"post-truth&quo t; international word of the year

Obama is absolutely right. (Somehow or other I don't think he's going to be unemployed when he leaves the White House - he has plenty to say.) I'm glad that Google, Twitter and (somewhat belatedly) Facebook are taking this seriously. However, there's more to be done. People who do care about facts need to campaign for a much greater awareness - in schools, in the media, in government, everywhere. The whole thing takes propaganda to a whole new level.

Ooops...forgot the link... www.theguardian.com/media/2016/nov/17/barack-obama-fake-news-facebook-social-media

www.reuters.com/article/us-twitter-alt-right-idUSKBN13B2EP

Twitter has been brave, because there will almost inevitably be a backlash from the 'libertarians' who will accuse it of being ultra-PC and defending their 'right' to free speech. No doubt these defenders of free speech will perform semantic contortions to defend their right to say what they want.

this is a hoax - another example of social media publishing fictional news stories - be very careful what you read and if in doubt google the item and tag it hoax? or urban myth? this word HAS NOT BEEN MADE word of the year by anyone.

It has, Granarchist

www.oxforddictionaries.com/press/news/2016/11/17/WOTY-16

But post-truth is not the same as fake news.

It's a very close cousin.

Let this be a lesson to us all. We know about spin doctors and extreme arguments for and against anything and now we know that we live in an age of post-truth.
With this knowledge we can look at what interests us with a critical eye and try to winkle out what the truth actually is.
Hard work but a chance to challenge the crap we are being fed.

In many cultures it is quite valid to tell people what you perceive they want to hear. A good example of that was the war on Iraq. The American were told by their spies that WPM existed there and grabbed it and ran with it. I remember Colin Powell bullying the UN to back it.

Jayh says 'we can look at what interests us with a critical eye and try and winkle out what the truth actually is' Yes, exactly so , and what I have been doing for years and years.
admittedly, the internet floods us with news and stories of varying kinds, but whatever the source, we should remain vigilant and not just accept things at face value, neither should be become so cynical that we think all is a conspiracy.A bit of balance is what's needed.For starters, nobody should be blinded by political party loyalty, and if all you read/take notice of is either all left wing or all right wing sources of info then you will have a blinkered view.

And so say all of us!

Does that mean that you are you going to stop telling us all what wiil happen, even when you haven't any more clue than the rest of us, roses?

Look no further than the BBC if you want fake news. Remember the Referendum lies that were told by both sides? They think the British people are fools and treat us as such. It is very hard to sort out what is actually truth and what is not.

I also do not like the way the news is presented these days ie chirpy 20 year olds sat around a table chatting about trivial things and dressing it up as news. First thing in the morning that is enough to drive you crackers, especially if you are trying to get everyone off to work/school. Give me ONE presenter (not two or more) to read the news and I am happy. I just want to know what is going on in the world, I DO NOT want to listen to high pitched voices talking about someone's book or film.

Bravo! Well said! Disinformation rules these days :-(

The so-called 'fake news' are much worse than the BBC. They look like real news websites, but their content is nothing more than fairy tales. There are some 'spoof' websites around, which are intended to be funny or satirical, but there are others which are much more dangerous.

I agree with you about the BBC. I don't often watch the TV news these days, but I do read the BBC website and I just don't understand how they think their highlighted stories are important. I wish they'd leave the tabloid stuff to tabloids.

Well...... I like to put together my past experience of political promises and a bit of common sense. We cling to this '350 million daily for the NHS'. Honestly, who in their right mind ever believed that? Honestly? Also, we have this group of believers of whatever persuasion telling us EXACTLY what will happen in the future. And some of us believe their predictions. Seriously? Just think of the unforeseen problems and changes in our daily lives and then move that to a worldwide scene. Whew! My philosophy is not to worry about what I can't see but to try to my very best to deal with the daily dilemmas that keep happening to me. NOT AT ALL all bad I must add. Life can be very kind. Yippee.

If news isn't sexed up, few people will watch it.

www.indy100.com/article/bookshop-sign-2016-apocalypse-current-affairs-sums-up-year-hilarious-7418866

The comments afterwards are interesting as well.

Simon Kellner wrote an article in the i about post-truth politics, saying it is an adjective which perfectly describes a promise made during an election campaign that is not redeemable.
The promise about the NHS was post-truth, in other words, a lie.
Apparently post-truth has been in use for a decade, but it is in the dictionary because its usage has spiked by 2000% over the past year.

How do you know that, beammeupscottie? I haven't a clue how many people are like me, but I don't watch the news because it's sexed up.

New Thump is a brilliant site to follow, parodies of news stories which are close to the truth. Example today: photo of Michael Gove, and underneath is written 'Petition to have Michael Gove cryogenically frozen reaches 9 million.Best site by far.

So if nobody believed the £350 million, why did Vote Leave run with it? Why did I see numerous posts on different sites, where people repeated the lie when trying to persuade people that leaving the EU was the right thing to do? I'm afraid that some people did believe it. They also believed the stuff about Turkey joining the EU and endlessly repeat that EU accounts have never been audited, that there's about to be an EU army and countless other myths. Are there really so many people 'not in their right mind'?

Johnson said this week that the EU should let Turkey join even though they want to bring back capital punishment.
Not sure if I want him to get his way on that or not.
On second thoughts that would be punishing the EU, not Johnson, so no, I don't.

How can Turkey possibly be considered for EU membership when they are still, in the South, girls who have no access to education?

Ask Boris.

Excellent post Kim19

Did you mean newsthump, GillT?
newsthump.com/2016/11/17/santa-could-be-barred-from-delivering-in-the-uk-after-brexit/

Santa will not deliver to UK after Brexit? Better make sure our grandchildren have stopped believing in him before then!