The Post-Truth Survival Guide: A Lexicon & 10 Commandments
The increasing use of expressions associated with post-truth has confirmed the present conflict of interest between a demand for the real and a psychological need for comforting myths and fabricated data. Since the emergence of negationist movements, the growth of conspiracy theories, the recurrent exposure to new political scandals, that the “war against the truth” is not a new phenomenon. As Matthew D´Ancona states, "What is new is the extent to which, in the new setting of digitalisation and global interconnectedness, emotion is reclaiming its primacy and truth is in retreat. (...) the resurgence of emotional narrative in recent decades – its renewed centrality – is the essential corollary."
In the present technological age, a considerable part of the media coverage of information is carried out through social networks. Consequently, one of the most demanding challenges that democracy faces is the viability of a means for content filtering capable of discerning what is or is not factual. Solutions have been proposed, such as promoting media literacy or using artificial intelligence systems for detecting fake news. The increasing complexity of this task goes hand in hand with the colossal growth of the wave of disinformation, the causes of which are still the subject of many debates that seem far from resolved.
Against this backdrop, The Post-Truth Survival Guide seeks to provide tools for navigating the post-truth era, in the form of ten commandments (web) and an illustrated lexicon (print). It gathers advice, solutions and, sometimes ironic, tips to deal with disinformation and promote an initiation to this phenomenon. Still misunderstood by some and, according to certain authors, one of the greatest challenges of the century, given its chaotic and despotic nature, disinformation is capable of causing real damage to the civilizational fabric, since its purpose is always to alter, distort and shape reality so that it serves, financially or politically motivated, hidden interests.
Title: The Post-Truth Survival Guide: A Lexicon & 10 Commandments
Dimensions: 148 x 210mm, 72 pages
Editing & Design: Diogo Castelão Sousa
Fonts used: Be Vietnam, Crimson Text, OCR A Extended, Old English Text MT
Copyright disclaimer: I do not own any of the textual content presented here. All rights belong to their respective owners and are strictly used for educational and research purposes only.
Project II | Laboratory II
Master in Communication Design
Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon
2020/21
