The expression post-truth has not been around that long, but it has become viral\u2014as it is called on social media\u2014and as such, is now popularly used in the wake of the presidential campaign of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump. Its massive use has led to it being selected as Word of the Year for 2016 by the Oxford Dictionary. It is true that this description doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that it is correct or legal, but it somewhat underestimates the ethical principles upon which the post-truth concept impinges.<\/p>\n
The concept of post-truth is usually defined as \u201cthat which is apparently true, becomes more important than the truth itself.\u201d Gregorio Cano Figueroa points out in Clar\u00edn, November 22, 2016, that post-truth is the phenomenon in which the \u201cobjective facts have less influence over public opinion than appeals to emotions and popular beliefs.\u201d This means that societies, dazzled by speeches and propaganda, put fact-checking and analysis aside, to cautiously accept as true the messages delivered by leaders, politicians and charlatans.<\/p>\n
Indeed, post-truth distorts the basic principles of human coexistence, such as the cult of truth and honesty, favoring misleading and lying behavior in order to promote its own interests and greed. It is either the truth or it it is not. Half-truths do not exist, and neither does subjective truth. To speak of \u201cmy truth\u201d is an assault on reason. Opinions can exist, and in this sense, every person has every freedom to express their own, and on any subject. But when dealing with objective facts, such as, for example, the number of inhabitants in the country, its gross national product, its citizens\u2019 level of education, a company\u2019s financial situation, public debt, or the budget deficit, only the objective reality counts\u2014and there is only one. Everything that is disguised as the truth, whether grossly modifying it\u2014such as the manipulation of statistics\u2014, hiding facts that misinform the reader, or leveraging devices that distort accounts, are adulterations of the truth. Distortions and deception have been around throughout history. It is worth remembering Ram\u00f3n de Campoamor\u2019s (1807\u20131901) well-known stanza: \u201cin this treacherous world, nothing is either true or lie; everything depends on the color of the crystal that one looks through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Post-truth distorts the basic principles of human coexistence, such as the cult of truth and honesty<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If post-truth refers to the prevalence of sentiments and emotions over objective reality, and if the culprits are mainly demagogic politicians and populists seeking citizens\u2019 support, what we are seeing is a gross distortion of reality in pursuit of popular support. And the consequences are apparent\u2014a favorable vote for Trump has meant that the world\u2019s leading power is headed by someone with an ambiguous track record, who is controlled by his impulses and who seems to govern through Twitter. Admittedly, the United States has a complex and rather incomprehensible system, as Clinton actually won the majority of the popular vote. This is the result of an emotion-based campaign that pushed aside objective analysis and logic. Although it is true the alternative candidate was not the best, it is outrageous that this has happened in the oldest democracy on the planet and that its perpetrators try to hide\u2014with cynicism around the arena\u2014behind post-truth. Demagogy and populism, which obscure reality and are overflowing with empty and unrealistic promises in search of votes, have been more typical of Latin American countries than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts. But Europe has not been without this phenomenon: Hitler and Mussolini, with the brutal effects of the Second World War, were a result of the subjugation of Germans and Italians fascinated by their leaders\u2019 discourse.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s election, the UK\u2019s majority vote to leave the European Union\u2014Brexit\u2014and the rejection of the fundamental reforms proposed by Italian former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, are all consequences of Neo-populism.<\/p>\n
Protests against Trump\u2019s preliminary decisions are widespread in the United States<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Protests against Trump\u2019s preliminary decisions are widespread in the United States. The United Kingdom faces its eventual disintegration due to the possible separation of Scotland, who wants to stay in the European Union. Once again, Italy is immersed in extremely dangerous political instability.<\/p>\n
Together with the need to go back to fundamental principles and standards such as honesty and truth, universal society\u2014now so closely integrated\u2014should reject and condemn deception and lies\u2014post-truth\u2014that foster the spread of authoritarian and corrupt regimes. Private practices whose sole objective is to make money, regardless of the methods used to get it, also undoubtedly benefit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The expression post-truth has not been around that long, but it has become viral\u2014as it is called on social media\u2014and as such, is now popularly used in the wake of the presidential campaign of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump. Its massive use has led to it being selected as Word of the Year for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"class_list":["post-472509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ideas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Post-truth, a new way of lying - LLYC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Post-truth, a new way of lying\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The expression post-truth has not been around that long, but it has become viral\u2014as it is called on social media\u2014and as such, is now popularly used in the wake of the presidential campaign of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump. Its massive use has led to it being selected as Word of the Year for […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LLYC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LLYC.Global\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-27T16:03:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-27T16:15:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"andrea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@llorenteycuenca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@llorenteycuenca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"andrea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Post-truth, a new way of lying - LLYC","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Post-truth, a new way of lying","og_description":"The expression post-truth has not been around that long, but it has become viral\u2014as it is called on social media\u2014and as such, is now popularly used in the wake of the presidential campaign of the current U.S. president, Donald Trump. Its massive use has led to it being selected as Word of the Year for […]","og_url":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/","og_site_name":"LLYC","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LLYC.Global\/","article_published_time":"2017-03-27T16:03:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-27T16:15:36+00:00","author":"andrea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@llorenteycuenca","twitter_site":"@llorenteycuenca","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"andrea","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/"},"author":{"name":"andrea","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9f32ed7279b71b2ef5295806812ff9b4"},"headline":"Post-truth, a new way of lying","datePublished":"2017-03-27T16:03:03+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-27T16:15:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/"},"wordCount":765,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Ideas"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/","url":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/","name":"Post-truth, a new way of lying - LLYC","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-03-27T16:03:03+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-27T16:15:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9f32ed7279b71b2ef5295806812ff9b4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/ideas\/uno\/post-truth-a-new-way-of-lying\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Post-truth, a new way of lying"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/","name":"LLYC","description":"Consultoria de comunicaci\u00f3n marketing y asuntos p\u00fablicos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/9f32ed7279b71b2ef5295806812ff9b4","name":"andrea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad24e19084a368dba52090fbba4f136747eb294cec890e3452f7924d43eb6c97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad24e19084a368dba52090fbba4f136747eb294cec890e3452f7924d43eb6c97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad24e19084a368dba52090fbba4f136747eb294cec890e3452f7924d43eb6c97?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"andrea"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/llyc.global\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}