Quasi-Facts and Public Opinion

• In Event: Poster Session: Normative Political Theory

Abstract

The importance of truth both the concept and the ideal as important for democracy has been fairly well-explored by philosophers. (Elkins & Norris 2012, Bockwoski & Papacharissi 2018, and MacIntyre 2018). These conversations often revolve around the demos’ relationship to the truth and their obligation to acknowledge and find the truth; whatever that may be or even how to deal with truth in a post-structural world. For example, Pinter (2012) argues that it is imperative that “[a]s a citizen I ask: What is true? What is false” (p 9)? But what remains unexamined is what structural forces are in place to prevent those questions for being asked much less answered by the very citizenry that it is deemed imperative to be asking. In this paper, I explore whether or not there is anything different about this current moment and the connection between American democracy and the truth than there has been in the past. Pinter and others (Zerilli 2012 & Elkins 2012) clearly indicates the ways in which the United States government and population has consistently changed the truth to be whatever they feel will best serve their imagery of what the United States must be. From conveniently forgetting a lack of support for democratic regimes throughout the Cold War to 9/11 and the complete lack of WMD’s in Iraq we tend to forget those things about us with which we do not fit into the “American” narrative. So, what, if anything, makes the nature of the relationship between truth in this juncture different and what does this mean for our modern democracy?
I put forth three specific “blocks” to have citizenry have a meaningful conversation about truth and falsity. These are
1. Continued merging of the media (Knowing which sources to trust)
2. Algorithms and “big-data” (Russia hacking and otherwise)
3. Net Neutrality
Each of these is related to and goes back to inequality and intertwine to exacerbate further inequality that already threatens democracy. In other words, these structures stop a citizen from being able to find answers to the questions “What is true?” and “What is false?”

Author

• Laci Hubbard-Mattix, Washington State University