English Summary
Editor’s Letter
Life after the fact
By Kim Belov
In 2016, people all over the world let emotions get the better of them.
The Oxford English Dictionary dubbed “post‑truth” the 2016 word of the year (I remind you that last year it was “emoji”). In German, it sounds even better: “postfaktisch”. Post‑fact doesn’t mean what happens after the truth is revealed. Instead it is what happens when everybody already knows the truth, but doesn’t give a damn because they are moved first and foremost by their own emotions.
Post‑fact isn’t just what happens after the truth becomes known. It’s what happens when everybody knows the truth but doesn’t give a damn about it, because they are moved first and foremost by their own emotions.
It became apparent in 2016 that people are capable of ignoring facts en masse when those facts don’t correspond to their vision of life. The Campaign to Remain in the UK and Hillary Clinton’s campaign strategy were both focused on facts: here are statistics, numbers, disgraceful comments by the opposing candidate, here are his very own words caught on camera with a dozen witnesses. But it became clear that either people don’t believe facts or choose to ignore them. EU or Clinton supporters were totally unprepared for that kind of willful ignorance. It turns out that people live in their bubbles, where the world looks different from how it actually is. People are comfortable inside those bubbles.
What people think of themselves and who they are in actual fact often differ dramatically. The English think that every fourth person in the country is a homophobe, when in actual fact it is a lot less. The Dutch think a third of the Dutch oppose abortions, when in fact it’s only 8 %. In both Europe and in the US, many exaggerate the number of Muslims living in their country. That fearful perspective is the most common among the French, who think that 30 % of the country’s residents practice Islam when in fact it’s only about 8 %.