Perception is (not necessarily) reality
Ahead of this deadline, I spent the better part of six weeks recovering from a full knee replacement. It wasn’t my first rodeo with a lengthy recovery after surgery, so I wasn’t unprepared for what I would face following the operation.
Before I went into the hospital, I was bragging about planning to watch wall-to-wall coverage of the Olympics and really take it easy. But the reality was that pain pills sent me into such a fog that not much from those first few weeks stands out – except for the political ads peppered throughout the Olympic coverage.
My next statement is party-neutral: The complete absurdity of political ads has hit a new low that allowed even my pain-pill-riddled brain to easily sift through the rhetoric and call out empty messages.
For the life of me, I cannot fathom how there are people who decide how to vote based on an ad, a slogan, merch, etc. It has to come down to facts.
But facts are increasingly hard to come by even when not on pain pills. More and more people are casually consuming news via social media. Google, Microsoft, Facebook and pretty much all other tech giants have unleashed some form of artificial intelligence on the web. While Google is pushing its AI, it’s also tweaking search algorithms to devalue AI content. That’s because this content inherently carries less value than well-researched, well-presented articles (like we put in the magazine and online).
I’m sure that anyone who has been on any social media platform has noticed the huge increase in fake AI-generated content that is there just to get you to click.
“Perception is reality” is a common phrase we discuss around here. The gist is that it really doesn’t matter what the truth is or what the facts are. People will believe their perception of the information presented.
That’s why our jobs and the task of drilling down to actual facts are a lot tougher than they used to be, even just 10 years ago.
This issue of the magazine deals a lot with not only debunking flawed perceptions of fact but also highlighting the work of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Our lead story walks you through recent testimony OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh gave at a congressional hearing. When discussing the Department of Transportation’s regulatory agenda, Pugh pointed out the disconnect between regulatory agencies and the reality truckers live on the road.
We’ve harped on the dangers of speed-limited trucks, electric trucks, automatic emergency braking and emission-reduction standards. Pugh drove those points home to members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. You can catch up on that hearing starting on Page 14.
More truth bombs on topics like broker transparency, predatory towing and lease-purchase agreements lie ahead. These are areas where truckers have suffered for decades while the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has turned a blind eye. But there is movement on potential improvement.
The first 40 or so pages of this magazine detail such movement, which could have profound impact on truckers. In some cases, it’s righting a wrong. In other situations, it’s stopping emotional perception from forcing another “dysfunctional” regulation.
After that, you should be ready to tackle our voting guide.
It’s hard to make voting sexy and fun. “Rock the Vote” tried that with young adults years ago. The blunt reality is that our ability to go to the polls and vote is a blessing, a gift. Many people around the world are not afforded such a voice.
Don’t squander that gift by letting commercials or social media (and all its bots, AI and misinformation campaigns) mislead you in an aim to bring about a reality you don’t want. LL