Chapter 9: Civic Education in a Post-Truth Society: Combating “Fake News” and “Alternative Facts”

At the heart of Orwell’s (1949/1961) cautionary tale of the dangers of totalitarianism was the government’s insistence that all citizens align behind a common ideology built upon an unquestionable set of knowledge. In the dystopia envisioned by Orwell, objective facts matter less than ideological conviction, and perceived reality supersedes actual reality. In this type of post-truth society, control is maintained by constantly bombarding citizens with misinformation until the point that the lies become accepted truth, or as Orwell’s protagonist, Winston Smith, put it, “persuading you, almost, to deny the evidences of your senses. In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it” (p. 69).