We need skeptics. We need more skepticism. Less rash judgements and hot takes and fewer biases confirmed.
No more magical thinking. Less woo-woo.
Less Fake News and less referring to news that we don’t like as Fake News.
We need news networks that don’t trade in conspiracy to sell ads.
We need institutions to be held in check, but we need them to be held in check responsibly.
We need evidence-based governing and we need to hold our political parties to higher standards than winning at all cost.
We need truths that are also facts. We need whistleblowers that respect that the role of whistleblowing is larger than any one whistleblower.
We need self-help products that don’t make claims about “toxins.” We need movie stars that don’t want us to put coffee in strange places, and we need them to understand that vaccines are important.
We need headlines that don’t mimic the conversation style of 17-year-olds.
We need to ground ourselves in reality. Come back from the edges. Build politics of coalitions, not of isolation, exclusivity, or exclusion.
We need skepticism.
We need optimism.
We can and should have both.