America, We Have a Problem

Thoughtful post from Jared Bernstein:

http://jaredbernsteinblog.com/america-we-have-a-problem/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JaredBernstein+%28Jared+Bernstein%29

“But what’s got me very worried today is the blatant acceptance of post-truthiness that one feels creeping deeply into our national debate.  Most—not all—of the news stories on the speeches from the convention—and I’m sure this won’t be limited to the R’s—focus on the emotional, the personal stories, the strategic (did the speech accomplish its goal…did is rally the base…did it appeal to [interest group]?), the political horse race.

And then there’s this other section of the show or the newspaper–if you’re lucky or interested in going there—that asks…um…how much of what you just heard was true?

Think about this for a second.  Just the fact that newspapers now need a fact-check section is itself evidence that we’re deep into the post-truth era.  There’s the news…and then there’s the question of how much of the news is true.”