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posted by janrinok on Thursday November 17 2016, @06:04PM   Printer-friendly

Oxford Dictionaries has declared "post-truth" as its 2016 international word of the year, reflecting what it called a "highly-charged" political 12 months. It is defined as an adjective relating to circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than emotional appeals. Its selection follows June's Brexit vote [in the UK], and the US presidential election. Post-truth, which has become associated with the phrase "post-truth politics", was chosen ahead of other political terms, including "Brexiteer" and "alt-right".

[...] Oxford Dictionaries says post-truth is thought to have been first used in 1992. However, it says the frequency of its usage increased by 2,000% in 2016 compared with last year.

Mr Grathwohl said: "Fuelled by the rise of social media as a news source and a growing distrust of facts offered up by the establishment, post-truth as a concept has been finding its linguistic footing for some time," he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37995600
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016

Would you have chosen something different?


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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday November 17 2016, @08:02PM

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Thursday November 17 2016, @08:02PM (#428309) Journal

    That's why it's best to have a gun. You never know whose side you're not on until somebody declares you a demon from the burning hells.

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  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday November 17 2016, @09:30PM

    by jmorris (4844) on Thursday November 17 2016, @09:30PM (#428385)

    You could just simplify that to "That's why it is best to have a gun. You never know when you will need it."

    Which is the entire point. When you realize you need one it is usually too late to get one. On either the short term or long term meaning of the phrase. Whether it is when you hear something go bump in the night and suddenly realize the Truth in the bumper sticker rhetoric of "When seconds count, the police are minutes away" or the medium picture of once the riots start the gun stores are not going to be open, all the way to the bigger picture of by the time a tyrant is in power it is going to be far too late to buy guns.

    So buy now, and be sure to buy at least one that isn't on the books and stash it. Probably won't need em but you probably won't ever need your homeowner's policy either, right? Odds say that the vast of majority of gun owners will never fire a shot in anger. Most police officers even get through a whole career in law enforcement without having to discharge their weapon in the field. These are good things. They are signs that chaos, while currently straining against the chains, isn't yet out of control.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @12:45AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @12:45AM (#428525)

      They are signs that chaos, while currently straining against the chains, isn't yet out of control.

      You totally terrorized coward, jmorris! Why are you so afraid? Getting a brain is much better for your security and peace of mind than any firearm.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @08:14AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 18 2016, @08:14AM (#428736)

        Fear is the mind-killer.
        That's not figurative either. The long-term stress of living in constant terror literally shrinks the brain.