Cater comments on a post-truth world
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Nick Cater writes in The Australian, /Labor, teal lies fitting for our first
post-truth election/.

    "In a post-truth world, however, evidence is accepted or dismissed not on
    its merits but on its usefulness to the narrative.

    Political priorities are readjusted accordingly.

    Hence an isolated example of disrespectful behaviour at an Anzac Day
    ceremony in Melbourne is quickly inflated into a far-right, neo-Nazi
    uprising, while a Chinese live-fire exercise off the NSW coast is
    dismissed as routine."

...

    "The journalist's role is no longer the dogged pursuit of objective truth,
    a task that could once be performed by a school leaver armed with
    practical intelligence and a sharpened pencil.

    Today's journalists carry the scars of misspent years at university
    writing essays on the role of language and discourse in constructing
    meaning and power. They are no longer members of Edmund Burke's fourth
    estate, charged with holding authorities to account. They are the fifth
    estate, whose job is to promote social change and create a more just and
    equitable world.

    Together these postmodern forces in politics and journalism mark a
    profound shift. The old contest of policies and ideas has given way to a
    "contest of narratives".

    Spin and emotional appeals are nothing new. Political strategists have
    recognised since the 1990s that storytelling, image and repetition can
    outweigh policy detail come election time.

    However, this election is exceptional for the near-eclipse of objective
    truth by tribal logic and activist framing. Complex problems are reduced
    to moral absolutes. Voters are presented with a choice between
    righteousness and complicity; emotional urgency replaces rational
    persuasion.

    In 21st century politics, truth is secondary to group solidarity. If a
    statement advances "our side" and harms "theirs", it is accepted without
    scrutiny.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/labor-teal-lies-fitting-for-our-first-posttruth-election/news-story/35603a5893a4b81163ae3b53ff8fd40e