The case at hand covers an issue of social trust to politicians. Members of Vice President Cheney’s staff ordered editing out six pages of the testimony on the health concerns of global warming. Headlines as such inevitably undermine both my personal and public opinion of politicians. Those people who are entrusted to represent interests of the community should demonstrate genuine involvement and willingness to assist citizens in solving their problems. Since the officials conceal the information fraught with serious health consequences (such as cancer, infections, lung diseases, etc.), it is evident that they neglect their professional duties and cannot be trusted in the future. Furthermore, their personal ethics and morality also leave much to be desired. In such cases, the power of headlines works to the benefit of the society since they manage to attract the attention of the public to such outrageous neglect.
I think that trust and survival are indeed on trial across the globe if such cover-ups continue to occur. The world is going to encounter a number of new environmental crises, which implies that the community must be closely tight up and pursue one common goal (Purdom, 2013). In the given case, the politicians have opted for not recognizing the existing problems since their solution would require plenty of resources and effort the government is unlikely to be willing to spend.
I chose to respond to this story as I believe that the situation can still be changed despite the fact that the tendency is far from positive. Moreover, to my mind, purposeful neglect must bring about legal liabilities. The authorities must realize that their political power does not free them from their duties. Finally, I also paid attention to the power of the headline, which made me think that agenda-setters’ influence is underestimated and can be effectively used for prioritizing environmental information. The general public often ignores the problem mainly owing to the fact that it does not receive enough media coverage.
Unlike integrity, government and political trust in my clinical settings are more controversial issues. Although the staff trusts higher authorities, the general trust to the government differs depending on new policies it introduces. With the change of the government, healthcare professionals feel uneasy since no one knows what is to be expected from the new administration. Furthermore, the present authorities do not seem to be concerned with such issues as environmentally caused health problems.
References
Fawcett, J. (2017). Thoughts about nursing conceptual models and the “Medical Model”. Nursing Science Quarterly, 30(1), 77-80.
Purdom, P. W. (Ed.). (2013). Environmental health. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.