Noam Chominsky On Fake News And Post-factual Politics

Although fake news is not a new thing, it has recently become a tool for post-factual politics. Post-factual politics consists in the proper distortion of reality in order to change and shape people’s perceptions and opinions. False news causes these distortions to go viral through the media.

Postfaktuell is a new name for an old friend: propaganda. Propaganda has always been a way of creating half-truths that do not really relate to facts, but which end up being believed by more than a few because they are constantly repeated.

As a political activist against neoliberalism, Noam Chomsky considers post-current politics worrying.

Emotions and post-factual politics

According to Chomsky, the quality of life has declined in the last couple of decades due to the neoliberal policies of the United States and Britain. The truth is that many people experience a mixture of anger and fear, which ends up being mistrust and escape from reality.

Emotions can play a big role in post-factual politics. People trust what satisfies their feelings, even if the facts are not true. The stronger the emotional connection to an idea, the stronger your fixation on it.

The recent immigration surplus has increased feelings of hatred, xenophobia, revenge and frustration over living conditions. Consequently, the closer these “truths” are to the current feeling, the more widely accepted they become. People want to believe in something that satisfies them instead of relying on evidence and facts.

Mass media, social media and lies

Prejudice has been a force of nature since the beginning of time. This is, for example, the reason why Galileo was forced to withdraw his ideas. In our current time period , however, this has taken on a whole new dimension due to the power of the mass media and social media.

False news can go viral in seconds. There are many tools to make them work properly. There are also ways to falsify photos or audio clips. This leads to the “if everyone says so, then it must be true” effect.

Chomsky and post-current truths

For Noam Chomsky, truth is not limited to politics. There are many other distorted realities related to economics, psychology and lifestyle. When it comes to finances, Chomsky claims that all consumers are systematically cheated.

Take cars, for example. When buying a car, are you looking for information about it? How is the car really? Are there independent sources that can confirm what the car really is like?

Chomsky believes that people these days feel lonely and helpless. Thus, it is psychological ideologies that promote individualism. Now your problems are just yours. They are seen as private matters that each of us has to deal with alone.

At this point, you need to pay attention to the philosophies of past times. Do not rely so much on the Internet and all the information you come across. Each of us is responsible for suspecting new ideas and stopping mediocrity from going viral.