Post-truth politics... Art of the lie.
'Politicians have always lied. Does it matter if they leave the truth behind entirely?
Consider how far Donald Trump is estranged from fact. He inhabits a fantastical realm where
Barack Obama’s birth certificate was faked, the president founded Islamic State (IS), the Clintons
are killers and the father of a rival was with Lee Harvey Oswald before he shot John F. Kennedy.
Mr Trump is the leading exponent of “post-truth” politics—a reliance on assertions that “feel true”
but have no basis in fact. His brazenness is not punished, but taken as evidence of his willingness
to stand up to elite power.
And he is not alone.
Members of Poland’s government assert that a previous president, who died in a plane crash,
was assassinated by Russia. Turkish politicians claim the perpetrators of the recent bungled coup
were acting on orders issued by the CIA.
The successful campaign for Britain to leave the European Union warned of the hordes of immigrants
that would result from Turkey’s imminent accession to the union.
If, like this newspaper, you believe that politics should be based on evidence, this is worrying.
Strong democracies can draw on inbuilt defences against post-truth. Authoritarian countries are more
vulnerable.
That politicians sometimes peddle lies is not news: think of Ronald Reagan’s fib that his administration
had not traded weapons with Iran in order to secure the release of hostages and to fund the efforts of
rebels in Nicaragua.
Dictators and democrats seeking to deflect blame for their own incompetence have always manipulated
the truth; sore losers have always accused the other lot of lying.
But post-truth politics is more than just an invention of whingeing elites who have been outflanked.
The term picks out the heart of what is new: that truth is not falsified, or contested, but of secondary
importance. Once, the purpose of political lying was to create a false view of the world.
The lies of men like Mr Trump do not work like that.
They are not intended to convince the elites, whom their target voters neither trust nor like, but to reinforce
prejudices...'
The Economist:
Forgive them Father... because they're middle-class, smug, establishment-biased hacks and they know
what they do. Hillary only did wrong because she was caught- The Establishment's Credo.
If it was that the majority of the people that voted for Trump were red-necked, conspiracy-craving, racist,
pillow-case-wearing dullards, then...
A: Why is it that only now, you deem them negative?
B: Why have the mainstream ever considered approaching this group of people to offer your alternative view?
C: Why is the same mainstream media's readership in the tank and failing with it's agreed narrative?
'Politicians have always lied. Does it matter if they leave the truth behind entirely?
Consider how far Donald Trump is estranged from fact. He inhabits a fantastical realm where
Barack Obama’s birth certificate was faked, the president founded Islamic State (IS), the Clintons
are killers and the father of a rival was with Lee Harvey Oswald before he shot John F. Kennedy.
Mr Trump is the leading exponent of “post-truth” politics—a reliance on assertions that “feel true”
but have no basis in fact. His brazenness is not punished, but taken as evidence of his willingness
to stand up to elite power.
And he is not alone.
Members of Poland’s government assert that a previous president, who died in a plane crash,
was assassinated by Russia. Turkish politicians claim the perpetrators of the recent bungled coup
were acting on orders issued by the CIA.
The successful campaign for Britain to leave the European Union warned of the hordes of immigrants
that would result from Turkey’s imminent accession to the union.
If, like this newspaper, you believe that politics should be based on evidence, this is worrying.
Strong democracies can draw on inbuilt defences against post-truth. Authoritarian countries are more
vulnerable.
That politicians sometimes peddle lies is not news: think of Ronald Reagan’s fib that his administration
had not traded weapons with Iran in order to secure the release of hostages and to fund the efforts of
rebels in Nicaragua.
Dictators and democrats seeking to deflect blame for their own incompetence have always manipulated
the truth; sore losers have always accused the other lot of lying.
But post-truth politics is more than just an invention of whingeing elites who have been outflanked.
The term picks out the heart of what is new: that truth is not falsified, or contested, but of secondary
importance. Once, the purpose of political lying was to create a false view of the world.
The lies of men like Mr Trump do not work like that.
They are not intended to convince the elites, whom their target voters neither trust nor like, but to reinforce
prejudices...'
The Economist:
Forgive them Father... because they're middle-class, smug, establishment-biased hacks and they know
what they do. Hillary only did wrong because she was caught- The Establishment's Credo.
If it was that the majority of the people that voted for Trump were red-necked, conspiracy-craving, racist,
pillow-case-wearing dullards, then...
A: Why is it that only now, you deem them negative?
B: Why have the mainstream ever considered approaching this group of people to offer your alternative view?
C: Why is the same mainstream media's readership in the tank and failing with it's agreed narrative?
Edith Head Gives Good Wardrobe.