Post-truth is the phenomenon through which public opinion reacts more to emotional appeals than to objective facts.
According to this concept, the truth of facts is put in the background when information appeals to the beliefs and emotions of the masses, resulting in manipulable public opinions.
The term "post-truth" was chosen to Word of the Year in 2016 by the Oxford dictionary, in which it was defined as "the idea that a concrete fact has less significance or influence than appeals to emotion and personal beliefs." According to the dictionary, the prefix “post” conveys the idea that the truth is left behind.
The foundation of post-truth was taken from the psychological concept of cognitive bias, which explains the natural tendency of human beings to judge facts based on their own perception. Thus, when this trend is exploited by the media for media, economic or political purposes, the post-truth phenomenon, in which the masses "prefer" to believe certain information that may not have been checked.
In the words of historian Leandro Karnal, post-truth is a “affective identity selection”, through which individuals identify with the news that best fits their concepts.
post-truth and fake news (false news)
Despite having similar effects, the concept of post-truth is not to be confused with the concept of false news (fake news).
At fake news, regardless of their motivations, are objective lies, that is, illegitimate information that does not match reality, formulated to induce a commotion about a given subject. Thus, it is entirely possible that the fake news give rise to post-truth.
Post-truth is the acceptance of information by an individual or group of individuals, who assume the legitimacy of this information for personal reasons, whether political preferences, religious beliefs, baggage cultural, etc. So the post-truth does not necessarily imply a lie (since unverified information may be true), but it always implies a negligence of the truth.
Post-Truth Examples
To illustrate the theme, post-truth examples frequently used are the 2016 US presidential elections and the referendum for the UK's exit from the European Union (Brexit), In the same year. However, although these are the classic examples (because they had a global impact), the phenomenon of post-truth occurs daily on a smaller scale.
2016 American Elections
In those elections, candidate Donald Trump disseminated numerous unsubstantiated information and statistics to strengthen his campaign and target his opponents. These statements, usually related to public safety and terrorism, directly appealed to the feelings of revolt and insecurity of the population, who felt represented by the speech without worrying about the origin of the Dice. Among the main statements of this type are:
- that Hillary Clinton created the Islamic State;
- that unemployment in the US was 42%;
- that Barack Obama is a Muslim;
- that Pope Francis supported his campaign.
A large portion of the American population, motivated by personal values, believed (or still believes) these and other statements by Trump, who was elected president.
Brexit referendum
In 2016 there was the call Brexit, a referendum that would decide whether or not the UK would remain in the European Union. During the process, the campaign that defended the bloc's exit announced that it cost 470 to stay in the European Union. million dollars a week (information that has never been verified), in addition to negatively affecting various sectors of the economy.
Furthermore, the referendum took place during a heightened period of the refugee crisis and several unfounded statistics called for the feeling of nationalism of the population to strengthen the argument that leaving the bloc would bring more autonomy to deal with the subject matter.
The outcome of the referendum was favorable to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
post-political truth
As seen, the phenomenon of post-truth is extremely explored in the political context, especially in electoral campaigns, in the which is advantageous for candidates to disclose information, even if false, to enhance their image or denigrate the adversary. In these situations, public opinion becomes even more manipulable in face of the countless forms of electoral propaganda.
Thus, it is common for potentially false information related to the topic to establish and propagate in society as if they were true, even if only briefly, considering that beneficiaries often only need to support them until the day of the election.
So when it comes to politics, the critical sense (the ability to objectively question and analyze information) is even more important.
post-truth age
Many scholars believe that we are currently living in the “post-truth era”, in which the truth of facts is no longer a priority for the media or for society.
In this context, computerization has created an excessively high flow of production and information exchange, making it difficult to distinguish what is true or false.
The foundation of the "post-truth era" concept is easily perceived on the internet, where information is passed on in a immediatist to a huge number of receivers, creating, in a short time, a “manufactured truth” defended by a mass of individuals who believe that the information is true.
On the subject, historian Leandro Karnal noted:
“The internet has strained and expanded the ability to access information. The positive side of this is that more people have access to information. The downside of this is that more people have access to information."
With this, the historian suggests that, although it is beneficial for more people to have access to information, the natural consequence of this is that more people lack critical sense they will also have this access, thus facilitating the propagation of false or unproven information.
See too:
- fake news
- Critical sense