Engineers versus politicians: Veracity versus voracity

ICAME across a curious publication on statistics called the Veracity Index 2020. The poll sample in the general populace from the age of 18 upwards. I suppose the findings show that as veracity goes down, voracity goes up in an inverse correlation (my own interpretation). Veracity is defined as the habitual observance of truth in speech or statement, or power of conveying or perceiving truth, and is derived from the Latin word verax which means true. Voracity on the other hand is from the Latin word vorare, which means to devour, from a perspective of being greedy, ravenous, rapacious and insatiable.

I would go further and add that people who score high on the veracity index are most likely to score high on emotional intelligence (EQ), which displays a lot of self-awareness together with understanding and empathy for others. Whereas people with low scores on the veracity index would be high on the machiavellian intelligence (MI), with highly competitive, self-serving, manipulative and rapacious tendencies deceptively disguised as EQ.

They can fool you.

“But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic (religious faith), and to be a great pretender and dissembler; and men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived,” says Niccolò Machiavelli, “The Prince”.

Bear in mind that this research was done in the UK and the beliefs, cultures, cognitive biases, social media narratives, and climatic environment, etc are different from the Zimbabwean setting. But, there must be parallels which we can draw from the research. I ask myself: If such research were to be carried out in Zimbabwe, how would the poll come out?

Furthermore, there are local professions which are peculiar to Zimbabwe, which would have to be included in the research, such as witch doctors, and some socalled prophets.

I would also add public transport drivers such as kombi drivers or mushikashika, not to forget the artisanal miners.

To summarise the findings, it was found that, among the poll sample of people of ages 18 upwards who were interviewed on which profession they believed to be the most truthful, the nurses, doctors and engineers fared very well as they were the top scorers on the veracity index with 93%, 91%, and 89%, respectively.

These professions would also be high on EQ as they are likely to be quite empathetic. So the medical and engineering professions are rated in the UK.

I am elated because I am an engineer by profession.

The next lot of professions which scored reasonably well were judges, teachers, professors and scientists, in that order.

They scored above 80% on average. I vouch for these professions as I know a few who are not only truthful but lead/serve with empathy. Again, I am certain the results would not be too different in a Zimbabwean poll.

The next group composed of the police, lawyers and civil servants, and they all scored in the 60% region. My question is: In Zimbabwe, would 60% of the people polled say the police and lawyers were trustworthy?

I must add that I know a lot of police officers and lawyers who are trustworthy and empathetic.

Although by now their emotional intelligence disposition is going down and its manipulative stalker, the machiavellian intelligence disposition is rising.

Therefore, my impartial, unbiased, truthful answer is: I have a right to remain silent, otherwise what I say may be used against me as evidence in court.

Surprisingly, clergy/priests, economists and television newsreaders did not do so well as they scored in the 50% region.

I would like to think that in Zimbabwe, priests and pastors are highly respected and, therefore, score much higher hopefully than say, the lawyers and/or police.

Pastors and priests are highly empathetic people according to my assessment. However, if we break it down to the various titles of priest, pastor, apostle, prophet, bishop and reverend, we may see different results as a few bad apples masquerading as prophets and apostles may score very low.

These would score in the same vicinity as witch doctors I am sure.

Zimbabweans have been conned too many times by prophets/witch doctors.

Trade union officials, bankers, and local councillors scored poorly around 40%. I am surprised as to why bankers would not score well. I am certain that in Zimbabwe the result would be different. We trust our bankers.

After all they keep our monies. Trade union officials and local councillors would have to defend themselves here. Our trade unionists mature to become politicians. Wait till you see how politicians fare in the poll.

Landlords, business leaders, and professional footballers, scored around 30%. I would like to speak for business leaders, as the ones I know are likely to be trustworthy. Landlords, it depends. Professional footballers in the local soccer league are not the same as those in say, the Eufa Champions League, therefore, making a comparison would be very difficult. There is nil basis for comparison. One professional footballer in the Eufa Champions League probably earns a hundred times more than the whole of local league players put together. I am reminded of the Fifa mega scandal where certain top players were paid/bribed to throw the game, and officials were bribed to vote for certain countries to host the World Cup. As I said earlier, when veracity goes down, voracity goes up.

Estate agents and journalists score very badly in the UK. Perhaps, they are noticeably greedy and corrupt in the UK. Here in Zimbabwe, I would not score them so low. I suppose in the UK journalists are spin doctors, especially given their ferociously biased reporting on the Meghan and Harry interview. Estate agents are likely to be conservative with the truth when it comes to selling a property, the voracity in this case being driven by the extra commission. But the ones I know are truthful.

The last and least in scores are the UK government ministers, politicians and advertising executives who scored just over 10%. What do these have in common? “The gift of the gab” I would say, as they all try to sway you towards a certain narrative, belief and perception. For advertising executives, the question to ask is: Are adverts truthful? A meme I saw says: I’m not lying, I’m advertising.

As for politicians, I am surprised that even in a highly democratic country like the UK, this profession is deemed the least in terms of veracity by the polled populace. Are they, therefore, seen as rapacious (suggesting excessive and utterly selfish acquisitiveness or avarice according to www.merriam-webster.com)? Would the result of a veracity index poll for politicians be the same in Zimbabwe as in the UK? Would our politicians score as low as the UK ones? Who knows our Zimbabwean politicians may fare better than the UK ones, suggesting that they are less rapacious. I wonder. What is your opinion?

According to my observation of the inverse relationship between veracity and voracity, and correspondingly between emotional intelligence and machiavellian intelligence, politics is the ecosphere of those high on the latter dispositions.

Don’t shoot the messenger.