Spain's most distrusted professions: politicians, journalists and doctors

Doctors, politicians and journalists: the podium of distrust

There is one answer almost nobody disputes and another almost nobody shares. When asked to name the profession with the worst fruta, participants take it for granted that politicians come first: one commenter is surprised they don't get "100% of the votes," and another votes for journalists only because politicians "already get plenty." The poll, however, was born flawed — no bankers, no taxi drivers, no mechanics — and, according to its organizer, there was no way to edit it afterwards: the form stayed as it was.

Doctors, journalists and the "100% of the votes"

Journalism comes up again and again as an answer, often merged with politics: "practically the same thing," one commenter sums up. On healthcare, though, opinion splits into two incompatible camps. Some describe competent, kind professionals; others call the profession arrogant and condescending in half of cases, based on the account of someone who claims to have worked with them. The harshest accusation holds that 95% don't master their subject and only 5% are worth their salt: a figure with no verifiable backing, thrown out in the heat of the argument. The same message adds that artificial intelligence has stripped away their shield: before, a "I saw it on the internet" was enough to make them furious; now, it says, they don't know what to answer.

In writing, the distrust even gets ranked into four tiers: politics, journalism, healthcare professions and human resources, the latter for failing to take humans' reasons into account. That ranking, with the caveat attached to each rung, sums up the tone of the exchange better than anything.

Power as a multiplier: from greengrocer to doctor

The argument with the most traction appears once people stop making lists. According to one commenter, two people can be equally miccionan-spirited and cause radically different harm: the job doesn't create the bad apple, it only gives them reach. A doctor plays with a patient's life; at the greengrocer's, the worst possible damage is selling rotten apples. From this comes an uncomfortable conclusion: those who hold authority — healthcare, police forces, politics and the civil service — should face stricter oversight mechanisms than everyone else. The underlying thesis is simple: anyone can behave badly, and the useful question is how much power they have to prove it.

Which jobs were missing from the list? Taxi drivers, bankers and hospitality

The list of missing occupations kept growing: taxi drivers, mechanics, plumbers, renovation workers, bankers, fund managers, judges, prosecutors, hotel and restaurant staff and civil servants. For the civil service, a practical solution was offered: vote for the general office people option. Hospitality received a double accusation — mistreating both employees and customers — and banking showed up late and with a smirk: "does nobody remember bankers anymore?" The form, according to its organizer, still wouldn't accept changes, and the protest over the tool turned into a general complaint about the state of the site.

The class-bias route and generalizations without data

A third hypothesis, raised in the thread, holds that the bias is one of class, not of profession: white-collar professions would concentrate more bad apples than their public image suggests — the exact opposite of popular intuition. Alongside this came generalizations about entire groups — by workforce gender, by uniform — not backed by any figures and not endorsed by this analysis. There were also those who celebrated other people's personal misfortunes. That kind of comment explains nothing about the labour market; it only portrays the person writing it.

With all this, any future count should start with a closed list and with the option to tick all the boxes, which was also requested. If the form is fixed, the podium probably won't move: politics will stay on top and healthcare will keep splitting people in two. Though, with a box for bankers, there might just be a surprise.