Post truth (part 10) - words are our building blocks

Many posts ago, I started my exploration of the word post-truth.

I've thought about the human experience of reality, the social process of constructing a shared truth, the psychological and social role of truth, the weaknesses in human reasoning about their experience of the world, how many people take advantage of the nature of truth, and ended with the contention that post-truth was a camouflage word for propaganda, which I defined as 'truth determined by one person alone'.

I represented those concepts through the metaphor of the construction of a house - the ground being the reality we assume exists, the foundations and floor being humanity's probing, perception and interpretation of reality, the walls being the explanatory stories about the world, and the roof being the sense of safety and stability we need as humans and as societies to function. Read a summary of the series so far. 

Through the series, I have interrogated many words as part of telling explanatory stories, expositing facts, declaring evidence, and sharing a sense of reality with our society. 

What I have not yet explored is how words work in the construction of truth and how they fit in the house construction metaphor. 

This post explores words as things that humans use, to set the scene for a future post relating this to the construction of truth.  

Simplistic thinking - 12 steps to beat your addiction

It's great you're here. The world needs more people willing to let go of simplistic thinking, ready to join the complexity revolution. 

Simplistic Anonymous (SimpAnon) is an international fellowship helping addicts resist the appeal and pervasiveness of simplistic thinking in our culture. It opens the door to living well with complexity.

If you are willing to let go of some simplistic illusions, experience the discomfort AND awe of complexity and contradiction, and embrace the rewards of living in an amazingly rich and incredible world - Simplistics Anonymous is for you. 

The Twelve Step program was created as Alcoholics Anonymous in 1935. It has since been used for many types of addictions - gambling, shopping, prescription medication, etc. Although it has been adapted over time, the premise of each step remains the same for all recovery programs. The original program emphasised healing power of the Christian conception of God, but recent adaptations use the idea of 'a higher power' however the person conceives it. 

The Simplistics Anonymous twelve-step program provides a guide to a lifestyle that embraces the rich fullness of our amazing world and your place within it. 

This page outlines the 12-step program for recovery from addition to simplistic thinking. On this page, you can read a background to addiction and the appeal and many dangers of an addiction to simplistic thinking.

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.