Democracy cannot survive in a post-truth society. The truth and evidence-based critical thinking matter if we are to develop the shared understanding of reality that makes beloved community possible.

Autocrats know that democracy cannot survive in a context where there is no shared truth and no shared valuing of the truth, which is why they flood our society with lies and propaganda. Their attacks on truth have been so thorough and successful that we are now experiencing a kind of post-truth insanity that has tragically infected our entire society and is not limited wholly to one side of the political spectrum. 

For example, on more than one occasion I have seen quotes attributed to the wrong author in posts on social media, and when I cite the actual author, many people respond that it doesn’t matter who said it as long as they agree with the quote, but the truth matters, including truth about who did or did not write or say something.

This post-truth mentality across the whole political spectrum can also be seen in how people interact with satire. If we are sharing something that is satire that we know is satire, but we share it as if it were true, then we are perpetuating a lie, and we are part of the problem of why our community if so broken and divided.

I have heard the opinion expressed that in the fight against fascism, it is appropriate to use any means necessary, including the use of lies and misinformation as long as it is damaging to the fascists. Now I am more than willing to admit that there are times when it is fitting to lie in the resistance to fascism. If the Nazis come to our door and ask if we are hiding a Jewish family in our house, then one should not only lie, but one should lie as convincingly as one possibly can, However, If we totally give up on truth in the fight against fascism, we are actually contributing to the post-truth hellscape upon which fascism has always and will always thrive.

Lies spread much faster than the truth, but I refuse to give up on the truth because the lies and half-truths of propaganda erode trust and are pernicious for all of humanity. We will either have to learn how to recognize and value the truth or perish in a post-truth society.

Every time that people share fake quotes or fake photos on social media, they are contributing to the post-truth society that the fascists and their propagandists are attempting to create.  Flooding social media with “I will post anything that I think hurts my political foe” type posts without any evidence of the posts’ veracity actually helps the fascists more than it hurts them. They need to perpetuate a post-truth society to remain in power.

On this day, thousands of Christian nationalists are gathered in Washington, D.C. to promote their Christian nationalist vision at an event they are calling Rededicate 250. Their vision for our country is white, Eurocentric, and patriarchal. Their views on religious freedom focus almost exclusively on their belief that they should be free to enforce their Christian nationalist beliefs on the whole of our country, and they have allied themselves with autocrats and oligarchs to accomplish this goal. Their agenda has nothing to do with the portrayal of the life and teachings of Jesus that are found in the Bible that they claim is so central to their lives. Their religion has become a post-truth form of Christianity used almost exclusively to promote the alliance of oligarchy and white christian nationalism.

In a society in which religion is important to so many people and religious leaders are influential in so many people’s lives, it is imperative that religious leaders not contribute to hurling us into a post-truth society. We all have the responsibility of modeling that truth and evidence-based critical thinking still matter, and we must resist the temptation to use lies and propaganda to further whatever our cause may be. 

In a world full of fiercely urgent challenges that require science to understand more fully and to address most effectively, expressions of religion that require persons to believe in miracles that contradict science in order to be a member of that religion are contributing to the anti-scientific mindset that is so prevalent in what has become our post-truth society. It is important for religion to be open to what we can learn about the world through the scientific method and not become a barrier to the pursuit of truth wherever it may be found. 

Education has a critical role to play in resisting our fall into a post-truth society, and it is critical that education do all it can to avoid becoming propaganda. The goal of propaganda is to persuade people regardless of what the truth may be. Education should focus on seeking the truth and cultivating wisdom, not simply persuading for the sake of persuasion. Education should help us be able to recognize and correct the misinformation and disinformation that are so often present in the propaganda that is permeating our society. Seeking what is true is important, even if it makes us uncomfortable or does not agree with our worldview or political preferences.

We also cannot ignore the effect that AI is having in contributing to a post-truth society. In addition to AI contributing to a crisis of academic dishonesty in education and a decline in critical thinking and creativity among students, and in addition to AI’s pernicious effects on the environment, including the use of massive amounts of electricity and water; AI is also being used to accelerate our fall into a post-truth society. 

The algorithms that social media use to manipulate and addict us are AI in action.  Most of the fake posts and fake photos being shared all over social media are also AI generated, and now we are bombarded with AI generated stories and propaganda that often have little to no factual foundation.

Many of these AI generated propaganda stories have a common structure: 

• A political figure is portrayed as saying something nasty about another political figure or celebrity. 
• The political figure that has been portrayed as being attacked is portrayed as responding with some amazing comeback that totally “destroys” the person who attacked them. 

The reader finds satisfaction in seeing a political figure whom they dislike being publicly humiliated by a political figure or celebrity figure whom they like, and in the glow of this satisfaction, they share the AI-generated story on their feed for their like-minded friends and followers to share in witnessing the public take-down of their political opponent. 

The problem is that many of these AI generated stories have no basis in fact. They are AI generated rage bait meant to get clicks and promote propaganda without regard for the truth. People share these stories because they think they are participating in the needed resistance against very real threats to our democracy, but they end up contributing to the very post-truth society in which it is almost impossible for a vibrant democracy to exist. 

As we engage in the much needed work to resist autocracy and fascism in our country and in our communities, let us commit ourselves to telling the truth as best as we can know it – truth that is based in evidence and open to correction and to new insights. Perhaps this will help us heal some of our divisions and help us to develop the shared understanding of reality that makes beloved community possible. At the very least, it is better than continuing to descend into a post-truth hellscape of our own creation.