Post-Truth and Politics
Schools of Public Engagement: Grad Programs in Int'l Affairs
CRN: 15866
Credits: 3
Post-Truth and Politics is a course that has grown out of the study of propaganda and public relations as media and political tools. Post-Truth—as a recent explosion of political culture in which debate is framed by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy or impartial information—requires a careful examination. Is it political spin, wishful thinking, mass myth, art of evasion, or simple lying, based on “fake news” and “alternative facts”? There are repeated unverified assertions to which factual rebuttals are ignored, and people are compelled to believe something regardless of evidence. How do these differ from previous examples of political lying? There were of course Plato’s “noble lie,” or Machiavelli’s counsel that a good prince must be “a great pretender and dissembler.” What makes post-truth different from past political manipulations—including that of propaganda—is communicative abundance. This enables messages to be sent and received through multiple user points, in a chosen time, real or delayed, within global networks that are unregulated, affordable and accessible to billions of people. In this new era, Marshall McLuhan’s famous formula—the Medium is the Message distributed in a “global village” without restraint—has reached a new level of boundlessness. The message is based on a deliverer’s whim and itself becomes the medium. We will investigate how post-truth politics is manifested in various political cultures: among them, the USA, the UK, India, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Poland, and Russia.
College: Schools of Public Engagement (NS)
Department: Grad Programs in Int'l Affairs (GPIA)
Campus: New York City (GV)
Course Format: Seminar (R)
Modality: In-Person
Max Enrollment: 15
Add/Drop Deadline: February 3, 2025 (Monday)
Online Withdrawal Deadline: April 15, 2025 (Tuesday)
Seats Available: Yes
Status: Open*
* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 12:32pm EST 11/18/2024