Students and commentators of our time in history, a cultural moment often referred to as postmodernism, know that the spirit of this age lies largely in the rejection of objective claims to knowledge, a dismissal of the notion that there are universal truths external to the self. Postmodernism rejects the Enlightenment ideal of rational inquiry and a common metanarrative within which all humanity participates. There is simply your truth and your story, and then there is mine. Many discerning voices have pointed out (entirely correct in my view) that postmodernism is less a philosophy than a mood. Feelings, intuitions and personal desires are the paramount arbiters of moral questions.
While I am no fan of the snarky, sarcastic and condescending reporting so prevalent in today’s once-esteemed news magazines and on cable news shows, I do find comedian Stephen Colbert’s “send-up” of today’s self-regarding news commentator at times quite humorous and culturally perceptive. Back in 2005, Colbert skewered this culturally pervasive notion that truth is simply a product of our gut feelings in a hilarious bit on his show, “The Colbert Report.”
Colbert introduces a new word into the lexicon of postmodernism: “Truthiness.” What is “truthiness”? Writing on Colbert’s new term, columnist and blogger Rod Dreher opines that “truthiness is the idea that the most reliable way of knowing things is not through examination of facts or logic, but intuition. If it feels like it must be true, it’s not necessarily truthful, but it’s truthy – and that’s enough. Truth can be unsettling, but truthiness is therapeutic. As a journalist, I find it alarming how many people these days, on both the left and the right, are not really interested in truth, but rather in truthiness.”
To read Dreher’s blog entry on the subject go here: http://www.ocrpl.org/?p=124. But be sure to watch the video link to “The Colbert Report” for a good laugh. If you have trouble linking from Dreher’s site, go here: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/24039/october-17-2005/the-word---truthiness