Truthiness and Bullshit
Understanding Truthiness and Post-Truth
Truthiness Defined: The concept of "truthiness" was popularized by Stephen Colbert in 2005. It refers to a visceral, gut feeling about something being true, often without, or even in defiance of, objective evidence, facts, or logical reasoning. It's about asserting beliefs as truth because they "feel right" or align with one's personal worldview and emotions, rather than being grounded in verifiable data.
Post-Truth Era: This term, highlighted by the Oxford Dictionaries as the word of the year in 2016, describes a cultural and political environment where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. In a post-truth landscape, factual rebuttals are often ineffective against narratives that resonate emotionally or confirm preconceived notions, leading to a diminished role for shared, objective reality.
Impact and Examples of Truthiness
Fake Election Lies: A prominent and impactful example of truthiness in action involves the widespread dissemination of false claims regarding election integrity. These claims often appeal to voters' emotions, distrust in institutions, and existing political biases, rather than being supported by demonstrable facts, official audits, or legal rulings. The persistence of these narratives, despite factual debunking, showcases the power of emotional resonance over evidence. For example, assertions of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 US election, despite rigorous investigations finding no evidence to support such claims, continued to be believed by a significant portion of the population based on feelings and partisan loyalties.
Media Propagation: Certain media outlets have been central to discussions about how truthiness spreads, particularly concerning contentious political topics. For instance, Fox News has been cited in analyses of the amplification of election-related falsehoods and interpretations of events like the Capitol Riots. The network's coverage, for some critics, demonstrates how continuous appeals to a specific audience's beliefs and emotions can solidify 'truthy' narratives. Links to discussions around these topics include:
Fox News's role in discussing "Fake Election Lies" and contributing to their spread.
The activism and influence of figures like Charlie Kirk, whose rhetoric often appeals to emotional conviction rather than empirical evidence.
Extensive coverage and varying interpretations of the Capitol Riots, where narratives often diverged significantly based on perceived truthiness.
Fact-checking resources providing detailed analyses and debunking of claims related to the Capitol Attack.
"Feeling" vs. Truth: Truthiness fundamentally prioritizes a subjective "feeling" or intuition over verifiable truth. A notable example is Rick Santorum's claims about euthanasia practices in the Netherlands during a 2012 presidential debate. He asserted that a significant percentage of Dutch deaths were due to involuntary euthanasia, which was later widely disputed by fact-checkers and medical experts who pointed to inaccuracies in his statistics and misrepresentations of Dutch law. This instance highlights how a compelling, emotionally charged narrative, even if factually flawed, can gain traction by appealing to listeners' existing moral or political sentiments.
Characteristics of a Bullshitter
The concept of a "bullshitter," as explored by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in "On Bullshit," suggests there are distinct characteristics that differentiate bullshit from a lie. While a liar knows the truth and intentionally misrepresents it, a bullshitter is fundamentally indifferent to the truth. Their primary concern is not to convey truth or falsehood, but to create an impression or achieve a rhetorical goal, regardless of the factual accuracy of their statements. The five defining characteristics of a bullshitter, building on Frankfurt's work, can be summarized as:
Indifference to Truth: They are not concerned whether their statements are true or false; the truth is simply irrelevant to their purpose.
Focus on Impression: Their aim is to impress, persuade, or manipulate an audience, often by projecting an image of knowledge, confidence, or sincerity.
Lack of Connection to Reality: Their statements are often disconnected from empirical reality, relying instead on plausible-sounding assertions or rhetorical flourishes.
Self-Serving Motivation: The primary driver is often personal gain, ego gratification, or the advancement of a particular agenda.
Generative, Not Reactive: Bullshit is often proactively generated to fill a void or create a narrative, rather than being a direct response to a specific factual inquiry.
Examples of Bullshitters
Media Personalities:
Bill O'Reilly: Known for his confrontational and often dismissive style as a pundit, his catchphrase "SHUT UP!" became emblematic of his approach. Critics argue that O'Reilly frequently used rhetorical aggression and interruption to shut down opposing viewpoints rather than engaging with facts or logical arguments, thus prioritizing the appearance of dominance over the pursuit of truth.
Fox News Bullshit Artists and Islamophobia: This example points to a broader pattern of rhetoric, particularly within certain segments of cable news, that can be perceived as generating "bullshit" through its portrayal of specific groups. Discussions around Islamophobia, for instance, sometimes feature commentators making broad generalizations or unsubstantiated claims about Muslim communities, which are argued to be more about creating a particular emotional reaction or political narrative than presenting accurate, nuanced information.
Fictional and Political Figures:
George Costanza (from Seinfeld): A classic comedic example from popular culture, George frequently resorts to exaggerated or entirely fabricated stories to navigate social situations or extract himself from difficult predicaments. In the episode "The Fire," he invents a heroic but entirely untrue narrative about saving a fictional woman from a fire, illustrating how personal convenience or ego can drive the creation of elaborate falsehoods that are not technically lies because he doesn't care about their truthfulness.
Donald Trump: Cited as a prominent example, particularly in political discourse, for making numerous public claims that have been widely documented as lacking factual basis. An assertion such as immigrants eating cats and dogs is presented as an instance of rhetoric that disregards factual accuracy, operating on a level where the impression or emotional impact of the statement outweighs any concern for its verifiable truth. These statements, often made without evidence or later contradicted, are argued by some to exemplify bullshitting due to their indifference to objective reality.