{"id":1389,"date":"2017-01-13T06:19:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T14:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galencharlton.com\/blog\/?p=1389"},"modified":"2017-01-13T06:19:02","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T14:19:02","slug":"truth-seeking-institutions-and-strange-bedfellows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/galencharlton.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/truth-seeking-institutions-and-strange-bedfellows\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth-seeking institutions and strange bedfellows"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was struck just now by the confluence of two pieces that are going around this morning. One is Barbara Fister’s Institutional Values and the Value of Truth-Seeking Institutions<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\nEven if the press fails often, massively, disastrously, we need it. We need people employed full-time to seek the truth and report it on behalf of the public. We need to defend the press while also demanding that they do their best to live up to these ethical standards. We need to call out mistakes, but still stand up for the value of independent public-interest reporting.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Librarians . . . well, we\u2019re not generally seen as powerful enough to be a threat. Maybe that\u2019s our ace in the hole. It\u2019s time for us to think deeply about our ethical commitments and act on them with integrity, courage, and solidarity. We need to stand up for institutions that, like ours, support seeking the truth for the public good, setting aside how often they have botched it in the past. We need to apply our values to a world where traditions developed over years for seeking truth \u2013 the means by which we arrive at scientific consensus, for example \u2013 are cast aside in favor of nitpicking, rumor-mongering, and self-segregation.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The other is Eric Garland’s Twitter thread on how the U.S. intelligence community gathers and analyzes information:<\/p>\n

\n

<THREAD> I've been an intelligence practitioner for 20 years. What we're seeing is the *process* of intel in public. It's without precedent.<\/p>\n

— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) January 12, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n