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

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.

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.

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.

It's a very close cousin.

It has, Granarchist

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.