Steven Colbert: Truthiness, Money Word
on Sunday, December 18, 2016Truthiness is a quality characterizing a “truth” that a person making an argument or assertion claims to know intuitively “from the gut” or because it “feels right” without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts – Wikipedia entry for Truthiness
Money Word “Truthiness”
— Steven Colbert
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The money word “truthiness” was coined in 2005 by American political satirist Steven Colbert. Some key points:
- Colbert invented the term to mock the concept of perceiving situations or facts intuitively or based on gut feeling rather than evidence or facts.
- It referred to claims that have an emotional, subjective feeling of truth but are not actually supported by verifiable evidence or facts.
- Colbert used it on his show The Colbert Report as a satirical critique of politicians, pundits and public figures asserting opinions as truth without logical reasoning or facts to back them up.
- The word highlighted how personal biases and emotional/ideological leanings can shape perceptions of truth even when contradicted by objective reality.
- “Truthiness” gained widespread usage in describing political rhetoric and debates that prioritized feelings over facts.
So in summary, Steven Colbert coined this term to satirize how gut feelings can be mistaken for or substituted for factual truth, especially in political discourse. It captured the postmodern notion that truth is subjective rather than objective.
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