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	Truthiness is Not a Joke by Sophia A. McClennen Professor, Penn State University USA   Sep 2012   When comedian Stephen Colbert launched his show, The Colbert Report (2005), he introduced the word "truthiness" to the U.S. public. Speaking in character as a bloviating right-wing pundit, Colbert explained that truthiness was thinking from the gut, ignoring facts, and holding beliefs with no basis in reality.   At the time, his main target was George W. Bush, who had repeatedly told the U.S. public during his presidency that things he felt were necessarily true. The word also emerged in response to claims by the administration that the War in Iraq was about finding Weapons of Mass Destruction.   It didn"t take long for "truthiness" to enter widespread use and it was named the Word of the Year by Webster"s in 2006. In those early days, the word held the punch of satire and it encouraged critical thinking about the ways that truth was increasingly absent from policy decisions, media coverage, and public perceptions.   But whatever the context for the word"s role in 2005, we have clearly hit a new era in political discourse where truthiness trumps truth all the time with little, if any, repercussions. The proof in my opinion was on display in last week"s Republican National Convention where truthiness was alarmingly center stage at a rate we have never seen in U.S. history.   Each day as the speeches wound down, media outlets dedicated stories to fact-checking the speeches. After Paul Ryan"s speech, Joan Walsh of Salon.com wrote that "Paul Ryan gave a feisty anti-Obama speech that will have fact-checkers working for days."   CBS News reported that most of the major claims made by Ryan about Obama"s record were misleading and untrue. Ryan then kept up his pattern of truthiness after the RNC when he lied about his best time in a marathon, shaving off more than an hour from his finish time. Seriously?   The master of truthiness-checking himself, Stephen Colbert also gave his audience his own version of the truth (see link below).   Mr.Ryan"s truthiness was followed by Mr.Romney"s. Perhaps even more disturbingly, some media reporting found comfort in the fact that Romney"s speech was not as “lie-ridden” as Ryan"s. According to USA Today the good news is that Romney"s speech mostly included "puffery and exaggeration" in comparison to Ryan"s flat-out lying.   While he may have avoided the same lies as Ryan, Romney"s speech had its own fair share of falsehoods too. And lest it seem like the fact-checking was simply a partisan matter, Sally Kohn of Fox News wrote that "to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan"s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech."   So given the fact that we have learned that the RNC was full of falsehoods, why aren"t they suffering from a backlash? Why aren"t their supporters enraged that the candidates they support were incapable of stating their positions without lying? Has the Republican Party given up on truth and simply embraced truthiness?   According to the Romney campaign"s pollster Neil Newhouse it has. After the media questioned the accuracy of speeches at the RNC, he explained that "we"re not going let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers."   The politicians lied. The media proved the lies. But does anyone care? Nope.   When Colbert first described truthiness his hope was that he could encourage the U.S. public to expect the truth from the nation"s leaders. Colbert"s truthiness was a joke -- but it was a joke that was meant to be taken seriously. In the world of satire the idea is to mock in a way that makes a difference. First we spot the truthiness and then we do something about it.   The worrying trend today is that even when there is abundant evidence of lying, there are no repercussions. It"s a case of lying and loving it. And it needs to be stopped. If on Election Day we no longer care about the difference between truth and truthiness, then the joke will be on us.   * See also The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: http://www.thedailyshow.com/ Visit the related web page
	Desmond Tutu wins special Mo Ibrahim award for being ‘voice of truth’ by Jay Naidoo South Africa   The Mo Ibrahim Foundation awarded a "one-off extraordinary award" to Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Johannesburg, in recognition of his lifelong, consistent commitment to speaking the truth and being a voice for justice and democracy.   The foundation, which was established by Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim, rewards good governance on the African continent.   The award, which will be presented to Mr Tutu in Dakar later this year during the annual Ibrahim Discussion Forum, includes a grant of $1m that Mr Tutu could use for his various foundations, or at his own discretion, Mr Ibrahim said.   Former president Nelson Mandela is the only other recipient of such an award, and Mr Ibrahim said the fact that both of these awards had been given to South Africans was a coincidence, but also "a compliment to South Africa".   Mr Tutu was "an outstanding African civil society champion" who gave a voice to the voiceless and spoke hard truths, Mr Ibrahim said.   While people did not always agree with the archbishop’s comments, he was "a very powerful voice".   "Whether one agrees with Archbishop Tutu or not, his contribution to dialogue, to accountability, and to the debate on Africa’s future has been unparalleled", he said.   Foundation board member and former Cabinet minister Jay Naidoo said the special award would "hopefully inspire more people to stand up and speak truth to power".   The award was given at a time when there was "growing political arrogance" on the continent, Mr Naidoo said. Visit the related web page
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