Why Balance is the Secret to Trustworthy Writing

There’s a deep and essential difference between a preacher and a commentator. Between a politician and a journalist. Between a spin doctor and a critic. And that difference can be summed up in just one word: agenda . It’s not that we mistrust preachers, politicians, or PR flacks simply because they lie—although let’s be honest, some of them certainly do. It’s because we instinctively know they’re giving us a version of the truth that serves their interests. A curated, filtered, often weaponized truth. Not the truth— their truth. A preacher will claim divine authority—he alone has the answers. And if you disagree? You're not just mistaken, you’re damned. A politician will feed you selective data—talking up the positives, burying the negatives, re-framing failure as success. All while ridiculing dissent and dismissing alternate perspectives as irrelevant, ignorant, or dangerous. A modern spin doctor is trained in deflection. When something awful happens, they’ll pivot to som...