Back to the Basics
Yes, it is that time of the semester again where students are panicking, stressing, and probably crying over their midterms. To make it all worse, it has been almost a year since we entered a pandemic and we have no spring break. At least we get three study days, that makes up for it, right?
Besides my bitter attitude towards how the University is handling situations during the pandemic, I thought it would be a good time to take a look back at one of our very first readings in this class. Perhaps it will help as a refresher for the midterm.
Post-Truth by Lee McIntyre is one of the most used readings by Ball State English professors. Is it really? I am not totally sure, but I do know I have read it in almost every single one of my rhetoric related classes. As much as I hate having to re-read materials, McIntyre's work is actually something I don't mind re-reading mainly because it is still relevant today.
So what is Post-Truth? As mentioned in McIntyre's writing, post-truth was labeled the word of the year according to the Oxford Dictionary in November of 2016, and rightfully so. With everything that happened in the Trump campaign and in the Clinton campaign, it's amazing it took four years for things to escalate to such a violent state of affairs. The Oxford Dictionary defines the term as "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief." Sound familiar?
Even when claims are made in the moment and analyzed as incorrect afterwards, people and politicians still manage to find a way to alter their information so that there first statement can remain correct. For public discourse, post-truth just introduces a new obstacle to the never ending course of avoiding the reality of the truth in a matter.
Are there any current examples of post-truth that you can think of? Although this post was brief, I hope it rattled your brain and helped you to remember a bit about what we talked about at the beginning of our course. Good luck on your midterms!
How did you know I was crying? Crazy, right? My neurons are literally combusting one-by-one in a slow, painful brain-death as I attempt to understand Organic Chemistry's lab midterm. Anyway, I'll try to gather my mushy brain and word-vomit out a comment .
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, most people I know have said to me at least once, "I don't know who said it, but '__some odd fact___'". And some of the time, the "fact" isn't even a fact, its just what the person thought they heard! I think because our attention spans are so infantile in this new age of media as epistemology, we are all caught up in the act of bending the truth, even accidentally, as our brains just tend to store less for shorter amounts of time. Because we're used to gathering information so easily and quickly, fact-checking just seems inconvenient, but at least the average person who includes that crucial little "I don't know who said this, but..." is proving that they don't intend to misinform, control, or manipulate others. Maybe there IS hope for humanity as a whole.
Because of the widespread pandemic (cringing at that word choice) that is the internet, everyone can access any "facts" and relative truths that fit their own agenda while ignoring those that don't fit their version of the truth. We all sincerely believe we're right because the media has made us all so self-centered and feel so very entitled and revolutionary; we're all a bit of narcissistic.
Of course, Donald Trump is our shiny lil' poster child for a post-truth manipulator. However, trying to decide which of Postman's type of lying he's doing is another story because he's been classified by many psychologists as a textbook narcissist (among other things). Since he sincerely believes he's right and everything he says is true, is Trump really trying to deceive others, or is he simply just unconsciously deceiving himself because of his own inner turmoil? Is he a master manipulator or an unconscious puppeteer?
It's interesting that you've read McIntyre's writing in a lot of your other English classes, because this was the first time I had been exposed to it (and I'm an English major)! Looking back on it now, though, I definitely think his piece would be a good one to implement, as I think I would've benefited from it earlier in my college education.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that post-truth is a rather dangerous concept. Objective facts, especially in this day and age, are extremely important for various reasons. Without these facts, I assume we'd have a very difficult time trying to figure what the truth actually is. In other words, I feel as though the concept of post-truth prevents us from seeing the actuality of situations. You could potentially see post-truth as society's rose-colored glasses.
I think post truth is the most relevant idea we have spoken about in this class. We see it everywhere. We see it in politicians, the people we interact with, and we even see it in our grandparents who post conspiracy theories on FaceBook. News caters to emotions now, rather than facts themselves. People believe things that affect their emotions. This is why Donald Trump was so persuasive to his supporters, he manipulated and catered to their emotions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this refresher, Jennifer! I think that an example of "post-truth" we could look at is how some people view climate change. My parents are always using the current weather as a way to "debunk" claims that the Earth is heating. Going outside during winter and exclaiming that it feels so cold there's no way global warming is occurring is a way of believing your own feelings over scientific evidence. There are several moving parts that go into climate change, so the daily weather can't be used to gauge the validity of whether or not it's real; still, people point to their good/normal weather patterns and use that as a way to dismiss environmental efforts.
ReplyDeleteI still have one more midterm next week, so I only feel a little bit silly for reading this as late as I am. Speaking of those mid terms, you really hit the nail on the head. This classes midterm always seems to take the wind right out of my sails, but I digress. I'm kind of shocked no one has echoed your "I've had this same Post Truth reading in 3+ classes" because this is at least the fourth time I've been assigned it. To put that in perspective, I've only had one semester when I wasn't assigned McIntyre's bit on Post Truth.
ReplyDelete