Truthiness

Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.[1][2] Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions.[3][4]

The concept of truthiness has emerged as a major subject of discussion surrounding U.S. politics during the late 20th and early 21st centuries because of the perception among some observers of a rise in propaganda and a growing hostility toward factual reporting and fact-based discussion.[3]

American television comedian Stephen Colbert coined the term truthiness in this meaning[5] as the subject of a segment called "The Wørd" during the pilot episode of his political satire program The Colbert Report on October 17, 2005. By using this as part of his routine, Colbert satirized the misuse of appeal to emotion and "gut feeling" as a rhetorical device in contemporaneous socio-political discourse.[6] He particularly applied it to U.S. President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and the decision to invade Iraq in 2003.[7][non-primary source needed] Colbert later ascribed truthiness to other institutions and organizations, including Wikipedia.[8][non-primary source needed] Colbert has sometimes used a Dog Latin version of the term, "Veritasiness".[9] For example, in Colbert's "Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando" the word "Veritasiness" can be seen on the banner above the eagle on the operation's seal.

Truthiness was named Word of the Year for 2005 by the American Dialect Society and for 2006 by Merriam-Webster.[10][11] Linguist and OED consultant Benjamin Zimmer[5][12] pointed out that the word truthiness[13] already had a history in literature and appears in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), as a derivation of truthy, and The Century Dictionary, both of which indicate it as rare or dialectal, and to be defined more straightforwardly as "truthfulness, faithfulness".[5] Responding to claims by Michael Adams that the word already existed with a different meaning, Colbert, presumably exploiting his definition of the word, said, "Truthiness is a word I pulled right out of my keister".[14]

  1. ^ Meyer, Dick (December 12, 2006). "The Truth of Truthiness". CBS News. Archived from the original on November 16, 2013. Retrieved December 14, 2006.
  2. ^ "Truthiness". Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House. Retrieved May 22, 2017.
  3. ^ a b Hayes-Roth, Rick (2015). Truthiness Fever. BookLocker.com, Inc. p. 5. ISBN 978-1614342205.
  4. ^ Hughes, Brian (2016). Rethinking Psychology: Good Science, Bad Science, Pseudoscience. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-137-30397-4.
  5. ^ a b c Zimmer, Benjamin. "Language Log: Truthiness or Trustiness?". Retrieved June 4, 2006.
  6. ^ Rabin, Nathan (January 25, 2006). "Interview: Stephen Colbert". A.V. Club. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  7. ^ "The Colbert Report: Videos: The Word (Truthiness)". October 17, 2005. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  8. ^ "The Word – Wikiality – The Colbert Report (Video Clip)". Comedy Central. July 31, 2006. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  9. ^ Smith, Christy Hardin (June 5, 2006). "A Stop on the Veritasiness Tour 2006". Firedoglake. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  10. ^ "Truthiness Voted 2005 Word of the Year by American Dialect Society" (PDF). Retrieved June 4, 2006.
  11. ^ "Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2006". Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on January 21, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2006.
  12. ^ "Benjamin Zimmer homepage". Retrieved June 4, 2006.
  13. ^ Peyser, Marc (February 13, 2006). "The Truthiness Teller". Newsweek. ISSN 0028-9604. Archived from the original on April 25, 2006. Retrieved June 4, 2006.
  14. ^ Kiser, Emily (January 10, 2006). "Colbert puts professor 'on notice': Michael Adams, featured in a recent Associated Press article, incurs the wrath of Comedy Central 'pundit'". Technician. Retrieved February 5, 2017.

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