Post-truth

Post-truth is a term that refers to the widespread documentation of, and concern about, disputes over public truth claims in the 21st century. The term's academic development refers to the theories and research that seek to explain the specific causes historically, and the effects of the phenomenon. Oxford Dictionaries popularly defines it as "relating to and denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief." While the term was used in phrases like "post-truth politics" academically and publicly before 2016, in 2016 the term was named Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries after the term's proliferation in the first election of President Trump in the United States and the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom; Donald Trump has been characterized as engaging in a "war on truth". Oxford Dictionaries further notes that post-truth was often used as an adjective to signal a distinctive kind of politics. Some scholars argue that post-truth has similarities with past moral, epistemic, and political debates about relativism, postmodernity, and dishonesty in politics. Others insist that post-truth is specifically concerned with 21st century communication technologies and cultural practices.