What is a Trusted Source?

Or, Nobody Told Me There'd Be Days Like These

The impact of the internet on the future of libraries has been debated for decades. In response to competition from the digital world, libraries have added internet terminals, digital materials, and virtual reference service. In-person reference questions and reference collections may have dwindled, but libraries remain vital.

During the same time period that libraries struggled to remain relevant due to competition from the digital realm, another challenge was brewing in the background, facilitated by the internet. Just as information was becoming more widely available, it was coming under increased scrutiny. The nature of information— how it is produced, whether it is trustworthy, and whether it is inevitably contextual— was slowly becoming an issue of primary importance.

March for Truth SF 20170603-5655.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons

Postmodernism, which posits that power relationships are always involved in the construction of truth and that no objective reality exists, and critical theory, which posits that society is operating under a false consciousness produced by the powerful, began a steady ascent in academia starting in the 1960s. These ideologies have now impacted culture, politics, institutional missions, and public policy. They have also made an impact in the library world, with librarians decolonizing book shelves and advocating for the abandonment of neutrality and professional journals dismissing heterodox and conservative titles.

Critical theory is currently coded as “progressive,” or more generally as “left,” despite the fact that some critics accuse it of being regressive. It tends to embrace censorship, which in the past has been associated with the political right (and has re-emerged there in response to critical theory). It is in danger of playing into the surveillance state. Further contradictions exist; despite a general disbelief in “truth” amongst postmodernists, the left side of the aisle was advocating for truth during the Trump presidency and believes in fighting “mis” and “dis” information. The left also tends to admonish people to “follow the science,” whereas postmodernism questions science, and the left is currently steeped in gender theory. In the current political iteration of critical theory, furthermore, analysis is selectively applied. White supremacy applies to Holden Caulfield but not to Hunter Biden; colonialism applies to Rudyard Kipling but not Bill Gates. The ultimate irony may be that critical theory has been embraced by the powerful.

The Co-Chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Bill Gates calling on the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi on July 25, 2009.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons

While “truth” comes under scrutiny in the theoretical realm, it becomes harder to locate in media. Objectivity is jettisoned in the name of social justice. At the same time, at least partially due to competition for eyeballs, the media has become increasingly partisan. Hot takes trump investigative journalism. As media sources lose objectivity, it becomes more difficult to evaluate newspapers for library collections. Fact-checking sites are suspect; search engines show bias; Wikipedia entries are prone to distortion; the twitter files reveal a massive censorship campaign; and social media companies are staffed with spooks. Presidential candidate RFK, Jr. has said he turns to Substack for news because the mainstream media is “distorted by agendas.” Meanwhile, podcasts such as Spy Culture and Psyop Cinema are re-examining entertainment media through the lens of spycraft.

Despite the heavy-handed censorship on social media, due to the media downplaying, overplaying, or otherwise distorting events, citizens often resort to doing their own reporting through those channels. Recently, Maui residents have been reporting on the Lahaina fires through twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and Substack.

Maui community of Lahaina burned by wildfire - 53119800690.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons

At the same time as the media falls down on its job, research becomes increasingly influenced by funding sources, and institutions fail to carry out their duties in bringing reliable data and/or data analysis to the public. 4th IR technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality promise to further blur the line between the real and unreal.

It is no surprise that conspiracy theories are flourishing in this environment (or at the very least, they have become more visible online). Today, conspiracy theories are coded as “right wing,” despite the fact that the left has also embraced conspiracy theories, ranging from Watergate to Russiagate, and the tenets of critical theory are conspiratorial. Conspiracy theorists share a similar conviction to critical theorists and postmodernists in their belief that information is created, controlled, and manipulated by the powerful. Where conspiracy theorists tend to differ is in the belief that truth exists and can be uncovered, holding the powerful to account. Because these theories tread in sensitive areas and are inherently speculative, conspiracy theorists are subject to trolls and PSYOPS. As society seems to grow ever more detached from reality, it becomes increasingly difficult to identify which conspiracy theories are plausible.

The connection between religion and conspiracy theories is beyond the scope of this piece, but I speculate that distrust and confusion could cause people to search for a safe harbor in faith. When media and institutions can’t be trusted, one can stand on the word.

MOLITVA.JPG/ Wikimedia Commons

Many, if not most, of my Substack posts are an attempt to capture our current Pynchonian atmosphere, in which certainty can be a type of ignorance. I am sympathetic to postmodernists and critical theorists in their interrogation of the past and their refusal to accept the present at face value (conspiracy theorists would agree). Where I differ is that I think postmodernism and critical theory are but two of many useful lenses and that library services and collections should remain anchored in viewpoint diversity rather than reorganized around a hierarchy of oppression.

The conspiracy theorists have my sympathy in that I believe truth exists but may require continual excavation. This necessitates librarians developing toolkits so that patrons can evaluate sources according to a variety of metrics and can piece together a reasonable version of the truth using biased information sources. Information literacy may now also involve the evaluation and incorporation of “citizen journalism” on venues such as twitter, TikTok, and Substack. The days of simply pointing researchers to “trusted sources” may be ending, if they are not already over.

To promote viewpoint diversity, Heterodoxy in the Stacks invites constructive dissent and disagreement in the form of guest posts. While articles published on Heterodoxy in the Stacks are not peer- or editorially-reviewed, all posts must model the HxA Way. Content is attributed to the individual contributor(s).

To submit an article for Heterodoxy in the Stacks, send an email with the article title, author name, and article document to hxlibsstack@gmail.com. Unless otherwise requested, the commenting feature will be on. Thank you for joining the conversation!

Top image: Flemish School - Madonna and Child with a Book - 557786 - National Trust.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons