Some of the biggest obstacles to our ability to move forward and get on with it is the combination of fear, uncertainty and doubt - FUD - or one or two of these items. These are all very human - and often very powerful - emotions.
In politics, there is nothing more powerful than stoking fear, uncertainty and doubt about those you oppose. Today more than ever our mechanisms for broadcasting messages that reach you in the palm of your hand repeatedly from multiple sources you want to believe are highly effective tools.
An inaccurate, slanted or incomplete FUD-inducing article or simply a headline may not reach its target audience alone, but then it is amplified and re-distributed organically and methodically often, so that it is CERTAIN to reach its target audience who then repeats it. Most times that audience is too busy, lazy or incapable of fact-checking what they read and/or repeat. The inaccuracy then becomes 'reality'.
Ask many people today where they get their news and they will say from 'social media'. Many get it from scandal-for-profit podcasters or so-called 'newscasters'. Too many rely on opinions rather than facts. Too many opinions are not fact-based or fact-checked. Too many opinions are agenda-driven, for-profit entities.
If you don't believe me, a simple Google search will reveal hundreds of articles and opinion pieces claiming that renting makes so much more sense than buying a home. Another search will reveal that real estate agents do little and are overpaid. Now while many may think this is coincidental, the Q-Anon side of my brain aside, I feel 100% certain that while many of these articles and posts are genuine, many have been driven by entities that profit from a consumer addicted to renting.
The FUD being generated about buying a home and the FUD about agents is benefitting certain groups and entities. If the FUD on these topics was fact-based, I would not be writing this. But sadly, most of these pieces are either incomplete, inaccurate or worse.
FUD has delivered awful results in other parts of our world: we need to remain vigilant about countering the FUD being generated about our profession and owned housing in general with the facts. Facts Matter!
