Politics. File photo
The term post-truth became a buzzword when the Oxford English Dictionary declared it as their word of the year in 2016, referring to it as “circumstances in which objective facts are less effective in shaping public opinion than appeals to sentiment and personal belief”.
Though, there lies no unanimity over the antiquity of this concept. Is it something new or something that has always been with us? However, in the last few years, we have witnessed the abrupt rise of such political leaders and campaigns that have gained exceptional and resounding victories by relying on half-truths, lies, and innuendos.
Prior to elections 2020 in December, Ghanaians were provided with free services of water and electricity for months only to be told in 2021 that provisions of those services were after all not free.
2020 saw the rise of a particular propaganda technique, “firehose of falsehood,” where political leaders bombard the masses with more lies than they can keep up with.
It is of no wonder that our President Nana Addo is in denial that he never made promises of building a Harbour in Cape Coast even though page160 of the NPP 2020 manifesto promised such which were even reiterated by vice president Dr. Bawumia in Cape Coast where the manifesto was launched.
Today in Ghana the facts are moulded, stigmatised, reshaped. Media sensationalism has triggered mass anxiety that is being utilised by a few.
Fact-checking remains useless. Arguing with the obvious has become the new normal, and reality has been reduced to a matter of picking sides. The mind-numbing political fights miss the whole point of sound deliberations as truth has been reduced to just a position robbed of its power. The question remains; would we be able to survive this tide of deceptive political infocalypse before the 2024 General elections?