POST-TRUTH: A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY AND PROMOTION OF IDEOLOGY

Abstract

The new era of human existence brings a new challenges. Today, humanity has the Internet. It is a tool that not only improves, but also poses a great threat to the existing world order. The rapid spread of information is both an advantage (as it helps to instantly share breaking news to the world) and a danger (as it can spread misinformation just as quickly). It is possible to say that people have lied throughout their history, but it is the widespread and instantaneous distribution of false and manipulative information that has become a feature of our time. The situation that arose was not typical for all previous eras, and researchers quickly gave it the name "post-truth". This term was quickly picked up and began to spread both in academic circles and in the mass media. Post-truth is a situation in which the appeal to emotions has more weight than the reasoned operation of facts, which appeals to reason. And in this case, it is a suitable environment for the spread of fakes, manipulations and propaganda. It also creates favorable conditions for the spread of ideology. On the one hand, it divides society, because now everyone has "his own truth", his own information bubble, and, therefore, common meanings, orientations and, ultimately, common sense disappear. This poses a direct threat to the existence of democratic regimes, because it undermines its fundamental foundations. On the other hand, it is this individualization that turns people into masses (in term of H. Arendt), which can be easily manipulated and implanted in them with ideologically correct thoughts and beliefs. In addition, people no longer need to prove something based on real facts and well-argued statements. It is enough to create an emotionally pleasant picture in their imagination, in which they themselves want to believe. Thus, language, which no longer needs any connection with reality, but closes in on itself, becomes the key means of achieving its selfish goal. In such a case, it is important to find out exactly how, in the post-truth situation, precisely thanks to language manipulation, humanity again became close to the collapse of democracy and the establishment or strengthening of existing totalitarian regimes.