Post-Truth

It seems astonishing that the person most often complaining about "fake news" is our greatest purveyor of bullshit.

When facts get in the way, you simply find "alternatives" that suit you better. The nature of reality and whether facts even matter has become a partisan issue. A study from Duke University shows that even fact-checking as an activity is not beyond controversy.

[T]he Duke study adds another layer to the battle between fact and fantasy. Their research shows that the words “fact check” are now perceived to have a liberal slant. Again and again the researchers found moments when conservative media referred to fact-checking in a negative way, regardless of the nature of the facts checked.

In one example from the Weekly Standard, fact-checking was referred to as “the liberal media’s latest attempt to control the discourse.” The entire article suggested that fact-checking was a liberal scheme designed to make conservatives look bad.

Obviously, an existential threat like climate change can't be addressed if we can't even agree that humans are the cause. We can't recognize that democracy is under attack if actions taken are "legal".

One lesson is that the road away from democracy is rarely characterized by overt violations of the formal rule of law. To the contrary, the contemporary path away from democracy under the rule of law typically relies on actions within the law. ... Ironically, the law is deployed to undermine legality and the rule of law more generally.

Theoretically, education would be able to overcome this dilemma. Henry Giroux:

The crisis of capitalism and the production of widespread misery has opened up new political opportunities to reclaim education as a central element of politics and resistance. Education as it functions on multiple levels and through diverse registers matters. It is one of the most powerful sources for changing consciousness, desires and agency itself.

But facts are not welcomed by powerful interests.

In the present moment, it becomes particularly important for progressives, educators and concerned citizens to protect and enlarge the formative cultures and public spheres that make democracy possible. The relentless attack on truth, honesty and the ethical imagination makes it all the more imperative for the public to think dangerously, especially in societies that appear increasingly amnesiac — that is, countries where forms of historical, political and moral forgetting are not only willfully practiced but celebrated. All of which becomes all the more threatening at a time when a country such as the United States has tipped over into a mode of authoritarianism that views critical thought as both a liability and a threat.

Giroux describes the rising phenomenon of manufactured illiteracy which is "designed primarily to make war on language, meaning, thinking and the capacity for critical thought."

This updated form of illiteracy does not simply constitute an absence of learning, ideas or knowledge. Nor can it be solely attributed to what has been called the “smartphone society.” On the contrary, it is a willful practice and goal used to actively depoliticize people and make them complicit with the political and economic forces that impose misery and suffering upon their lives. At the same time, illiteracy bonds people: It offers the pretense of a community bound by a willful denial of facts and its celebration of ignorance.

Update (July 21):  Fox News has long been the propaganda arm for the Republican Party, and now Steven Rosenfeld reports on how Breitbart News Network is even worse.

Breitbart's disruptive template fueled the political and information universe we now inhabit, where the right dismisses facts and embraces fantasies.

There is no corollary dynamic on the left or among pro-Clinton audiences in 2016. The left's news sources, media consumption and patterns of social media-sharing are more open-minded and fact-based and less insular and aggressive. Still, Breitbart’s obsessive focus on fabricating and hyping scandals involving Hillary Clinton (and Jeb Bush early in the primary season) pushed mainstream media to disproportionately cover its agenda.

These observations are among the takeaways of a major study from Columbia Journalism Review that analyzed 1.25 million stories published online between April 2015 and Election Day 2016. While the study affirmed what many analysts have long perceived—that right-wing media and those who consume it inhabit a paranoid and dark parallel universe—it also documented shifts in the right’s media ecosystem; namely, Breitbart supplanting Fox News as the leading purveyor of extreme disinformation.

Update (August 4):  Christina Lopez G. lists five current lies that make the rounds of rightwing media.

Update (August 5):  Laurie Penny argues that successful politics takes more than just the facts.

One of the things that the left and the kind of liberal press doesn’t really understand at the moment is the influence of emotion and feeling in politics. It sounds like such a simple thing, but we have this way of thinking, on the left, that facts are enough. That it’s enough to be right. And if it was enough to be right, we’d win every election, because obviously we are right.

The right gets this. They go for fear. They hit people where they’re feeling least prideful. They kind of invoke this sense of pride and nationalism, and what people are lacking in the modern world: A sense of security, a sense of safety, a sense that they’re important, that their lives might matter, that they have a future that they can, in some way, look forward to.

I’m not trying to say that facts don’t matter. Obviously, just saying that facts matter and that there is such thing as objective truth seems radical today, in this rather frightening way it didn’t used to before. But actually telling a story about a future that is livable for a great deal of people is radical.

Update (August 7):  Phil Torres lists a set of values he seeks to reaffirm as part of his critique of the "new atheism". Among them:

[Putting epistemology before ideology] ... means caring more about the truth, as best we know it, than one’s prejudices and preferred beliefs. It means changing one’s beliefs as new evidence is introduced, even when doing so is psychologically uncomfortable. Good thinkers aren’t those who never make mistakes; rather, we should say that bad thinkers are those who make mistakes and then refuse to change their minds when those mistakes are pointed out to them.

Update (August 8):  Gabriel Bell summarizes an interesting point from a Judd Apatow interview about why conservatives can't make good comedies.

The conservative viewpoint indeed has difficulties admitting fault, admitting weakness, admitting doubt or any kind of internal battle. So much of what makes good television or movies hangs on character development, and — in many ways — the conservative viewpoint only allows characters to develop in one, mostly unquestioned way: toward faith and complete confidence.

 Apatow was answering a question about making a movie about the Vice President.

When you see Mike Pence, you think there’s a lot going on inside that guy. At least I do. But the problem is that Mike Pence will not tell you that. Lena [Dunham] will. There’s an openness and an honesty to what she does. She’s saying, I have these values, but I’m also a human being, and I make mistakes, and sometimes I’m crazy and selfish and other times I’m loving and supportive. And that’s why there’s no incredible, hysterically funny show about conservatives, because they’re too concerned about trying to present themselves as correct. They’re all going, I’m not neurotic. I’m not a disaster in any way. They don’t admit how lost they are. There’s something dishonest to me about that; it’s living a lie.

Update (August 11):  Poll results show that Republicans will believe anything.

Despite the president's record-low approval ratings, a majority of Republicans say they would be willing to postpone the 2020 election if [von Clownstick] were to propose such a plan. According to the poll conducted by two academic authors and published in the Washington Post, 52 percent support the idea.

The pollsters also found that 47 percent of Republicans believe [von Clownstick] won the popular vote, while 86 percent believe that millions of illegal immigrants took part in the election. Seventy-three percent think voter fraud happens somewhat often to very often.

Update (August 23):  Von Clownstick, like all good authoritarians, continues to attack the press.

Honestly, these are really, really dishonest people. And they are bad people. And I really think they don’t like our country. I really believe that.

How is the media biased for reporting verbatim what he says? And yet, his supporters eat it up.

He’s got a point about the media. It’s hard as a consumer to find an outlet that tells you the basic facts. They should be giving us the facts so a human being with a little bit of brains can make their own minds up.

Update (September 17):  Jane Lytvynenko tries to uncover the disinformation.

Update (October 2):  R. Kelly Garrett reports on a survey that finds 50.3 percent of Americans trust their gut for the truth.

[W]hen it comes to fighting the scourge of misinformation, there’s a simple strategy that everyone can use. If you are someone who consistently checks your intuition about what is true against the evidence, you are less likely to be misled. It may seem like common sense, but learning to dig into the story behind that shocking headline can help you avoid spreading falsehoods.

Also, Common Sense Media has advice for media literacy.

Don't start believin'. While it's important to be open-minded, in today's world you have to be just a little skeptical of pretty much everything.

It takes all kinds. Talk about how there are lots of different kinds of news sources: investigative journalism, research studies, opinion pieces, blogs, punditry, evening news, and so on.

From both sides now. There's usually more than one side to a story.

Play bad cop. Interrogate the source.

Putting the pieces together. Sometimes the news can be like a puzzle with information coming in bits.

Update (October 8):  Joseph Bernstein digs into the racist cesspool of Breitbart News.

The Breitbart alt-right machine ,,, was a brilliant audience expansion machine, financed by billionaires, designed to draw in people disgusted by some combination of identity politics, Muslim and Hispanic immigration, and the idea of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the White House. And if expanding that audience meant involving white nationalists and neo-Nazis, their participation could always be laundered to hide their contributions.

Update (November 26):  Amanda Marcotte explains that "fake news" works because it reinforces what people already believe. For example, myths about immigrants let voters rationalize their choice in the election.

The internet absolutely helped spread rumors that there were secret federal assistance programs only available to non-white people and immigrants. But the fact of the matter is, those stories have been around for decades, spread by word of mouth. Russians may have pumped some money into elevating that propaganda, but it found an audience because so many people were willing to believe. And they want to believe because they are racist and want to justify their racism.

Update (November 27):  Not that it will matter to the right, but the Washington Post demonstrated who is the real source of fake news.

A woman who made up a false story about her relationship with disgraced Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, then relayed it to the Washington Post in an attempt to discredit the newspaper, found herself the target of a media firestorm after her plan backfired and Post reporters revealed her deception as part of a plot orchestrated by a right-wing organization.

Post executive editor Martin Baron:

We always honor ‘off-the-record’ agreements when they’re entered into in good faith. But this so-called off-the-record conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us. The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell for the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled, and we can’t honor an ‘off-the-record’ agreement that was solicited in maliciously bad faith.

Update (December 9):  Steven Rosenfeld writes about the proliferation of lying in politics.

[N]ot only is there a tidal wave of lies swamping the nation’s political shores, there’s more political froth dampening any truth-telling, especially if that stands in the way of politically expedient goals.

“There is no such thing as an outright political lie,” [James Cusick] wrote. “Instead there’s distortion, exaggeration, misrepresentation, deception, half-truth and overstatement. The assumption is that the risk is worth it. Hubris and narcissism mean the consequences of a politician getting caught are outweighed – they think – by the benefits of telling voters what they want to hear. They know we seek support for our preconceived notions, and avoid information that challenges established views.”

“The primary role of the Fourth Estate, the media, is to act as a lie detector, and that—more than courts—acts as a deterrent to politicians.”

Update (December 10):  Conor Lynch notes that von Clownstick could be both a con man and delusional.

[A]ll Republicans are, to varying degrees, committed to “alternative facts.” This is because modern conservatism is an ideology that was built on them.

[The tax bill] is just the tip of the iceberg. The Republican Party as a whole is hostile to the truth, just like [Fuckface's] administration. Yet facts no longer seem to carry the same weight that they once did. Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s famous maxim — “You are entitled to your opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts” — seems rather quaint in the post-truth era ....

Still, as the president’s delusions continue to multiply, it may become too much even for some Republicans to bear. The difference between an ordinary Republican and [von Clownstick] is that the former’s delusions revolve around his or her ideology, while the president’s revolve around his narcissistic personality. [Fuckface's] falsehoods are easier to spot, therefore, because they are often so flagrant and petty, while the lies of conservatism are propped up by a massive propaganda machine, with right-wing think-tanks, media organizations and political action committees all devoted to refuting reality.

Republicans have become exceptionally tolerant of bullshit, but [von Clownstick's] bullshit has come to be a problem. It is so brazen and transparent that it has revealed how little the party actually cares about the truth — just as [Fuckface's] racist and xenophobic rhetoric revealed the deep-seated racism within the Republican electorate. One can only spurn reality for so long before it finally takes its revenge ....

Update (December 13):  The press secretary lectured reporters that "[t]here's a very big difference between making honest mistakes and purposefully misleading the American people". Jake Tapper points out that mistakes in the press have been corrected while Fuckface is a hypocrite.

The White House run by the president who came to political prominence by promoting the lie that the first African-American president was born in Africa is finding time to take issue with those who mislead people.

The White House run by the president who said with no evidence that crowds of American Muslims were seen on TV celebrating in New Jersey after 9/11, the man who repeated the ludicrous National Enquirer claim that Ted Cruz's father had something to do with the Kennedy assassination and the man who has said with no evidence that there were three to five million fraudulent votes for Hillary Clinton, that same president is taking issue with people being misled.

Update (December 16):  Jennifer Mercieca says "retweeting" invokes a deliberate strategy.

[I]t’s becoming increasingly clear that what sets [von Clownstick] apart is his reliance upon paralipsis, a device that enables him to publicly say things that he can later disavow – without ever having to take responsibility for his words.

[Fuckface] dismissed [a] question with “it was a retweet” – as if to say that retweeting someone else’s claim meant that he wasn’t responsible for the content. ... "I retweet things and we start dialogue and it’s very interesting".

It’s a response that can be reduced to I’m not saying it, I’m just saying it.

Update (December 18):  Cenk Uygur talks about how the truth didn't matter to Stalin and the Nazis--what they communicated wasn't meant to be scientifically correct or legally correct, it was meant to be politically correct.

[T]he Washington Post first reported that a senior CDC leader instructed policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention not to use certain words in documents “related to the budget and supporting materials that are to be given to the CDC’s partners and to Congress”, citing an unnamed policy analyst.

And a denial:

CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald pushed back against reports that the agency had prohibited use of the words "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "transgender," "fetus," "evidence-based" and "science-based".

Update (December 20):  The restrictions at CDC are being described as "self-censorship".

Unnamed sources ... assert that the CDC’s reported “word bans” are only for the purposes of budget approvals and wouldn’t affect actual research. But the agency’s history shows that politicizing science goes hand in hand with restricting research and silencing public health communication, says Dr. Stephanie Zaza, president-elect of the American College of Preventive Medicine and a former medical officer at the CDC for 25 years.

Update (December 22):  I want to paraphrase an actual conversation:

Dutch reporter:  You said this.
U.S. Ambassador:  I never said that. We call that fake news.
Dutch reporter:  Here's a video where you say exactly what I claimed. Why did you say it's fake news?
U.S. Ambassador:  I didn't call that fake news.
* Dutch reporter looks at the cameraman in disbelief. *

Update (December 24):  The ambassador apologizes.

Update (July 24, 2018):  Despite enormous criticism over the imposition of tariffs, Dear Leader seeks to reassure his faithful followers.

It's all working out. Just remember: what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening.

Update (October 28, 2018):  When confronted about an unsubstantiated claim about people from the Middle-East being part of a "caravan" from Central America, Fuckface offers this gem:

There’s no proof of anything. But they could very well be.

Update (November 20, 2018):  Lee McIntyre makes a distinction between lying and post-truth.

[T]he point of post-truth is domination. In my analysis, post-truth is an assertion of power.

Update (March 22, 2019):  Heather Digby Parton cites a poll that finds Fox News propaganda creates an alternate reality for their viewers.

One can see this most clearly in this one finding. Among Fox News viewers, the authors write, 78 percent "believe the [von Clownstick] administration has accomplished more than any administration in history," compared to 17 percent of all other people.