The word Post-truth is now appearing in many news reports that deal with the impact of the social media on the presentation of truths about various events and situations.The Osservatore Romano in its January 2017 edition carries an article by Carlo Maria Polvani dealing with the origin and meaning of this term.
This word was chosen as the Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the year in 2016.
The origin of the word is attributed to a blogger David Roberts who used the term in a column on Grist.
This term refers to a "political culture in which debate is framed by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy and by repeated assertion of talking points."
Post- truth politics according to Polvani "refers to a political culture in which discussions are distinguished by emotions to the detriment of facts and ideas, and in which the central points of the debate are established and spread by the din of rhetorical elements in the new means of communication."
It does not refute one truth with another and places ideas and facts in second place with respect to an emotional focal point whose causal nexus with reality is not necessarily demonstrated.
Polvani further notes that "it is possible that the dispute over post-truth politics will lead to a deeper examination of the role of social media in helping citizens choose among emotionally comfortable messages and rationally comfortable truths."
Sunday, February 5, 2017
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