Demise of Truth the New World of Alternative Facts and Fake News

Ziauddin Choudhury

Truth as we knew is probably dead. Until very recently we all knew that facts
are facts and news is news. There are no second definitions of these truisms.
But because of the devious politics that has polluted the modern world today
we have come to learn about alternative facts and fake news. We have
come to learn that there could be different interpretations of facts depending
who are interpreting, and there could be news that has been manufactured
for some devious objectives. In other words, lies could be passed on as
alternative facts, and rumors and gossips can be passed as news.

Both the terms have become now parts of current political vocabulary in the
United States in particular during last years mudslinging and name calling
that characterized the Presidential campaign. Words flew from candidates
mouths that were never heard before in public, false accusations against
rivals were made with reckless disregard, and conspiracy theories were freely
manufactured and sold to the public as real. In a country highly polarized by
divisions between the extreme right and extreme left with a confused section
in the middle, there was no telling who was telling the truth. Each day
passed with new controversy as statements claimed as facts were disputed
by the other camp and actual truth remained in closed doors. The media
became a suspect, and in fact an anathema for the rightist party candidate
and his loyalists, when they questioned the unverified claims of the
candidate.

One expected that with the election fever over, saner counsel will prevail and
facts will not be confused with lies, and gossips will not pass as news. But
alas, it was not going to be so. Instead, alternative facts entered the
political vocabulary when a senior staffer in the White House, Kelly Anne
Conway, cavalierly disputed in a TV interview the crowd size in Donald
Trumps inauguration. She famously uttered the phrase alternative facts
when pressed about the falsehoods uttered the previous day by White House
press secretary Sean Spicer regarding the crowd size at Trump's
inauguration.

In a way Kelly Anne Conway was only parroting her highly tempestuous and
blustery boss who was constantly complaining that the media was conspiring
against him with fake news. He routinely dismissed any unfavorable
depiction of him in the press as fake or false. Hence we came to know
how his loyalists would be influenced to treat any news that did not satisfy
him or them as fake. But Donald Trump did not just stop at dismissing all
unfavorable reports on him as fake, he also disparaged news about people or
events that he held dear to him. He routinely dismissed reports of Russian
attempts at hacking US information systems (Democratic Party in particular)
to discredit US election process. He mocked at news reports on the crowd
size in his rallies during the campaign earlier, and at his inauguration later.
At the same time he did not think twice about claiming in his campaign
about an imaginary cheering by Muslims after September 11 attack in New
York. He would go on with many other wild and unverified claims of terrorism
in European cities. His most recent claim, after he became President, of a
false terror attack in Sweden caught the Swedish Government by surprise so
much that the Prime Minister of that country had to come out with a
disclaimer.

The sadness of this new world of alternative facts and fake news is that
this has become the virtual reality of the current state of politics in the
United States with the danger that it could spread to the rest of the world.
One of the most pernicious effects of this new reality is that real truth has
become a casualty and the public its victim.

A most recent illustration of this virtual reality is the claim by President

Donald Trump that the previous administration of President Obama had wire
tapped his private palace in New York (Trump Towers). This unverified
accusation, made by Trump via his favorite media Twitter, not only stumped
the intelligence agencies but also the key leaders of his own party. No one in
his party has come up yet to say that Trump was trumpeting fake news, but
he has created another big turmoil to deflect attention to the alleged Russian
influence in US elections. Already one of his key cabinet appointees, the
National Security Advisor Michael Flynn resigned because of his meetings
with the Russian Ambassador. Another appointee, Attorney General Jeff
Sessions, has recused himself from his departments investigation of Russian
connection. His future as Attorney General is uncertain as he was found to be
not telling the truth about his Russian meetings during his testimony for
confirmation. Donald Trump is genuinely disturbed because he is now finding
he has to face some true facts, and not alternative facts, some real news and
not fake news.

Politics is complex, and people who take this as a profession know it well.
Truth in politics may be hard, but these need not be mutually exclusive. The
ultimate goal of politics may be power, but this power cannot be achieved by
replacing facts with lies, and news with gossip. What we are observing in US
politics today may not be very surprising for our parts of the world, because
our people have been witnessing this dichotomy between facts and fiction
and news and gossip for a long time. Our leaders are adept in practicing
these. What is reassuring in the US is that this country has a check and
balance in its democratic system. The Executive branch cannot get away
with whims and pranks without control from the other two branches. Soon
law and the constitution will weigh down and determine that crying wolf will
not wither away the cloud of suspicion that has gathered around the current
executive authority.