It is true

It is totally true

That this society

Is a post-truth society

That a post-truth condition

Has fallen on our world

That on us has descended

A post-truth condition.

Where the truth is that

Appeals to emotion

And to personal belief

Shape public opinion

A little more

Than does objective truth.

To that universally indubitable truth

That we now inhabit a world

Which is truly post-truth

I do not object.

I nonetheless may I ask

May I nonetheless do nothing except

Ask one to tell me

Ask one to tell me

When there was —

When there was —

A pre-truth condition

A pre-truth condition in which

Objective truth influenced shaping public opinion

A little less than did appeals to emotion

And to personal belief?

May I also nonetheless ask

May I also nonetheless ask one only to tell me

When we were

When we were

In truth condition

In truth condition in which

Objective truths shaped public opinion

A little more than did appeals to emotion

And a little more than did appeals to personal belief?

For no one answered those questions —

I affirm — conclusively —

That there never was such a thing

As a pre-truth condition

That there never was such a thing

As a truth condition

That there never is such a thing

As a post-truth condition.

And I further conclusively affirm that

Appeals to emotion

And to personal belief

Shape public opinion forever without end

Forever without end shape public opinion

Shape public opinion one hundred per cent

Eternally shape public opinion one hundred per cent

One hundred per cent.

* Samuel Abonyo is the author of The Cursed Poisoner and the Forbidden Love. Pangolin Limited.

* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM

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