cct300-lab9

Truthiness

The article written by Zimmer shows the political and factual features of the word “truthiness”. On the segment, "The Word", Stephen Colbert unveiled the world on his popular satirical talk show. Truthiness is defined as the "truth that comes from the gut, not books" It is derived from what people think and feel is true, rather than what is actually proven. Something that is proven is usually sourced from books and proven theories. However, "truthiness" happens when someone presents something, that is not proven from such material. It can almost be defined as an opinion because it is what a person thinks is true.

The word became so popular that it was publicized and awarded by the American Dialect Society. The word is extremely applicable to public media because of the amount of opinion based facts that are presented. For instance, it is very rare to find a news anchor or journalist publish something based on research. The take a fact such as "Clinton involved in sex scandal" and stretch out the story, by saying something similar to "This has caused chaos in the White House". While there may be some friction in the white house, they used the term "chaos" to define it, increasing the magnitude of the incident. The presentation of partially true facts combined with opinion defines the term "truthiness".