I’ve been watching a lot of X-Files lately.  Its been helping me get through my morning treadmill sessions, which in turn help me get through my days.   Its funny how I don’t want to wake up, but if I do and force myself to start my run,  after about 10 minutes it gets relatively comfortable and easy.   And by the time I’ve finished, I’m quite pleased with myself for a few reasons. One, I actually did what I wanted myself to do for health and sanity reasons. Two,  I physically feel more awake and healthy.

But back to X-Files.  I remember the show from 20 years ago vaguely, and remember a few episodes more clearly (the sewer monster, ew).  I also remember that I lost interest around season 3 or 4, mostly because I totally couldn’t follow the Alien sub-theme. This is tough to do when you are seeing re-runs and missing episodes, and also as a teenager I didn’t really get why “the Man” was such a jerk so drifted away.

Now that I’m re-watching (binge watching, actually) as an adult I am  struck by a few main things.

First point- Oh my God the clothes! and the HAIR!  Scully actually always looks good, but Mulder had some interesting jean and hair combos that screamed nineties like nothing outside of Friends would have pulled. Seriously hilarious.  Especially when he’s running after aliens and what not.

But the larger, more interesting thing that I’m seeing now is that overt “trust no one” theme.  I have to wonder how much of this has seeded itself into the way my generation approaches the world in general.

People no longer trust authority.  Sure, the sixties were a real overthrow in modern North America, but mostly it wasn’t about destroying banks or smart people.  What I see all around me, since the birth of the internet maybe? is that people do not trust other people to do their job, or know what they are talking about.

And its everywhere doctors, nurses, police, military, engineers,education, politicians etc.  With information being everywhere at the touch of your hand on your smart phone, you can access almost anything quickly.  Anyone is able to be googled, so hopefully nothing comes back to bite you from twenty years ago when you were young and less cautious.  People mostly have access to the same information now as the specialists, people who’ve trained for years in their field, and believe that they are as capable to make the same choices and understand the same materials.

Was it like this in the 70’s, 80’s?  People have always had distrust of some things, but it seems to me that it is now EVERYTHING. I think we all do this a bit, and I wonder if it started back in the nineties, with X-files.  I’m on season four right now, and I’ll let you know if I figure it out by season eight, ok?

But one thing I know for sure- no matter how smart I am  I do not think I can fix my car.  That’s what my Dad is for.

Trust no one.