Post-truth (index) - grandma tours the house

This series began in November 2020 with my puzzlement about the word post-truth and what it reveals about the word truth. 

I had no idea then how hard it would be to explore these words. They are complex and difficult to write about. I am satisfied I've added some clarity to the thinking on this question.

However, I believe that if you can’t explain a complex idea to your grandmother, it could mean you may be hiding behind vagueness, abstract words and fuzzy concepts. 

So, this post takes my gran on a tour of the house construction metaphor for truth. 

It serves as a series index, lists what is planned, and acknowledges some areas that I really should go back to. 

That is, if gran doesn’t tell me that it’s all claptrap.

Simplistic thinking - are you an addict?

Welcome to Simplistics Anonymous, also known as SimpAnon.

You may have come to this page because a friend recommended us, or you may have been googling why you feel numb, bored or so disconnected from life. You may be wondering if there is an alternative to feeling that life is pretty flat. 

Well, it's possible you are addicted to simplistic thinking, without knowing it. This addiction is real, it's destructive, and it's disconnecting. 

Luckily, there is a solution. 

Part 1 on this page explains the appeal and dangers of simplistic thinking, and why people become addicted to it. Part 2 outlines the 12-step recovery program for people addicted to simplistic thinking. 

Post-truth (part 9) - camouflage for an old adversary

House Under Construction
Kazimir Malevich
Source 

The emergence of the word post-truth sparks a very old philosophical question - what is truth? 

I've now written over 20,000 words in 8 posts to attempt to explain how I see truth. (A full recap and a contents page are coming.) 

My exploration has focused on how humanity pictures the concept of truth. I contend that our most common image - the metaphor of the tortuous journey to an absolute objective truth as a destination (out there) - is part of problem in thinking clearly about truth and post-truth. 

In this series, I have presented a new metaphor that is a better fit with humanity's relationship with truth - the house construction metaphor. The metaphor represents the shared process of constructing and maintaining the house - our sense of truth - and also the vulnerabilities inherent in any project that involves a lot of people. 

The house construction metaphor illustrates that truth is personal, provisional, and socially constructed by humans, and that is not only okay, it is inevitable. Our concept of truth, as I see it, is the outcome of our human needs. 

So, how does the new metaphor help in understanding post-truth? 

Counter-anti-dis - the prefix strategy in politics

When I was growing up, my family would compete to find the longest word. (There was no internet then, and no Wikipedia with a page entitled Longest word in English).

My brother trounced with floccinaucinihilipilification with 29 letters. We liked the meaning: a series of Latin words that each mean 'nothing' - floccus ('a wisp') +‎ naucum ('a trifle') +‎ nihilum ('nothing') +‎ pilus ('a hair') + -fication used together to mean "the act of estimating something as worthless" 

So, family members: admit defeat! You can buy
this shirt by GolemAura at Redbubble

My favourite word was antidisestablishmentarianism (at 28 letters) for its inherent ‘anti-anti-’ness. I loved how English allowed the construction of seemingly endless suffixes and prefixes: establish with -ment, then -arian, then -ism, then dis-, then anti-.

I didn't know then that antidisestablishmentarianism was an archaic word that meant a position that advocates that a state Church (the 'established church') should continue to receive government patronage, rather than be disestablished (or I would have liked it way less). I liked it because I could beat my brother by adding another prefix: counter- to make a word with 35 letters.¹

 
Counter-anti-dis-. Anti-anti-anti-. It was a good joke if you were into words.

It was difficult to fit on a t-shirt though.  

Lately, however, I’ve noticed what I am going to call a 'counter-anti-dis-establishmentarian strategy' in politics.

And it's no joke at all.

Email subscription ending

Hello Wordly Explorations email subscribers

In the near future, this blog platform is turning off the capacity to use your email address to automatically generate emails notifying you of each new post.

For now, I will manage emails for each post manually, while I think about the best option to replace this system without selling my soul or inflicting advertising on readers (because you already KNOW how much I loathe advertising!). I understand, for some, email is the best way to manage your reading, so I will keep it up as long as I can.

Another option for you to see the posts might be to follow Wordly Explorations on Facebook. 

Post truth (part 8) - persuasion or propaganda

In the last post, I explored the motivations of those involved in the social agreement for truth, with a focus on how marketing and lobbying work to influence that agreement for their own aims. 

While this influence can be sinister, my main point was that we are rather cavalier about overt manipulation of truth, even as it infiltrates our minds and shapes our actions. The strategies of marketing and lobbying reveal so much about the social construction of truth. 

And yet, still we prefer to think about truth as objective and absolute, and advertising as inconsequential or irrelevant to truth. Many disagree, including the insightful Daniel Boorstin. 

This series began in November 2020 with my puzzlement about the word post-truth and what it means about the word truth. I had no idea then how hard it would be to explore these concepts.

In parts 1 and 2, I pointed out that the false journey metaphor for truth has allowed the emergence of post-truth to be laughed off as a problem of some 'stupid', misinformed or misguided individuals, or decried as the lies of narcissistic or sociopathic political figures to stay in power. 'Objective truth still exists', we say to ourselves: 'They are just wrong'. 

I don't feel so disdainful. I speculated in that post that post-truth is a symptom of a well-orchestrated propaganda campaign to control truth. But I didn't really understand how anyone could succeed in controlling truth. 

To explore this idea, I created a new metaphor, the house construction metaphor for truth. 

In this post I use the house metaphor to think about propaganda, the final word to explore before I can come back to where I started and ponder what we mean by truth and post-truth.

Yantbom - claiming the right not to think

Last week, I was standing at the lights waiting for the Walk signal. A guy drove past, going way too fast for the built-up area. I could see the automatic 'SLOW DOWN' signal flash at him. He revved loudly and increased his speed.

I felt disconcerted by this reaction, one I notice more and more often. 

When I see people objecting to instructions to slow down, wear masks to combat Covid 19, use seatbelts or bike helmets, or ideas like restricting human access to some natural areas, changing the date of Australia day, allowing gay people to marry, ad infinitum, I am puzzled not so much by their opposition, but their intensity and anger. 

Rarely do they offer any specific reasoning for their objection.

Instead, resistance is often fiercely proclaimed as the vital defence of individual freedom. They might call themselves freedom fighters, freedom lovers, upholders of personal liberty, or sometimes libertarians.

But I don't think it's about freedom or liberty at all. 

I think what I'm seeing is just an adult tantrum in response to being asked to think and to self-reflect. And tantrums always look rather disconcerting in adults. 

This type of reaction needs a better name; a name that reflects what's really going on.