Post Truth

 

Hello Readers! I am Insiya Alvani student of MK Bhavnagar University. I write this blog in response to a Thinking activity assigned by Dilip Barad sir. In this blog I am going to discuss the term Post Truth, definition of post truth and various examples of this term.

Oxford University press, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary and many other dictionaries, announces an Oxford Dictionaries UK Word of the Year and an Oxford Dictionaries US Word of the Year; sometimes these are the same word. The Word of the Year need not have been coined within the past twelve months but it does need to have become prominent or notable during that time. Every year a team of language experts and lexicographers choose the word which trended in that particular year, capturing the ideas that ruled that year globally. 

"Vax" the word of the year 2021

The effects of the Coronavirus pandemic, which began in early 2020, can be widely seen even now. While "pandemic" and "lockdown" were some of the highly used words for 2020. for 2021 Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has announced the word "vax" as the word of the year for 2021. "Vax" is related to vaccines. Words related to vaccines have spiked in frequency in 2021 due to Covid, with double-vaxxed, unvaxxed and anti-vaxxer all seeing a surge in use. 

 In 2016 'Post– Truth' was the Oxford Dictionary's international word. The definition of post truth is "Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief." The term was named by Oxford Dictionaries "Word Of The Year." In 2016. Oxford dictionaries further note that post-truth was often used as an adjective to signal a distinctive kind of politics – 'post-truth politics.'  

Its popular and academic treatments sometimes differ in respect to its meaning, but most associate it with communication forms such as fake or false news, rumors, hoaxes, and political lying. 

This definition implies that post-truths are created from people’s perceptions of the world and what they believe to be true is derived from personal beliefs or perhaps influenced by others, and emotional instincts rather than facts. Drawing conclusions this way and creating ‘alternative facts’ means that almost anything can become true – whether it is correct or not. Alternative facts are not a new concept, they have been part of journalism and politics for centuries. 

Alternative media are media sources that differ from established or dominant types of media in terms of their content, production, or distribution. Sometimes independent media is used as a synonym of alternative news. indicating independence from large media corporations, but this term is also used to indicate media enjoying freedom of the press and independence from government control. Alternative media challenge the dominant beliefs and values of a culture. 

 On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series. It also announced the issuance of new ₹500 and ₹2,000 banknotes in exchange for the demonetised banknotes. Following the demonetisation move in 2016, Zee News and Aaj Tak anchors had fueled rumours about GPS trackers on the new currency notes to tackle the menace of black money.  

However, what was even more shocking was the endless tale on social media about how the new Rs 2000 notes will have a 'nano GPS chip', better known as NGC, which will be used to track the specific location of these notes from anywhere.

According to the rumours, these NGC chips would include ‘signal-reflectors’ that would help satellites to track the location of the notes, even if they are 120 meters below ground level. The theory was that satellites would track heavy accumulation of such NGC-enabled notes, and could trace them to enable authorities to take necessary steps.

In a promotional video for the upcoming season of popular quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati by the Sony channel, Bachchan asked Guddi, a contestant, to pick an option that had GPS technology. A typewriter, television, satellite, and a Rs 2,000 note were among the answers.

As the woman on the “hot seat” quickly replied that it was a Rs 2,000 note, the Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan asked if she was sure. She said that not just her, the entire country was sure. Bachchan then revealed that satellite was the correct answer, but the woman asked if he was joking.

"Why will I joke? The joke was what you considered as truth."

But the contestant did not seem satisfied. This was shown in the news, so wasn’t it the organisations’ fault, she asked. Bachchan then said that while it was possible that there was a lapse on part of news organisations but the loss was ultimately hers. He then went on to tell the audience,

 "Gyaan jahaan se mile bator lijiye, par pehle zara tatol lijiye" (gather information from wherever you get, but verify it first).

As a part of critical thinking, The Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University organised a two day thinking skills workshop by Dr. Milan Pandya sir. This workshop is very much related to the Term Post-Truth.  We also discussed various examples releted to this terms. To visit my blog on Critical Thinking CLICK HERE  

In this time, knowledge is everywhere, social media platforms like WhatsApp YouTube and other applications are easy source of gaining knowledge, but it is difficult to judge what is true and what is false. People believe some ridiculous things to be true. We also got the experience of this during the Corona pandemic. Constantly false rumors would go viral on social media platforms and people would believe them as true. 

So in today's time media like alternative news has become very necessary. fact and non-fact based reports are treated equally in the public and, more worryingly, private realm. So, facts are replaced by alternative facts and truth is replaced by lies. Sometimes the majority of people believe non-fact reports as true fact. Which is very harmful for society.

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