I recently spoke at a high school about how to avoid falling for disinformation. A student stood up and proudly announced, “Don’t worry — we don’t believe anything we see online. Literally. Not a word.”
And an unexpected chill crawled down my spine.
Skepticism is healthy. Smart. Necessary, even. … But cynicism is dangerous. Democracy demands that we elect our own advocates. So, when voters don’t know who to trust — or worse, decide to trust no one — democracy collapses. And opportunists (I bet you can picture him) exploit the vacuum.