereotypes is usually cautious and respectful. They didn’t grow up in a vacuum. There is no smoke without fire. Therefore, for me personally, situations are of particular importance when a stereotype turns out to be directly wrong. Well, the most striking example, planted in my generation since childhood: the rich, especially the American bourgeoisie, are fat, and the poor are thin. It only takes a visit to America once to notice that, at least for now, the situation is exactly the opposite: the poor go to cheap fast food and get puffy, while the rich prefer healthy food, fitness and slimness.

From incredulity to stereotypes, we smoothly move on to the stereotype of gullibility. In a frank conversation, one American woman told me that they consider us brain-washed (that is, simply put, brainwashed). Let me clarify that it was about the people’s trust in the official point of view. At the same time, the confidence of Americans in their own authorities is not absolute, but quite high; ours is close to zero — I think this observation is unlikely to be disputed by anyone. It takes five minutes to talk with a pensioner, student, teacher, guest worker, liberal, patriot, communist to diagnose the notorious level of trust. So I got another exhibit in my collection of false stereotypes. And at first I felt pure joy: how smart and cunning we are! How hard it is to deceive us (because we don’t believe anything)! But then my joy was overshadowed by two considerations.

First, our vigilance and distrust by themselves do not bear the expected fruits. Thieves and corrupt officials fail to hide their sins, but theft and corruption continue into the light. Secondly, without a grain of trust in at least some leaders, we are unlikely to be able to get out of the situation in which we find ourselves.

Let’s look at recent history. Perestroika responded with euphoria among a significant part of the population. There was confidence in the new authorities. The credit of trust in Yeltsin, for example, among those awaiting change was enormous — he spent it on measures that would not be forgiven to anyone else. On the other hand, after 70 years of dull metaphysical uniformity, people believed just about anyone — psychics, water conspirators, Hare Krishnas, witches. From the television screen, the Reverend Shoko Asahara, who later turned out to be a simple criminal, spudded the masses. To summarize the end of the last century in one word, I think disappointment is best suited: sorcerers and authorities cannot be trusted after all.

Today, trust in society is horizontal. If you and I ended up in the same compartment, bus, social security (option — in the same cottage village, five-star hotel), then we are approximately of the same blood and can confidentially discuss this and that. Trust between layers, between strata, especially between any leader and any… I don’t want to say “crowd” or “mass” – any human community is minimal. This effect was well observed by the attendees of the protest rallies. It’s not that liberals, patriots and communists are mixed there, who, apart from dislike for Putin and United Russia, have nothing in common. Worse, the liberal-minded public half-heartedly and with distrust listens to the liberal leader. And from person to person — a quick glance and a smile are enough to form a corridor of trust.

The result of these reflections and observations is rather sad. We do not trust power simply because it is power (having, however, a huge experience confirming the appropriateness of this mistrust). In order to avoid chaos, such a turn of affairs is gradually settled down, in which the authorities do not need our trust. And so we live — as spouses who have already parted, but have not filed for a divorce, each in his own room, and the less we meet in the apartment, the better. Well, observing elementary hygiene rules, you can do so …