Post-truth in the era of President Trump

Re Oxford asks: Can we handle the post-truth?

Nov. 19 Several years ago, talk-show host Stephen Colbert coined the word “truthiness” to express the idea that if enough people believed something to be true it gained credibility. We laughed.

Now just a few short years down the road, we indeed live in a “post-truth” era. We should not be laughing. It now shapes our world. This is a truly disturbing Orwellian phenomenon that unless seriously addressed will have repercussions for years to come.

As a member of the baby boomer generation, I was lucky enough to be born into an age of reason, which I fear may be slipping away if current trends are left unchecked. As more and more people get most of their news and information from unreliable social media sources, we should consider introducing into school curricula a course on critical thinking and healthy skepticism.

Students should be encouraged at an early age to not accept everything they read as truth, and take some personal responsibility for separating fact from fiction, and rational thought from baseless conspiracy.

A quote attributed to Edgar Allan Poe from the early 19th century, “Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear,” couldn’t be more applicable today, and might be a good starting point for the discussion. Stephen Brouitt, Richmond Hill “Post-truth,” Oxford’s 2016 word of the year, reflects defeatism. My nomination for 2017: “Truth-emergency.”

Hopefully it will be followed in 2018 by “Truth-Triumphant.” Barrie Zwicker, Toronto