Introduction
The oxford word of the year 2016 was “Post Truth” which means “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
Are we living in a
post-truth world, where “alternative facts” replace actual facts and feelings
have more weight than evidence? How did we get here? In this volume in the MIT
Press Essential Knowledge series, Lee McIntyre traces the development of the
post-truth phenomenon from science denial through the rise of “fake news,” from
our psychological blind spots to the public's retreat into “information silos.”
What, exactly, is
post-truth? Is it wishful thinking, political spin, mass delusion, bold-faced
lying? McIntyre analyzes recent examples—claims about inauguration crowd size,
crime statistics, and the popular vote—and finds that post-truth is an
assertion of ideological supremacy by which its practitioners try to compel someone
to believe something regardless of the evidence. Yet post-truth didn't begin
with the 2016 election; the denial of scientific facts about smoking,
evolution, vaccines, and climate change offers a road map for more widespread
fact denial. Add to this the wired-in cognitive biases that make us feel that
our conclusions are based on good reasoning even when they are not, the decline
of traditional media and the rise of social media, and the emergence of fake
news as a political tool, and we have the ideal conditions for post-truth.
McIntyre also argues provocatively that the right wing borrowed from
postmodernism—specifically, the idea that there is no such thing as objective
truth—in its attacks on science and facts.
My understanding
Emotionally making people fool and facts does not matter.
Emotionally making people fool and facts does not matter.
Example for post truth
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says “I will curb black money and Rs. 1500000 will be deposited in every Indian’s account”
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