This post-truth thing
What is truth? Now that people speak of a post-truth period, could we possibly assume that there were pre-truth and truth eras?
It is true
It is totally true
That this society
Is a post-truth society
That a post-truth condition
Has fallen on our world
That on us has descended
A post-truth condition.
Where the truth is that
Appeals to emotion
And to personal belief
Shape public opinion
A little more
Than does objective truth.
To that universally indubitable truth
That we now inhabit a world
Which is truly post-truth
I do not object.
I nonetheless may I ask
May I nonetheless do nothing except
Ask one to tell me
Ask one to tell me
When there was —
When there was —
A pre-truth condition
A pre-truth condition in which
Objective truth influenced shaping public opinion
A little less than did appeals to emotion
And to personal belief?
May I also nonetheless ask
May I also nonetheless ask one only to tell me
When we were
When we were
In truth condition
In truth condition in which
Objective truths shaped public opinion
A little more than did appeals to emotion
And a little more than did appeals to personal belief?
For no one answered those questions —
I affirm — conclusively —
That there never was such a thing
As a pre-truth condition
That there never was such a thing
As a truth condition
That there never is such a thing
As a post-truth condition.
And I further conclusively affirm that
Appeals to emotion
And to personal belief
Shape public opinion forever without end
Forever without end shape public opinion
Shape public opinion one hundred per cent
Eternally shape public opinion one hundred per cent
One hundred per cent.
* Samuel Abonyo is the author of The Cursed Poisoner and the Forbidden Love. Pangolin Limited.
* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM
* BROUGHT TO YOU BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
* Please do not take Pambazuka for granted! Become a Friend of Pambazuka and make a donation NOW to help keep Pambazuka FREE and INDEPENDENT!
* Please send comments to [email=[email protected]]editor[at]pambazuka[dot]org[/email] or comment online at Pambazuka News.