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Photographic exhibition at Parc de Bruxelles: A New Generation of Scientists
Discover the scientists featured in the exhibition: 'A new generation of scientists', on the fences of Parc de Bruxelles, Rue Royale
Princess Kate returns to the red carpet at Tom Cruise's 'Digger' premiere with a rarely seen royal heirloom
The Princess of Wales's purple Jenny Packham gown was complemented by Princess Diana's earrings and a necklace from 1923.
Ten STEM organisations awarded new Royal Society grant to bring science enrichment to students most in need
The Royal Society has announced ten Science Community Grants to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) organisations across the UK. The organisations will work to inspire students in areas of greatest need, encouraging them to take an interest in science., , , , The Science Community Grants are a new three-year scheme aiming to foster long-term partnerships between STEM organisations and local schools and colleges in areas with low access to science engagement. The grant is...
Prince Harry is considering making a Princess Diana documentary
LONDON – Prince Harry may have another royal documentary up his sleeve.
Jac Caglianone Opens Up After Learning Hard Lesson in Houston
The Royals slugger called his dugout mistake selfish and immature, then spent the weekend showing why the team still believes in him.
Prince Harry considering a Princess Diana documentary, reports say
LONDON – Prince Harry may have another royal documentary up his sleeve.
Wendy’s moves to take 314 restaurants from bankrupt Meritage
Wendy’s terminated Meritage Hospitality Group’s franchise agreements for 314 restaurants, citing about $147 million in unpaid royalties and fees.
New book by Princess Diana’s brother prompts war of words with King Charles III
A new book by the late Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, has made headlines with damning allegations about King Charles III.
Prince Harry steps out in London without Meghan amid royal drama
LONDON – Prince Harry is stepping out, under a cloud of royal drama.
Scientists Just Found Evidence That Ancient Egypt Had a Female King 5,000 Years Ago
Researchers enhanced a decades-old photograph and found a royal emblem suggesting Meretneith ruled as a king, not merely a queen.
Miami Dolphins Academy Fall Donation Presented by Baptist Health Delivers Equipment to Royal Palm Beach High School Tackle Football Program
This year’s equipment donation included tackle sleds, a tackle wheel, agiles, power drinkers, new cleats, footballs, pads and more to help enhance the tackle football program.
Governor Evers tours College of Business and Economics
Chancellor Corey A. King and UW-Whitewater leaders welcomed Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers for a visit to the UW-Whitewater College of Business and Economics, the state’s largest business school. During a one-hour walkthrough at Hyland Hall, Gov. Evers and local elected officials visited classrooms and interacted with students, faculty and staff on campus.
[NAW] Champion Focus FNCS Cup Battle Royale : Session 1
Stay focused. Play like a champion. Compete in the Champion Focus FNCS Cup for a chance to earn Champion Focus cosmetic rewards. Put your skills to the test and keep your sights on victory. Good luck and have fun!
Carter Jensen Makes Kansas City Royals Rookie Single-Season History
Jensen added to a spectacular rookie campaign with an impressive feat on Saturday.
Learning about Technology, and Relationships, from Wendell Berry
Berry describes the beautiful working relationship he had with his wife, Tanya. She typed his work on a Royal standard typewriter.
Mizzou Honors 1960 National Championship Team During Halftime
Back in August, the Missouri Tigers officially claimed the 1960 National Championship. It is the Tigers’ only claim to college football royalty in program history.The Tigers claimed the title after the United States Congress, led by Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt, awarded it to them when the Senator brought the topic to the Senate on Aug. […] The post Mizzou Honors 1960 National Championship Team During Halftime appeared first on HEAVY.
Carter Jensen sets Royals rookie record for home runs
The young core of the Kansas City Royals continues to shine this season.
Reading vs Notts County: 2026/27 Match Preview
Can the Royals get back to winning ways against newly promoted Notts County?
Tech billionaires trying to live for ever? That’s a waste of time, says physicist
Exclusive: Prof Jim Al-Khalili says he will offer solution to ‘arrow of time’ problem in Royal Institution lectures
Royal Society slams UK.gov science shake-up
Whitehall changes a 'big mistake' as anything going in with Business department gets squeezed
How to watch Astros vs Royals without cable tonight
Here's how to watch Astros vs. Royals, including first pitch, TV channel and live streaming options without cable.
A space shark, 'royal' auroras and a 'Venusian pearl': See the winners of the 2026 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year contest
A Royal Observatory Greenwich contest showcased work from around the night sky and the solar system, with prize-winning photos spanning topics ranging from auroras to planets.
John Rave Sends Warning to Contenders After Royals Beat Astros
Kansas City was eliminated from the race a day earlier, and it answered by dropping Houston into a first-place tie with 10 games to go.
The king and AI: UK monarch Charles meets artificial intelligence leaders as safety concerns swirl
LONDON (AP) — King Charles III on Thursday urged senior leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Nvidia to make sure that artificial intelligence remains under control and in the service of people and the planet. The gathering in Scotland was convened to discuss how AI can benefit society, and comes at a pivotal moment […]
Arts and Entertainment Agenda, Sept 18-24
Wintersköl Royalty nominations open through Sept. 25 The Aspen Chamber Resort Association is accepting community nominations for 2026 Wintersköl Royalty through Sept. 25. This tradition honors Aspen locals who embody the community spirit, joy and...
'Never complain, never explain': Buckingham Palace broke its own golden rule over Princess Diana claims
Buckingham Palace has taken the unusual step of challenging Earl Spencer's account of King Charles's reaction to Princess Diana's death.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Campaign Trailer Reveals Death Stranding Star Mads Mikkelsen
Activision has revealed Casino Royale and Death Stranding star Mads Mikkelsen as a major antagonist in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
Royals put together a nice solid win in Houston
Daniel Lynch is solid in a Kansas City win
Bats Cold as Astros fall to Royals 5-2.
So much for the winning streak, it’s been halted at one. Kansas City 5 Houston 2. It was another three hit night for Jeremy Pena. Unfortunately, there was little else. Over the course of two nights against the Royals, Pena has six of the Astros 12 total hits. Yikes. Aside from the […]
Florida Climate Week returns with hands-on marine science
Florida Climate Week returns Oct. 5 to 11 with events like a research vessel tour to promote sustainable solutions.
Truth and Politics in the Age of Post-Truth
Get E-International Relations delivered to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber, or make a donation, to support our work. Subscribe This is an excerpt from Global Politics in a Post-Truth Era. You can download the book free of charge from E-International Relations. The term post-truth is by now so ubiquitous in describing the state of politics in the Western world and even beyond that the most pressing issue of the day appears to be about making democracy work in the era of post-truth rather than questioning the normalisation of the term itself in the first place. The critical turning point appeared to have occurred in 2016 when the term was chosen by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘The Word of the Year.’ On its website, the Dictionary notes the transformation of post-truth from ‘being a peripheral term to being a mainstay in political commentary and connects ‘the spike in frequency’ directly with the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the election of Donald J. Trump in the United States – both occurring in 2016. Paired with the noun ‘politics,’ post-truth is defined as an adjective ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.’ The Oxford English Dictionary traces the first use of the term to a 1992 essay in The Nation by the playwright Steve Tesich as he reflected on the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal and the 1990–91 Gulf War: We are rapidly becoming prototypes of a people that totalitarian monsters could only drool about in their dreams. All the dictators up to now have had to work hard at suppressing the truth. We, by our actions, are saying that this is no longer necessary, that we have acquired a spiritual mechanism that can denude truth of any significance. In a very fundamental way we, as a free people, have freely decided that we want to live in some post-truth world (Tesich 1992, 13; emphasis added). He then continued, The Gulf War is over but the war at home goes on. The gulf between rich and destitute widens – between those of us who live in a modern post-industrial nation and those of us who live in the Third World countries of our inner cities. The present administration’s response to this internal crisis has shifted from benign to malignant neglect. The current levels of misery and decomposition of our cities and the economic gulags of our ghettos are acceptable. Since there is only so much hope to go around, there is a freeze on hope. The have-nots have now been reclassified as never-will-haves (Tesich 1992, 13). In the context of Tesich’s essay, truth includes both facts, as in what happens, and ‘moral absolutes,’ as in the ‘self-evident truths mentioned in our Constitution’ (Tesich 1992, 14). Together, these two notions of truth entail the obligation to both act and react. The two passages cited above show that even in the early post-Cold War years, Tesich was already deeply concerned that the American people are neither prepared to act on truth nor react to truth that is disconcerting, or what he calls ‘bad news’ (Tesich 1992, 12). Accordingly, Tesich’s insight as captured by the term post-truth is not that truth is irrelevant to what we know, but rather it is irrelevant to how we act. In contrast, ‘post-truth politics,’ as defined by Oxford as a term that pitches ‘objective facts’ against ‘emotion and personal belief’ such that the latter appears to have overtaken the former in shaping ‘public opinion’ and thereby, democratic politics. When Tesich’s post-truth politics and its current usage are juxtaposed, the two are in fact not identical in terms of what truth is and how it relates to politics. Against such consideration, this chapter provides a critical survey of selected historical events and theoretical considerations for the purpose of gaining a more nuanced understanding of the relation between truth and politics. Truth and Language One notable impact of post-truth politics is that language is being overtly deployed as a political weapon not only by politicians and those in power, but among the general population. It seems that once facts are irrelevant to the validity of what is being said, language becomes the platform for an all-out political contest in which what is said is no more than an act of will expressed as an assertion of power and/or an exercise in defiance. As early as in the writings of Thucydides (460–400 BCE), the vulnerability of logos – which is the human capacity for rational discourse in tumultuous times – was already noted. Thucydides belonged to a school of Greek thought which maintained that language is conventional and that the association between name and things is a result of ‘human use and habit’ rather than ‘nature or divine dispensation’ (Connor 1984, 99). The conventional nature of language means that it is incapable of providing its users with any independent criteria for judgement. In Thucydides’ study of the Peloponnesian War (431–405 BCE), the subversion of logos as seen in the manipulation of language was introduced through his account of the civil war in Corcyra (Thucydides 1972, 236-245). The war first broke out in 427 BCE between the pro-Athenian democratic faction and the pro-Spartan oligarchic faction before it spread to the rest of the Greek world. There was a general breakdown of law and order, resulting in extreme violence and death. Language underwent changes that were reflective of the events of the time. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) translated Thucydides’ description of the situation as follows: The received value of names imposed for signification of things, was changed into arbitrary. For inconsiderate boldness, was counted true-hearted manliness: provident deliberation, a handsome fear: modesty, the cloak of cowardice: to be wise in everything, to be lazy in everything... he that had been so provident as not to need to do the one or the other, was said to be a dissolver of society, and one that stood in fear of his adversary. In brief, he that could outstrip another in the doing of an evil act, or that could persuade another thereto that never meant it, was commended (Hobbes 1839–1845, 8: 348; Thucydides 1972, 242-243). What concerned Thucydides most was that the meanings of words are no more than linguistic conventions that require logos to support them. The Corcyrean civil war was a reminder that such capacity cannot be assumed. This is why history understood as an authentic account of what happens matters. Guided by logos, the historian’s task is ‘the search after truth’, which is established through ‘the absence of the fabulous,’ including ‘the rejection of myth and unverifiable stories’ (de Jonge 2017, 2). Thus, history plays an important role in facilitating the stability of language – without which distinctions and judgements cannot be rendered communicable. Just like Thucydides, Hobbes was a nominalist who subscribed to the view that there is no inherent meaning to words. Hobbes’ state of nature, where there is no common authority, is precisely one in which distinctions cannot be made. As Hobbes put it, there is ‘no Mine and Thine distinct’ nor is there distinction between ‘the notions of Right and Wrong, Justice and Injustice’ (1968, 188; emphasis in original). This is clearly an unsustainable condition for everyone. Behind Hobbes’ famous words that life in the state of nature is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’ is his uncompromising argument for the ‘Leviathan’, which is described by the late American political theorist, Sheldon Wolin (1922–2015), as the ‘sovereign definer’ (Hobbes 1968, 186; Wolin 2004, 238–243). Accordingly, the social contract is importantly a ‘linguistic contract’ that binds all parties to ‘general names agreed upon’ (Peters 1979, 125; Hobbes 1968, 111). Through Thucydides and Hobbes, we can identify a line of thinking that sees politics as a contestation over the use of language, which is based on shared conventions and norms. Thus understood, politics is not a collective quest for the true nature of our being or an epistemological exercise in pursuit of true knowledge. Rather, politics is about humans living with one another by finding a shared language to communicate with one another on matters that affect them all. Truth is in that sense contingent on what is being said as opposed to setting the standard for it. In other words, truth is the embodiment of shareability among us. While truth as such ensures the viability of a political entity, truth by no means represents a normative standard to adjudicate among contesting actors in what they say, let alone in what they do. During Thucydides’ times, ancient China was also experiencing a tumultuous time as the ruling Zhou dynasty deteriorated into the period of the Warring States (481–221 BCE). This was when the rulers of Zhou no longer presided over the territories brought under its control through conquest. Instead of professing allegiance to the Zhou royalty, the lords of these territories became kings themselves to rule over their own land. The period was one marked by endless military campaigns as each of the seven major states aimed to conquer the rest (Lewis 1999). Yet, the period was also known for its intellectual vibrancy as different thinkers challenged the restoring of order among these warring states – including offering ideas and advice to rulers on good governance. Among these thinkers was Confucius (551–479 BCE). His thought, which came to be known as Confucianism, went on to become the state ideology of China from the Han dynasty (206 BCE–222 CE) until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911 when China became a republic. The founding text of Confucianism was the Analects, which is a collection of dialogues between Confucius and his students as recorded by them. One key concept Confucius advanced is the ‘rectification of names’. Though the term only appears in one exchange in the Analects, it is considered a major aspect of Confucius’ thought. Generations of Confucian scholars from past and present, including Western academics, have debated over its interpretation (Makeham 2003). The passage in question reads as follows: Zi Lu said: ‘The monarch of the state of Wei wants you to govern the country, what is the first thing you plan on doing?’ Confucius said: ‘First it is necessary to rectify the names.’Zi Lu said: ‘Is that really what has to be done? You are being too pedantic, aren’t you now? How will you rectify these names?’Confucius said: ‘Zhong You, you are too unrefined. A gentleman, faced with a matter that he does not understand, takes a skeptical attitude. If names are not correct, one cannot speak smoothly and reasonably, and if one cannot speak smoothly and reasonably, affairs cannot be managed successfully. If affairs cannot be managed successfully, rites and music will not be conducted. If rites and music are not conducted, punishments will not be suitable. And if punishments are not suitable, the common people will not know what to do. So, when the gentleman uses names, it is necessary to be able to speak so that people understand. If one can say it, one can definitely do it. A gentleman should not be careless with words’ (Analects 13:3 in Cao 2016, 148). This translation is offered by the contemporary philosopher Cao Feng. As Cao notes, the passage is what started the whole debate over ‘exactly what kind of names did Confucius... wish to rectify’ (Cao 2016, 148). Of the three major groups of interpretation examined by Cao, beginning with classical Confucian scholarship, one is arguably the most influential and certainly most pertinent to the issue of language and politics. This is the interpretation that was first associated with the Neo-Confucian master, Zhu Xi (1130–1200), who argued that the ‘rectification of names is simply the rectification of politics’ (Cao 2016, 149). Within this interpretive framework, rectification has the dual functions of correction and prescription by ensuring that predetermined hierarchical roles are strictly adhered to through following ‘the system of rites and propriety’ (Cao 2016, 151). In addition, the rectification of names entails ‘using names to rectify actuality’ (Cao 2016, 151). Yet Cao rejects this whole body of interpretive works by arguing that these were ideas developed later. Instead, Cao suggests the following: The original meaning of Confucius’ rectification of names may, then, be quite simple. Confucius did not mean to establish a concrete, normative system of “names”; rather, Confucius was simply the first person in history to realize or remark upon the importance of language in politics. As a politician, he noticed and foresaw the impact that the indeterminacy, ambiguity, and arbitrariness of names would have on politics. Confucius recognized the political consequences of language’s not accurately expressing meaning or not being accurately received by people. He realized the great role that names, as a means of distinguishing right and wrong and establishing norms, could play in society and politics (Cao 2016, 168). Scholarly debates aside, Cao’s view has the advantage of identifying an interpretation of this controversial exchange in the Analects that enables its readers to extrapolate from it the observation that the meaning of words depends as much on their users as on their interpreters; neither of which can be predetermined. Accordingly, a good ruler is someone who can speak without ambiguity to his subjects and make good his words through actions. Stated differently, Cao’s view on what concerned Confucius then, who was living through times of protracted political upheaval, is that language is an indispensable political tool for those in power and can be deployed by both good and bad rulers alike. To sum up, this historical survey shows that politics as a war of words is by no means a distinctive marker of contemporary politics nor the Western world. Be it ancient or current, east or west, language is subject to manipulation to serve political purposes and when there is an outright war of words that defies existing norms, it is indicative of a political situation in which people no longer share a language and truth becomes irrelevant. Accordingly, political order entails stability in language use. Truth and Politics As previously noted, current use of the term post-truth as an adjective to the term ‘politics’ suggests that once there was a time when politics aligned with truth. Indeed, if we start with Plato’s Republic as the key founding text of Western political thought, we see that the ideal polis (city-state of ancient Greece) is where truth and politics converge, and justice is achieved. Written around 380 BCE when Athens was still coping with its defeat by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, the Republic is a defence of the rule of the ‘philosopher king’, defined as someone who is ‘guided by the truth’ and is ‘always and in every way’ in pursuit of the truth (Plato 1974, 490a). For Plato, truth converges with virtues and hence, letting the philosopher take charge of politics is to let the wisest and the most virtuous lead the less wise and the less virtuous even if it requires compulsion (Plato 1974, 499b). In Plato’s words, ‘…until the philosophers attain power in a city there will be no respite from evil for either city or citizens…’ (Plato 1974, 501e). The uncompromising rule of philosopher-kings is made palatable by the claim that we are all ‘earth- born brothers’ with random mixtures of gold, silver, bronze and iron, but only the gold can rule (Plato 1974, 414–415). Understandably, academic debates over the interpretation of Plato’s Republic revolve around the question of whether truth as attained in philosophy can be realised in politics as action and whether such a connection is even desirable. Without getting into the details of these scholarly exchanges, I suggest that they all share the concern that truth acquired through the rigorous process of philosophical reasoning is not without problem when applied to the real world of living humans. This is because not all humans are philosophers – and indeed, in Plato’s view, not everyone is capable of becoming a philosopher given the protracted and arduous training that one needs to endure to become one. Hannah Arendt (1906–1975), a highly influential political philosopher of the twentieth century, notes that ‘Plato was the first to introduce the division between those who know and do not act and those who act and do not know’ and that such a separation has remained ‘at the root of all theories of domination’ (Arendt 1958, 223, 225). What Arendt points out in this remark is not the gap between theory and practice, but rather that Plato provides the normative ground for those who know the truth to tell those who do not know what to do. Arendt herself took on the challenge of understanding the relationship between truth and politics through her analysis of Nazism and Stalinism. Arendt’s insight, which was controversial when The Origins of Totalitarianism was published in 1951, was to identify Nazism and Stalinism as representative of a new form of political rule – totalitarianism – making it distinct from ‘other forms of political oppression... such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship’ (Arendt 1973, 460). Arendt defines totalitarianism as a self- contained system of ideas driven by their ‘logic’ and marked by a mode of reasoning called ‘ideological thinking.’ Ideological thinking as such is a distinctive form of political reasoning defined by three characteristics. First, ideological thinking claims to provide a ‘total explanation’ of all historical happenings, encompassing the past, the present, and the future. Second, while ideological thinking is an attempt to account for ‘factual reality’ in its totality, this mode of thinking is paradoxically divorced from reality and experience. This is because experience, being rooted in specificity, is clearly limited in its claim to totality. It follows that as its third characteristic, ideological thinking aims to emancipate thought from the limitation imposed by experience through a ‘specific method of demonstration.’ The method involves arranging facts into an ‘absolutely logical procedure’ that starts from an ‘axiomatically accepted premise’. It is, in short, a ‘process of deduction from a premise’ – which is the only possible movement in the realm of logic that leads to one definitive conclusion. This is how the ‘logicality of ideological thinking’ provides the basis for total explanation and the ‘principle of action’ for totalitarian movement (Arendt 1973, 468–474). Stated differently, totalitarianism is a form of uncompromising idealism that exists in one’s head irrespective of shared reality as experienced. It is the perverse form of what Arendt later refers to as ‘rational truth’, which is the product of the ‘speculative mind’ that belongs to philosophy, mathematics and the sciences. The ‘speculative mind’ is the mind working on its way to generate axioms and theories by relying on the cognitive capacity of the human brain (Arendt 1977, 231). The presence of others has no bearing whatsoever on rational truth. In contrast, ‘factual truth’ is what happens when humans are ‘living and acting together’ (Arendt 1977, 231). Factual truth is therefore particular and temporal by definition. But more importantly, factual truth is ‘political by nature’ because it can only be validated in the context of the human community (Arendt 1977, 238). In other words, factual truth is about humans in their plurality rather than in their singularity. For factual truth to be sustainable, we need what Arendt calls ‘common sense’ – understood as ‘community sense’ (Arendt 1982, 72). There is also another distinction about truth that Arendt makes which is pertinent to understanding how totalitarianism works. The issue is whether the so-called totalitarian ideology is simply an unnecessarily cumbersome way of saying that it is an all-round and polished lie. Here, Arendt calls totalitarian ideology the ‘modern lie’ – in contrast to the ‘traditional lie’. The latter is restricted by two conditions: that it is a lie about the ‘particulars’ and that it deceives only the ‘enemy’ – which means that the liar is not engaged in self- deception. The modern lie, however, involves a ‘complete rearrangement of the whole factual texture’. It also intends to deceive everyone alike, to the extent that those who initiate the lie eventually ‘fall victims to their own falsehood’ (Arendt 1977, 249–254). This distinction between the traditional and modern lie is important. It indicates that not only is totalitarianism a lie, but the lie is in fact too big to fit into the standard meaning of the word. To tell a lie from truth, we need a common standard. In the case of a traditional lie, the common standard is precisely ‘the fabric of factuality’. As such, a lie always appears as a ‘tear’ to that fabric. Yet, modern lies require making a surrogate reality with a completely different context for facts to fit ‘without seam, crack, or fissure, exactly as the facts fitted into their original context’. Arendt notes that as long as those who concoct the surrogate reality are prepared to engage in self- deception to ‘create a semblance of truthfulness’, there is nothing to prevent ‘these new stories, images, and non-facts from becoming an adequate substitute for reality and factuality’ (Arendt 1977, 253–254). Totalitarianism therefore requires a person to stand outside of the system itself in order to make sense of it. Arendt points out that it is futile for us to argue with (for example) a Nazi or a Stalinist on race or class. To confront totalitarianism requires more than just a confrontation with specific facts. It is a more fundamental confrontation between reality as experienced and its total rejection. This means that Nazism and Stalinism are more than radical ways of conducting racial conflict or class struggle. Rather: Totalitarian politics – far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist – use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of factual reality, from which the ideologies originally derived their propaganda value– the value of struggle, for instance, or the interest conflicts between Jews and their neighbours – have all but disappeared (Arendt 1973, xv). Accordingly: The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (that is, the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (that is, the standards of thought) no longer exist (Arendt 1973, 474). Who then is the ‘ideal subject’ of totalitarianism? Although there is a revival of interest in Arendt’s observation on truth and politics since the onset of post- truth politics, not enough has been said about her reply to the question (Hyvönen 2018; Klinkler 2018; Lee 2019; Zerilli 2020). Yet if we take a look at Arendt’s portrait of this ideal subject, her view is even more pertinent to our current challenge. As a self-contained system of ideas that is detached from experience, totalitarian thinking offers consistency in ways that reality cannot. Arendt notes that this kind of consistency is especially appealing to those who have lost a sense of bearing in the world (Arendt 1973, 353). They constitute what she calls the ‘masses’. The ‘mass man’ is thus a highly isolated and atomised individual, who is ‘obsessed by a desire to escape from reality’ (Arendt 1973, 318, 352). In his ‘essential homelessness’ the mass man can ‘no longer bear its accidental, incomprehensible aspects’ (Arendt 1973, 352). This longing for escape from reality is a ‘verdict against the world’ in which one is ‘forced to live’ but ‘cannot exist’ (Arendt 1973, 352). Such a situation is ripe for the ‘revolt of the masses’ against ‘common sense,’ which is ‘the result of their atomisation, of their loss of social status’ and with it, the ‘whole sector of communal relationships in whose framework common sense makes sense’ (Arendt 1973, 352). In short, the masses are people who are considered to be ‘superfluous or can be spared … [who] cannot be integrated into any organisation based on common interest’ (Arendt 1973, 311). Whether one agrees with Arendt’s analysis of the social conditions in the interwar years that led to the formation of the ‘masses’, her portrait of the ‘mass man’ is a powerful account of what can happen to an individual who has become disposable to the society that they used to belong to. Hand in hand with this phenomenon is indeed the collapse of ‘common sense’ that leaves the dislodged individual scrambling for reconnection. By offering the masses a substitute reality validated by the ‘logic of an idea’ rather than by experience, totalitarianism makes it possible for them to live in a world where there is no condition of plurality. Between ‘facing the anarchic growth and total arbitrariness of decay’ and ‘bowing down before the most rigid, fantastically fictitious consistency of an ideology’, the masses will likely ‘choose the latter’ (Arendt 1973, 352). A world created by ideology, then, is more attractive to the masses not because ‘they are stupid and wicked, but because in the general disaster this escape grants them a minimum of self- respect’ by conjuring up ‘a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself’ (Arendt 1973, 353). Moreover, it is precisely this ability to guarantee consistency that makes it possible for the leaders of totalitarian movements to demand ‘total, unrestricted, unconditional and unalterable loyalty of the individual member’ (Arendt 1973, 323). While this chapter is not a study of the social factors that led to specific contemporary developments such as the result of the Brexit referendum or the election of Donald Trump in 2016, Arendt’s ‘mass man’ seem to have found their counterparts among the supporters of Brexit and Trumpism. Studies of voters’ profiles in both events point to a disproportionate share of supporters from white male lower income backgrounds without university educations. These are individuals who have either already lost their jobs to globalisation or who are at high risk of losing their job with very little capacity to be retrained for the twenty-first century market economy of advanced industrialised states (BBC 2016; Pew Research Center 2018). In short, these displaced workers are part of the tapestry forming the modern equivalent of Arendt’s ‘mass man’ – ready to be the recruits of totalitarianism. Conclusion If we step back to take a more comprehensive approach to the relationship between truth and politics, both historically and theoretically, it is not so obvious that 2016 is a defining moment. From ancient China and ancient Greece to our so-called post-truth age, the indeterminacy of language appears to be a persistent political challenge. Language is always open to manipulation by its users to serve power. Nonetheless, the tendency these days is to single out the ubiquity of social media and the proliferation of Internet platforms as the incubator for the countless cyberwars of words that in turn fuel the real world of politics. In this context, language is no longer the conveyor of objective facts and accurate information, but rather the medium for expressing subjective opinions and feelings, as captured by the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of the term ‘post-truth politics’. In contrast, the historical approach used in this chapter shows that it is in fact too easy to point the figure at the Internet and digital communication for the political challenge that we face today. What is being suggested here is that with or without the Internet, language, be it used to convey facts or emotions, is simply a tool for communication that humans have invented. While language per se cannot adjudicate what is true or not true, what is right or wrong, it embodies such capacity when language is a shared norm. That shared norm cannot be sustained without some semblance of cohesion in any given community. Any war of words, irrespective of its platform, is indicative of the breakdown of such cohesiveness. Returning to the original context in which the term post-truth politics was first used by Steve Tesich helps to identify the important distinction between truth as the standard for knowledge and truth as the standard for action. The two do not necessarily coincide. Placed in the context of the history of political thought, this distinction is in fact at the heart of Plato’s Republic. Yet when the philosopher as the quintessential bearer of truth becomes king, the polis that he rules over is far from the ideal of a just state that it purports to be. Instead, it is one that is held together by lies and coercion. What Arendt reveals through her study of Nazism and Stalinism is that it is dangerous for the kind of truth that philosophy generates – ‘rational truth’ – to become the guide to politics. Politics guided by rational truth can only be uncompromising and follows a logic of its own that cannot afford the ambiguity and indeterminacy of reality as lived experiences of humans. A world of post-truth politics can be an opportunity for a new kind of politics if it is indeed about dismantling the idea that truth is the ideal that politics should strive for. But as it stands, the post-truth politics of today is more about invoking a past that never exists to judge the presence as a crisis in naming when the real crisis is about rebuilding a shared space that has room for all – be they of the left, right or centre; cosmopolitan or parochial; civic-minded or self-centred; liberal-minded or bigoted. Politics is and always will be about striving for that space, without which no human can thrive. References Arendt, Hannah. 1958. The Human Condition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Arendt, Hannah. 1973. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Rev. ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Arendt, Hannah. 1977. “Truth and Politics.” In Between Past and Future, 227–264. New York: Penguin Books. Arendt, Hannah. 1982. Lectures on Kant’s Political Philosophy, edited by Ronald Beiner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2016. “Brexit vote: The breakdown.” BBC News, December 7, 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38227674 Cao, Feng. 2016. “A New Examination of Confucius’ Rectification of Names.” Journal of Chinese Humanities 2: 147–171. https://doi-org.subzero.lib. uoguelph.ca/ doi/ 10.1163/23521341-12340032. Connor, W. Robert. 1984. Thucydides. Princeton: Princeton University Press. de Jonge, Casper C. 2017. “Dionysius of Halicarnassus on Thucydides.” in The Oxford Handbook of Thucydides, edited by Sara Forsdyke, Edith Foster, and Ryan Balot. Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/ oxfordhb/9780199340385.013.17 https://www-oxfordhandbooks-com.subzero. lib.uoguelph.ca/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199340385.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199340385 Hyvönen, Ari-Elmeri. 2018. “Careless Speech: Conceptualizing Post-Truth Politics.” New Perspectives 26 (3): 31–55. https://www.proquest.com/ scholarly-journals/careless-speech-conceptualizing-post-truth/ docview/2204515132/se-2?accountid=11233. Hobbes, Thomas. 1839–1845. The English Works of Thomas Hobbes, edited by Sir William Molesworth. London: John Bohn. Vol. 8. Klinkner, Melanie. 2018. “Reasonable Truth.” International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics 14 (3): 393–99. doi:10.1386/macp.14.3.393_7. Lee, Haiyan. 2019. “When Nothing Is True, Everything Is Possible: On Truth and Power by Way of Socialist Realism.” PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 134 (5). Cambridge University Press: 1157–64. https://doi.org/10.1632/pmla.2019.134.5.1157 Lewis, Mark E. 1999. “Warring States Political History.” In The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC, edited by Michael Loewe and Edward Shaughnessy, 587–650. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Makeham, John. 2003. “Zheng ming (Rectification of names).” In RoutledgeCurzon Encyclopedia of Confucianism, edited by Xinzhong Yao. Vol. 2: 813-814. New York: Routledge. Oxford Languages, n. d. “Word of the Year 2016.” Accessed 19 August 2017. https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2016/ Peters, Richard. 1979. Hobbes. Westport: Greenwood Press. Pew Research Center. 2018. “An examination of the 2016 electorate, based on validated voters.” Report, August 9, 2018. https://www.pewresearch.org/ politics/2018/08/09/an-examination-of-the-2016-electorate-based-on- validated-voters/ Plato. 1974. Republic. Translated by G. M. A. Grube. Indianapolis: Hackett. Tesich, Steve. 1992. “Watergate Syndrome: A Government of Lies.” The Nation: 12-14. January 6/13, 1992. Thucydides. 1972. The Peloponnesian War. Translated by Rex Warner. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books. Wolin, Sheldon. 2004. Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Westen Political Thought. Expanded Edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Zerilli, Linda M. G. 2020. ‘Fact-Checking and Truth-Telling in an Age of Alternative Facts.’ Le foucaldien 6, no. 1: 2, 1–22. Theresa Man Ling Lee is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Guelph (Canada). Lee is a political theorist who specializes in contemporary political thought. Her research and teaching areas include continental philosophy, Marxism and critical theory, feminism, postmodernism, philosophy of social science, psychoanalysis, multiculturalism, human rights, disability studies, modern Chinese political thought and comparative political theory. Lee has published on a wide range of subjects in these areas, including intercultural pedagogy and the challenges of teaching as a person with multiple minority designations in a Canadian university classroom.
Leam Richardson ‘Very Proud’ Of Players After Brentford Cup Exit
The Royals put in a valiant effort but ultimately came up short against the top-flight Bees.
Pena, Yordan Power Astros Past Royals 4-2
It was a Pena-Palooza. Astros 4 Royals 2. Fans were barely in their seats when Jeremy Pena started the night with a lead off smash, clearing the train tracks and putting the Astros on the board 1-0. For Pena, it was his 5th leadoff home run of the season. Pena would double down and […]
Reading 1-2 Brentford: Player Ratings
Here’s how Marc saw the Royals’ performance against tough opposition in the League Cup.
Reading 1-2 Brentford: Huffed And Puffed
The Royals were knocked out of the League Cup after a narrow defeat to Brentford, despite Paudie O'Connor's second-half header.
Universal Music Group sues DistroKid for spreading "AI slop"
Universal Music is suing DistroKid, alleging the distribution service spreads AI-generated and copyright-infringing tracks that divert royalties from human artists.
Introducing: Supernova Serena Williams Gets Her Own Audemars Piguet Royal Oak
The new chronograph makes a compelling case for the power of pink.
Kings One of Eight Teams Donning New ‘Specter’ Jerseys
Blending modern aesthetics with franchise history, Sacramento’s new black-and-purple threads celebrate a storied legacy spanning from its Rochester Royals roots to legendary playoff battles against rivals.
The Red Sox will finish over .500 in 2026
Good morning! As I wrote last night, yesterday’s win against the Royals was subtly important for the Sox. I was looking at things in the context of the team’s recent sluggish play heading into a tough roadtrip. But it was important in another sense: it was their 82nd win, meaning the Red Sox will finish […]
Immaculate Tolle and the Sox roll the Royals 4-1
We need to see Payton Tolle on the Fenway mound this October. We NEED to see it. Tolle is forging a real connection with the fans the stands at Fenway. It’s not just the hugs. It’s not just the strikeouts. It’s everything. It’s the way he bounces onto the mound to start each inning. It’s […]
The Weekly Bobbins: Reading’s Soft Underbelly
A closer look at what went wrong for the Royals in Saturday’s 2-1 reverse at Cambridge United.
Royals claim pitcher Spencer Bivens off waivers
The groundball reliever could get a look.
Bone Health Without the Hype
I am at the Australasian Menopause Society meeting and we had a fantastic lecture on Bone Health on Day 2, called, “Everything you need to know about bones - except the boring bits!” Spoiler alert, there were no boring bits. The lecture was given by Dr. Amanda Beech, who is a senior staff specialist in Obstetric Medicine and Endocrinology at the Royal Hospital for Women, where she is director of the Bone Density Unit. I want to summarize my top 10 take-aways for you. Share Osteoporosis is a disease of low bone mass, disruption of bone microarchitecture, and fragility of the skeleton. It is a silent disease…until someone develops a fracture. The diagnosis of osteoporosis is based on either fragility/minimal trauma fractures or a T-score of less than -2.5 on a DXA (Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry) or bone scan. It is important to recognize that about 50% of minimal trauma fractures occur when women have low bone mass (often referred to as osteopenia), but not osteoporosis. This tells us that bone strength is more complicated than a number on a DXA report. I am going to add a little here that wasn’t in the talk (one can only include so much in 25 minutes), as many women might read the above paragraph and think, “Shouldn’t we be treating everyone with low bone mass if this is when 50% of the fractures occur?” Many fractures happen for women with low bone mass because there are so many women with low bone mass –it is a statement about the population on a whole, not about the fracture risk of low bone mass. For you as an individual, bone density is only one component of fracture risk and many women with lower bone mass will not have a significantly elevated fracture risk. This is why individualized risk assessment matters. Subscribe We build bone in our teens and twenties, and by the time we are about thirty we have reached peak bone mass. This is why, when we discuss risk factors for osteoporosis, it is important to consider factors that might have affected us in our teens and twenties when we were actively building bone, such as nutritional restriction/energy imbalance. It is important to ask women about a history of eating disorders, and for those with such a history, getting a bone scan in perimenopause or at age 50 is likely warranted. (This image below isn’t from the talk, but is similar to one that was). Bone mass is relatively stable until about two years before the final menstrual period, and perimenopause marks a time of rapid bone loss for women. Using urinary markers of bone loss we know that the time of significantly accelerated bone loss starts about 1 year before the final period and ends about 2 years after the final period. The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) shows that over the menopause transition women lose an average of 10.6% of the bone at their lumbar spine and 9.1% at the femoral neck While this wasn’t covered in the lecture, I want to add that the rapid bone loss during perimenopause is clearly related to more than estradiol, because during this time estradiol levels can be erratic and not uniformly low. Bone loss during perimenopause is likely a multi-hormone event. For example, rising FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) tracks with bone loss better than estradiol, and there is evidence that FSH may act directly on bone. While decreased estrogen matters, there is clearly more going on. FSH and bone is an active area of research. Subscribe Screening for osteoporosis was recommended fairly broadly before age 65, and was taken from the “Practitioner’s Toolkit for Managing Menopause,” from Monash University. Here is a screenshot from the toolkit that was used as a slide: I am going to add a little bit more about body weight here for clarification. Low body mass (typically 152.1 lb): 0 points (risk neutral) 60–69 kg (132.3–152.1 lb): 3 points (adds some risk)
No-Danger Ranger, Red Sox beat Royals 5-1
Were you worried about Ranger Suárez coming into this afternoon’s game? It’s okay to admit it if you were. Hell, it’s okay to still be worried a tad. The man put up a 5.70 ERA in the month of August, culminating in a no-show performance against the Yankees in what was the biggest series of […]
Red Sox change start time of Sunday’s game vs. Royals
With rain in the forecast Sunday, the Red Sox announced a new start time for their series finale against the Royals.
Should the Kansas City Royals Extend Carter Jensen?
Keeping the Kansas City kid around is a no-brainer.
Cambridge United 2-1 Reading: A Tough Loss To Take
The Royals were on the wrong end of a turnaround, after Jack Marriott's first-half opener.
$7K in tattoo equipment stolen from local business at Royal Oak’s Arts, Beats and Eats festival
Royals at Red Sox, September 11 live discussion
A struggling Seth Lugo faces his arch-nemeses
Salvador Perez Opens Up About His Future With the Royals
The veteran catcher says he wants to play as long as he can, whether that means staying behind the plate or moving to a new position.
Red Sox Make Notable Jarren Duran Move For Series Opener
Jarren Duran is changing positions as the Red Sox open a critical September series against the Royals at Fenway Park.
Jays Call Up Rudy Martin
I figured I wasn’t going to post anything more until the Game Thread, but everyone is reporting that the Jays are calling up 30-year-old outfielder Rudy Martin. They picked up Martin off waivers from the Royals, back in July. He was drafted by the Royals in the 25th round of the 2014 draft and he’s […]
Norway's Princess Astrid dies two days after brother King Harald's funeral
Norway is grieving two cherished members of its royal family.
Red Sox host the Royals to start 3-game series
The Boston Red Sox start a three-game series at home against the Kansas City Royals on Friday.
HRH Crown Princess Victoria visits locally-led solutions for health, resilience and nature during UNDP visit to Indonesia
UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, visited Indonesia from 4–6 September to see first-hand how locally led solutions are strengthening health systems, building resilience, creating economic opportunity and protecting nature.
T-Pain Sues Konvict Entertainment for $489K in Unpaid Royalties, Alleges Contract Breach
T-Pain has filed a lawsuit against Konvict Entertainment in Fulton County Superior Court, seeking $489,047.76 in allegedly unpaid royalties, prejudgment interest, and attorney fees. The complaint, filed on Friday, Sept….
Boston Red Sox Announce Probable Starters Against Kansas City Royals
Just when it looked like the Boston Red Sox were closing the gap on the New York Yankees in the race for the first American League wild-card spot, a bump in the road hit. New York took three out of four from Boston two weekends ago in the Bronx to go four games clear for […] The post Boston Red Sox Announce Probable Starters Against Kansas City Royals appeared first on HEAVY.
A new album from Wilmington's musical royals, plus your weekend
If Wilmington has musical royalty, then Fuzz Jackson and McClain Sullivan should wear crowns. Their lush new album, "Heide Drive," dropped Sept. 8.
Parade unites community, cultures for 2-day event
ELOY — Parade participants get to feel like royalty for an hour as they travel down Main Street past those attending the Fiestas, welcoming them to the start of day
Royals vs. Diamondbacks September 9th game discussion
Royals trying to salvage one in the series while the Diamond cling to the final NL Wildcard
Michael Wacha Explains What Drove Career Milestone for Royals
Wacha passed a personal mark that stood for more than a decade on Tuesday night.
T-Pain sues Akon’s record label, claiming he’s owed nearly $500K in royalties
The singer alleges Konvict Entertainment failed to pay his full share of royalties from recent music sales.
Kansas City Royals news: Witt’s future looks Golden
What will end first; the Kansas City Royals’ season or the heatwave the Midwest is suffering through?
Overmars resigns as Royal Antwerp sports director due to health issues
ANTWERP, Belgium (AP) — Soccer great Marc Overmars is stepping down as Royal Antwerp's sports director due to health issues.
Marc Overmars steps down as Royal Antwerp sports director due to health issues
Soccer great Marc Overmars is stepping down as Royal Antwerp's sports director due to health issues. Overmars has explained his decision in a letter to supporters.
Overmars resigns as Royal Antwerp sports director due to health issues
Soccer great Marc Overmars is stepping down as Royal Antwerp's sports director due to health issues. Overmars has explained his decision in a letter to supporters. He mentioned fatigue and
Overmars resigns as Royal Antwerp sports director due to health issues
Soccer great Marc Overmars is stepping down as Royal Antwerp's sports director due to health issues. Overmars, who joined the Belgian club in 2022, explained his decision in a letter to supporters published on Wednesday as he mentioned “all the fatigue that has built up over the years and the enormous amount of stress.” “You all know that my health has not been optimal,” he wrote.
Overmars resigns as Royal Antwerp sports director due to health issues
Soccer great Marc Overmars is stepping down as Royal Antwerp's sports director due to health issues. Overmars, who joined the Belgian club in 2022, explained his decision in a letter to supporters published on Wednesday as he mentioned “all the fatigue that has built up over the years and the enormous amount of stress.” “You all know that my health has not been optimal,” he wrote.
Marc Overmars to step down as Royal Antwerp sporting director amid health issues
Marc Overmars has announced he will be stepping down from his job as sporting director at Royal Antwerp for health reasons.
Guess Whose Back!? Dbacks 5, Royals 3. F/11
On Tuesday the Dbacks were able to get to a season high 10 games over .500 as they beat the Kansas City Royals in 11 innings. The story of the game was Corbin Burnes’ return to the team, but the guys that stole the show at the end were of an unlikely variety as there […]
Royals postpone the inevitable, but the inevitable still came
The bullpen did bullpen things
D-backs @ Royals discussion
Today’s Lineups DIAMONDBACKS ROYALS Lars Nootbaar – DH Carter Jensen – C Ketel Marte – 2B Bobby Witt – SS Gabriel Moreno – C Vinnie Pasquantino – 1B Geraldo Perdomo – SS Salvador Perez – DH Corbin Carroll – RF Michael Massey – 2B Nolan Arenado – 3B Nick Loftin – 3B Tommy Troy – […]
Why was Corbin Carroll suddenly scratched from the Diamondbacks’ lineup?
KANSAS CITY – In a sudden move before Tuesday night’s matchup for the Arizona Diamondbacks in Kansas City against the Royals, Corbin Carroll has been scratched from the lineup. Jun 10, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Arizona right fielder Carroll (7) rounds past second base against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at loanDepot Park.
Exclusive: Two of gaming’s biggest names are making a big investment in gaming’s future
The first thing to know about the Nova Games Foundation is that it isn’t about The Game Awards. And it’s not about PlayStation. The ambitious new grant program is the brainchild of Geoff Keighley and Mark Cerny. Keighley is the host of The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest and Opening Night Live. Cerny is a game designer of some 45 years and the lead architect for the PlayStation 4 and 5. But this new thing, which they’re revealing through Game File, isn’t about their day jobs. It’s an unaffiliated, standalone philanthropic project. It’s a bet on the artistic future of video games and a way, they tell me, to give back. “I’m nearing the end of my career,” Cerny recently told me over email. “I’m not done yet, but paying it forward—in the best way possible—is very much on my mind these days,” The Nova Games Foundation is a university-affiliated fellowship program, intended to offer six-figure grants to 20 young game designers each year, potentially for decades to come. It will offer no-strings-attached funding along with mentorship from games industry leaders, a combination intended to aid the development of groundbreaking new games, Cerny and Keighley told me. Nova will begin accepting applications in December, from class of 2026 and 2027 students from 13 affiliated gaming programs at universities in eight countries. The schools working with Nova include the New York University and the University of Southern California in the U.S., along with Abertay University in Scotland, Cnam-Enjmin in France, TH Köln in Germany, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, Cerny and Keighley said. The plan: $100,000 per recipient, with about a quarter of Nova fellows eligible for up to $500,000 more for projects that are shaping up particularly well. Payments will be delivered based on development milestones, and recipients will own their games. Nova will help promote the work, and developers will be free to pursue the publishers and platforms of their choice. Nova can help introduce fellows to publishers, but won’t take a cut. “I’ve always wanted to give back, but given my role in the industry, I’ve never felt it appropriate to commercially invest in games,” Keighley told Game File. “I’ve never owned stock in a game company or taken a financial stake in a game. Nova is philanthropy: we aren’t taking equity or looking to recoup the grants. The return we’re hoping for is creative—helping new voices make games and find their footing. “Mark and I have each made multi-million-dollar donations to establish the foundation, and we intend to keep contributing. We hope others will join us.” Cerny and Keighley have already hired an executive director, John Maconga, and a head of grants, recent Game Developers Conference director Ashley Corrigan, to help launch the effort. They’re working to recruit game industry leaders to join the effort. Keighley says “dozens of leading game directors have already expressed interest in contributing their time.” To name one, they’ve already gotten Josef Fares, lead designer from It Takes Two and Spit Fiction studio Hazelight on board with a donation and pledge to help out. “I’m proud to support Nova because it gives the next generation of creators the freedom to explore their creativity and hopefully bring their unique visions to life,” Fares told Game File. A plan forged from a friendship Keighley and Cerny have known each other a long time. It’s been so long, Cerny isn’t even sure exactly when they met. “We travel in much the same circles and I’m sure first intersected in the 90s or early 2000s,“ Cerny said. Keighley thinks it might have been during his stint writing a column about the mid-’90s console 3DO for a gaming magazine while Cerny was working on games with Crystal Dynamics or on Way of the Warrior with Naughty Dog. They became genuine friends about a 10 years ago, Keighley said, as they bonded over a shared love of games and a hope to improve the industry. “About a decade ago, we started having dinner a few times a year in LA,” Keighley said. “Just to catch up on life and the industry. Those conversations continued over Zoom during COVID. Nova grew out of that friendship and a question we kept coming back to: ‘What could we do to help the next generation of game directors get started?’” Keighley credits Cerny with the idea to figure out a way to put their money and time back into the industry. At one of those dinners, Keighley proposed the idea of a fellowship program. He’d recalled applying for a Rhodes Scholarship when he was younger. “Spoiler: I didn’t get it,” he said. He’d admired the MacArthur Foundation’s so-called “genius grants.” He liked these kinds of programs that recognized people’s talents and gave them the financial boost and the freedom to realize their potential. With Cerny, he had pondered what a game industry version of that could be. Keighley liked the idea of centering the fellowship on students, drawing inspiration from the accomplishments of Jenova Chen, the USC game design graduate who went on to lead the creation of gently moving, ambitious games such as Flower and Journey. Keighley also thought it could be useful to help promising graduates bridge the transition from student to professional. “Joining an established studio isn’t always possible—especially in today’s market—and even then, it isn’t the right path for everyone,” Keighley said. A fellowship, he realized, could give “graduates the time, resources and guidance to pursue a game of their own and not worry about the commercial viability.” As the idea took shape, Cerny also saw an opportunity to enable more games of a certain type: “The target with the grants is games as an artistic medium,” Cerny told me. “We like to say games with ‘artistic, literary and societal value.’” He added: “I’m a pretty big gamer myself, though I tend to gravitate towards the smaller and more unique or artistic titles, games like Neva, Abzu, Gorogoa, Stray or Outer Wilds. I was just playing and Roger on a flight to Japan, and was getting misty eyed to a degree that I was concerned that a flight attendant would ask me if I was OK. “So one fun benefit here is the games that will come out of the Nova Games Foundation – I can’t wait to play them myself.” Cerny believes it will also be useful for Nova fellows to hone their craft and team leadership skills. “We are looking for the next generation of visionaries,” he said. “The trick is that they will also need to have the executive function necessary to drive a small project to completion.” Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Going big with this Keighley and Cerny may have started Nova and may be the ones primarily backing it right now, but they’re dreaming of something that goes beyond them. “Mark and I may have helped get it started, but one of our measures of success is that Nova grows into something the entire games industry feels a sense of ownership in,” Keighley said. “Our ambition is to build a lasting endowment supported by people and companies across the industry, and an equally broad community of creators willing to give their time and experience to the next generation.” The industry has a lot of knowledge that it can pass to the next generation, Keighley said: “Nova can hopefully become a way to connect that generosity with talented young creators at the moment when it can make the biggest difference.” Cerny, who told me he believes Nova can mature “over the next 10 or 20 years,” sees an opportunity to give generations of game makers momentum. “The industry has changed immeasurably since I started in games in 1982,” he said. “These graduates have talent, training and tools that outclass what we had back in the day by an astonishing amount. But they face a tough road ahead getting traction in the industry, and many could benefit from our support. We want to be there to give it to them.” “There’s a personal side to this, too,” Keighley said. “I don’t have children, and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I can do for future generations. Games have been my entire career. I’ve been incredibly fortunate, and helping someone else build a life in this industry feels like a meaningful way to give back.” Cerny’s oeuvre dates back to Marble Madness and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. He has stood on stage multiple times to reveal the future of PlayStation hardware. He’s been an executive producer for a string of modern PlayStation classics such as The Last Guardian and Marvel’s Spider-Man. Nevertheless, of Nova, he said, “It’s certainly not like anything I’ve done before.” Nova Foundation applications will be due in December and the first wave of fellows will be announced in March 2027. A full list of participating universities and steps students and recent graduates can take to apply to become a Nova Fellow is forthcoming.
Business Aviation & AAM Appointments: Royal Aeronautical Society, Cutter Aviation, And More
Lindsey Oliver of BBGA is honored as a Royal Aeronautical Society fellow, while Cutter Aviation and Skyfarer announce key leadership appointments.
T-Pain sues Akon’s record label, claiming unpaid royalties
Atlanta rapper T-Pain is suing Konvict Entertainment, the record label co-founded in Georgia by singer Akon, claiming almost $500,000 in unpaid royalties from music sales.
Toronto Blue Jays Announce George Springer Decision Before Athletics Series
The Toronto Blue Jays fell 6-1 to the Kansas City Royals on Sunday but ultimately took two of three games in the series.Now, on Monday night, they’re in Sacramento to begin a three-game series against the Athletics as they continue their push for an American League playoff spot with exactly 18 regular-season games remaining.Ahead of […] The post Toronto Blue Jays Announce George Springer Decision Before Athletics Series appeared first on HEAVY.
King Charles III clarifies status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, after their return to the UK
King Charles III authorized the release of a letter clarifying the status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, now that they’ve returned to the U.K. The letter on Monday confirms that the couple are no longer working members of the royal family and will not use the titles “his or her royal highness | NewsRadio 1080 KRLD
King Charles III clarifies status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, after their return to the UK
King Charles III authorized the release of a letter clarifying the status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, now that they’ve returned to the U.K. The letter on Monday confirms that the couple are no longer working members of the royal family and will not use the titles “his or her royal highness | WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM
King Charles III clarifies status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, after their return to the UK
King Charles III authorized the release of a letter clarifying the status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, now that they’ve returned to the U.K. The letter on Monday confirms that the couple are no longer working members of the royal family and will not use the titles “his or her royal highness | 1010 WINS
King Charles III clarifies status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, after their return to the UK
King Charles III authorized the release of a letter clarifying the status of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, now that they’ve returned to the U.K. The letter on Monday confirms that the couple are no longer working members of the royal family and will not use the titles “his or her royal highness | 1080 WTIC NEWSTALK
Why Royals' Randy Dobnak Deserves A Rotation Spot Next Season
The right-hander has recorded a 2.54 ERA and 43 strikeouts since the Kansas City Royals acquired him in a trade with the Seattle Mariners in June.
D-backs @ Royals discussion
Today’s Lineups DIAMONDBACKS ROYALS Geraldo Perdomo – SS Carter Jensen – C Ketel Marte – 2B Bobby Witt – SS Gabriel Moreno – C Vinnie Pasquantino – 1B Nolan Arenado – 3B Salvador Perez – DH Lourdes Gurriel – DH Michael Massey – 2B Ildemaro Vargas – 1B Nick Loftin – 3B Tim Tawa – […]
Royals vs. Diamondbacks, September 7 Live Discussion
Noah Cameron gets the start on a holiday matinee against a team hanging on to a Wild Card spot.
Prince William & Kate Middleton’s ‘Fun Evening’ Includes This Reality Show
Prince William and Kate Middleton reportedly had a surprisingly relatable favorite for a quiet night at home. The royal couple apparently enjoyed settling in together for a popular reality competition...
That Was Less Than Fun, Jays Lose
Jays 1 Royals 6 This one, well, it was a great game to watch. Right from the first inning. Brett Bateman was hit by a pitch to start the game, but Nathan Lukes hit into a double play, and Vladimir Guerrero grounded out. And the bottom of the inning went single (roller down the first […]
Meghan Markle Has Totally Embraced The Royal Family's Favorite Hobby
She briefly moved away from the royal family, but Meghan Markle still kept up the same interests as King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Princess of Wales.
Blue Jays Manager Gives Honest Statement After Regaining Postseason Spot
The Toronto Blue Jays accomplished two things in their 4-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. The first was pushing them over .500 for the first time this season since April 3, when they were 4-3. But coupled with a loss by the Cleveland Guardians, it put them in position for a Wild Card spot.“It […] The post Blue Jays Manager Gives Honest Statement After Regaining Postseason Spot appeared first on HEAVY.
Jays Beat Royals
Blue Jays 4 Royals 3 The Jays are above .500 and own the last Wild Card spot. After the first inning, I thought this was going to be a high scoring game. The Jays got two in the first (it should have been more). Brett Bateman started the game with a single, but was quickly […]
Utah Royals defender Kaleigh Riehl signs extension through 2027
A key member of URFC will be returning for the 2027 season.
Jays @ Royals
Game Two with the Royals. Another blowout would be a good thing. Blowout in favour of the Jays, of course. Tiedemann is back, Taillon is on the DL. And the team is admitting that Patrick Corbin and Cody Ponce won’t be back this season. They need someone to start next Wednesday in Taillon’s spot against […]
Royals vs Blue Jays, September 5 live discussion
What’s it going to take for the Royals to stop the September spinout?
Reading 3-1 Blackpool: A Complete Performance
Sim’s take on an even better showing than Wednesday’s, with George Earthy, Kyreece Lisbie and Jacob Brown earning the Royals a second straight home win.
Matt Quatraro Explains Royals Starter's Rough Outing Before Rematch
Seth Lugo gets a second crack at Max Scherzer tonight, six days after giving up nine earned runs in Cleveland.