I was reading an interview with Peter Dale Scott about America's "Deep State", on the Global Research website. I was, previously, blissfully unaware of either. As often happens, I began to wonder: who are these people and should I believe them?
A quick review of the About page provided lots of information, but not much about who controls the site content or what motivates them. There is so much propaganda and disinformation on the Internet, that I tend to be skeptical.
This got me thinking about who to trust and I thought of one of the sources I find credible on political issues: Noam Chomsky. Despite him being too busy and me being nobody, I wrote him an email, to ask his advice about who and what to trust.
Then I went back to review the articles on Noam's website, to see what I could find along the lines of advice on the matter. Thus I ended up reading "The Responsibility of Intellectuals", the first footnote of which referenced a "Citizens'" White Paper - The Politics of Escalation in Vietnam, one of the authors of which was Peter Dale Scott.
So, does this make the Global Research website and Peter Dale Scott more trustworthy? Certainly, for me, in the case of Peter Dale Scott and somewhat for the website, on the assumption that what I was reading was an accurate representation of an interview with Mr. Scott.
How can one validate a source other than by knowing what they tell you by other means that confirm the truth of what they say? But then, one already knows what they say: it is nothing new. Otherwise, it is by reputation, past experience and blind faith. The concepts of a web of trust seem relevant. But so many people are deluded by propaganda or ignorance, even common beliefs are not trustworthy.
Who to trust? It is a hard problem.
