Language meanderings & covid competence

Trust thought for today - I am pondering the interaction of language and action as drivers of trust and signals of trustworthiness for my work on countering bullsht.

I like this, it always bugged me, now I know why! Would it have made any real different if they had it right? Could the dissonance mean it stuck in our minds more? Unsure.

I recall the apoplexy following the adoption of the still more inept 'Stay alert, control the virus, save lives'. Utterly pointless bullsht. How could that have passed even basic comms tests in the circumstances.

This was a leading indicator of incompetence for me and for others it was a clear signal that the government was trying to place the blame firmly on citizens and away from their own failures when things went from bad to worse. For many I know this was the last straw and they disengaged entirely from direct government guidance and went to trusted other sources, like media, certain individuals, eg certain scientists and public figures.

So language matters alot for trust. But it is also a proxy for concerns about intent, integrity, fairness, competence.