‘Post-truth’ was the Oxford Dictionary word of the year 2016 – but what does it mean, and how can we champion truth in a world of lies and ‘alternative facts’?
The Brexit vote; Donald Trump’s victory; the rejection of climate change science; the vilification of immigrants; many of the huge political issues of recent years have been based on the power to evoke feelings and not facts.
Renowned journalist Matthew d’Ancona distinguishes post-truth from a long tradition of political lies, exaggeration and spin. For D’Ancona, what is new is not the mendacity of politicians but the public’s response to it and the ability of new technologies and social media to manipulate, polarise and entrench opinion.
Where trust has evaporated, conspiracy theories thrive, and the authority of the media wilts; it is the primacy of emotions and beliefs that shape the public. This makes for a terrifying time in which democracy and pluralism are all at threat.
But how do we fight back?
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“"Reality" is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.”
Gary Zukav in “The Dancing Wu Li Masters”, (1980, p.310)
This quote is attributed by many to a David Bohm lecture at Berkely, 1977, with presumably Bohm as the originator. Zukav writes this phrase without reference to Bohm with the opening word “Reality” in inverted commas, and this gives me reason to think if he is not the originator, he is indeed the populariser, albeit perhaps inspired by Bohm.
Joseph Heller argues "The truth is whatever people will believe is the truth, Don't you know history?" It is indeed becoming quite apparent that our world is experiencing a time where fantasy becomes is often confused with reality. It would seem as though there is sometimes the reluctance to face the Truth. With these incomplete truths and non-truths now being declared as Truth from some of our world leaders and prominent influential political leaders, where do we look for our role models of Truth? or does Truth now result in the individuals’ consciousness, albeit there may be the absence of any real evidence or facts? In such scenarios, value systems become even more dependable for authentication of information particularly as a measurement of honesty and Truth, allowing the forging of trusted dependable organizational, business and individual relationships. Without such value systems, advocating Truth, where do we find the Truth?