Friday, January 06, 2017

Post-truth?

A BBC Radio 4 broadcast last week was Nothing but the truth, which discussed the meaning of "post-truth" and whether it really was a new thing. I have pasted the summary below. The podcast is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04m7zrs (43 minutes) and I think as it's radio it is available internationally. It (or extracts from it) would make good triggers for discussion about "truth", fake news etc. It is part of an interesting Radio 4 series The New World (the series is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04m77lm/episodes/downloads).
Blurb for the Nothing but the truth episode: "Are we really living in a post-truth world? It has been an extraordinary year for the concept of veracity. Brexit. Trump. Experts have taken a beating, facts have apparently taken second place to emotion and feeling. And what about truth? It seems like fewer and fewer people, whether voters or politicians, care what’s true anymore. Step forward the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of 2016: "post-truth". Is this just shorthand to help liberals make sense of a world they don't like? Or does it mark something more meaningful? Are we really no longer interested in truth or is our toxic political climate clouding our ability to agree on what the facts are? In a series of special programmes as 2017 begins, Radio 4 examines inflection points in the world around us. In the first programme, Jo Fidgen explores how our brains process facts when they become polluted by politics."
In a post-truth world perhaps I will just withdraw and cultivate my virtual garden (though I think a conclusion from the broadcast was that "post truth" was a modish label for longtime human behaviour): photo taken in the 3D virtual world Second Life

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