[originally posted 12/6/2016] In case you haven’t already heard, here I present to you the Oxford Dictionary’s 2016 word of the year: post-truth. This confection, ahem, conception has been heralded by a huge orange trumpet, and is perhaps best described by Trump’s campaign manager-now-pundit, Corey Lewandowski,
“You guys took everything that Donald Trump said so literally. The American people didn’t… They understood that sometimes, when you have a conversation with people, whether it’s around the dinner table or at a bar, you’re going to say things, and sometimes you don’t have all the facts to back it up.”
The baffling choice of many Americans to vote for a man who may best resemble Bob— that guy who you always invite out drinking, because he makes you and your friends feel smarter, and is known to say outrageous things without any supporting facts, because he also makes those up— has left many of us wondering if we are in the Stranger Things “upside down.”
Bob is a welcome and integral part of the fabric of our country. After all, we believe in free speech, we believe in bold assertion, we even believe everyone has a place. But, we usually do not select that guy to become our daughter’s godfather, give him our spare set of keys, or name him executor of our will. Bob has his place, but not a place in charge of the rest of us. That is, until now.
So, in our attempts to understand this very confusing turn of events, we have a new idea to roll out. “Post-truth” is a smart-sounding way we tell ourselves that facts and empirical experience don’t really matter anymore, that somehow we can be “beyond” that. That somehow we will still be okay regardless of decisions and words emanating from the top in this topsy-turvy way. That whomever speaks with the greatest bravado and in the style of authenticity, wins the post-truth world. Oh, oops, he did.
The only problem with this, is that empirical facts do matter in a flesh and blood kind of way. Sure, statistics can be skewered, spun and molded to support any number of arguments or agendas, but data and empirical experience are not statistics. They are real. Real to your life. Real to your neighbor’s life. Real to your pocketbook and freedom. Real to history.
Take for instance one of many lovely Americans, wearing a hijab in the NYC subway who just got physically and verbally harassed. Take for instance, the KKK riding the streets of North Carolina in a tandem victory celebration with our Pres-elect who has been doing his own post-campaign ‘strut of stuff.’ Take for instance, my own kid, fearful her Spanish teacher will be deported and sent to live behind the wall. Take for instance, the swamp drain taking shape as a slippery funnel running directly into the forming cabinet. Perhaps even, take that cute little neighbor boy Sparky McDougalshoots, who swears he doesn’t play with matches…. but somehow your house got burned down to the ground anyway.
Words engender action, and words engender results, in the real world. Especially words from leaders. (Psst: this is why leaders are supposed to rise via principles and self-control into these important places). Real world results mean people go off to war to get their limbs blown off. Real world results mean big businesses get tax breaks to stay in the USA with no provision to protect those workers’ pay rate. Real world results means international diplomacy breaks down, because diplomacy is words.
So, because I prefer to have my limbs (and my free media) stay on; because I prefer my pay rate stay fair, and my town feel safe to all; because I prefer to have my neighbor’s kids home from war, I will be taking a really close look at the real world results of this election, not just the interpretation of it. I will be especially discerning of the “take” on what’s happening from B. Bob himself, because while he is the guy to peep on teenagers naked in dressing rooms because he can, and the guy to grab a little, deal a little deal while going bankrupt in the real world (losing lots of folks jobs and hurting smaller businesses while he’s at it), I really don’t believe he can deliver greatness to anyone but himself. I will also actively #resist that which is not okay with me, and not get bogged down in words meant to confuse and normalize abhorrence.
I did not want Bob to have the keys to my house, and I refuse to let Sparky over to play, because even though all this is charming and full of excitement, I have experienced much better— and real— results from letting the truth set me free.
From the Oxford English Dictionary
empirical adjective
Based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic: ‘they provided considerable empirical evidence to support their argument’
1 The profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations, typically by a country’s representatives abroad: ‘an extensive round of diplomacy in the Middle East’
1.1 The art of dealing with people in a sensitive and tactful way: ‘with perfect diplomacy, he divided his attention between Meryl and Anthea’
discernment noun
[mass noun] The ability to judge well:
‘an astonishing lack of discernment’