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Vance plans Greensboro visit Monday
It will be the vice president’s second trip to North Carolina this year.
Vance plans Greensboro visit Monday
It will be the vice president’s second trip to North Carolina this year.
Sorkin says 'The Social Reckoning' was not not an easy green light
During an appearance on "The Interview" podcast, Director Aaron Sorkin called Meta "phenomenally powerful company with limitless resources."
Packers Get Good News in Latest Josh Jacobs Update
The Green Bay Packers are likely to get RB Josh Jacobs back as soon as possible considering his off-field issues and likely NFL punishment. The post Packers Get Good News in Latest Josh Jacobs Update appeared first on HEAVY.
Kansas State vs Tulane: 2026 Game 3
A big test is out of the way. Can the Wildcats avoid stumbling again against the Green Wave?
Three Keys for Michigan State to Upset Notre Dame
Michigan State must finish drives and protect the ball to upset No. 3 Notre Dame. #GoGreen
Denmark hails 'binding' Greenland deal with Trump
The terms of the deal are uncertain, and Denmark says its sovereignty remains intact
Next stop: New Jersey
The Packers departed Green Bay's Austin Straubel International Airport on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, for their Week 2 matchup against the New York Jets.
Arts and entertainment calendar
Events coming up in the Greenville area offer music, arts, theater and family fun. Here is a sampling. “Today” refers to events scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19.
KDHE issued a public health advisory for blue-green algae
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) have issued a public health advisory due to blue-green algae.
Greene County Business Licenses Issued In August
New and renewed business licenses filed with the Greene County Clerk’s Office August 1-31 included.
Panther Creek and Green Level meet for annual game promoting mental health awareness
Panther Creek and Green Level High Schools held their third annual Mental Health Awareness game. Players wore "Live for More" shirts during warm-ups, while the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) shared mental health information and resources with students and families.
ECU Health experts, advocates work to raise awareness, expand care for sickle cell disease
National health experts and Greenville advocates gathered Friday in Greenville to raise awareness and offer hope for patients living with sickle cell disease.
Packers Rookie Poised for Bigger Role After Week 1
Most of the discussion around the Green Bay Packers this week has been centered around the offense. However, the team could see a few small tweaks to the defense as well. The combination of rookie fourth-round pick Dani Dennis-Sutton looking solid in his NFL debut and Lukas Van Ness being a bit banged up this […] The post Packers Rookie Poised for Bigger Role After Week 1 appeared first on HEAVY.
Business briefs
NEW TO BOARD: The Autism Society of Mahoning Valley recently named four new members to its board of directors. The new board members bring diverse professional experience in human resources, healthcare, workforce and economic development, and real estate, strengthening the Autism Society’s leadership as it expands programs, partnerships, community engagement, and resources for individuals and […]
Business briefs
NEW TO BOARD: The Autism Society of Mahoning Valley recently named four new members to its board of directors. The new board members bring diverse professional experience in human resources, healthcare, workforce and economic development, and real estate, strengthening the Autism Society’s leadership as it expands programs, partnerships, community engagement, and resources for individuals and […]
Izzo Lands Five-Star Point Guard Antonio Pemberton
Five-star point guard Antonio Pemberton committed to Michigan State on Friday, picking Izzo over seven other finalists. #GoGreen
Trump announces agreement with Denmark to secure ‘permanent’ control over Greenland’s security
The agreement comes after President Donald Trump previously suggested annexing Greenland through military force before saying he wouldn’t.
Trump claims 'infinite' Greenland security deal with Denmark
US President Donald Trump said Friday that he had struck a deal with Denmark to give Washington "permanent control" over Greenland's security that would bar Russia and China from setting...
Trump says US reached Greenland security deal
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States has reached an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that gives the United States “permanent control” over Greenland’s security and bars any US adversary from having a military presence on the island.
U.S. and Denmark Reach Security Deal on Greenland, Trump Says
The full contours of the deal were unclear, but Denmark and Greenland both indicated they expected an agreement to be signed soon.
Environmental and Public Health Groups Sue Over the Trump EPA’s Latest Attempt to Bolster Fossil Fuels
Environmental and public health groups are suing the Trump administration over its most recent move to eliminate protections against climate-warming pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency announced a plan on Monday, finalized in the Federal Register on Thursday, to revoke most of a Biden-era rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants. The […]
Trump announces ‘forever’ deal to defend Greenland as Denmark says signing ‘expected’ next week
President Trump announced an agreement with Denmark that he said gives the United States "permanent" sway over Greenland's security.
Trump says he has a deal to bolster U.S. military presence in Greenland
The announcement comes after months of threatening to take island by force from the NATO ally
Trump says he has a deal to bolster U.S. military presence in Greenland
The announcement comes after months of threatening to take island by force from the NATO ally
Trump says he has a deal to bolster U.S. military presence in Greenland
The announcement comes after months of threatening to take island by force from the NATO ally
Green Brick Partners CEO Jim Brickman explains what makes business model unique
Green Brick Partners CEO Jim Brickman explains what makes business model unique
Riley Greene Traded Homers For His Best Season Yet
Riley Greene cut his home runs nearly in half and posted the best OPS of his career. #Tigers
Trump declares victory in historic deal with Greenland as he secures 'permanent' US military rights
President Donald Trump's Greenland deal bars China and Russia from the Arctic island and grants permanent U.S. military basing with no expiration.
Nebraska DHHS extends health alert for toxic algae at lakes in Gage and Jefferson counties
Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has extended a health alert for toxic blue-green algae at Big Indian Lake in Gage County and Cub Creek Lake in Jefferson County.
PHOTOS: Tennessee Entertainment Commission announces Tennessee Music Advisory Council
Fox 17 provides local news, weather, sports, traffic and entertainment for Nashville and nearby towns and communities in Middle Tennessee, including Forest Hills, Brentwood, Franklin, Fairview, Dickson, Clarksville, White House, Greenbrier, Springfield, Gallatin, Hartsville, Lebanon, Mt Juliet, Smyrna, College Grove, Thompson’s Station, Centerville, Murfreesboro, Columbia, Lewisburg, Shelbyville, Manchester, McMinnville, Smithville, Sparta, Cookeville, Hohenwald, Waverly, Camden, Paris, Lafayette, Portland, and in Kentucky, Russelville, Bowling Green, Franklin, Alvaton, Scottsville, Hopkinsville, Glasgow.
Martin County health officials warn of harmful algae near Lake Okeechobee
Health officials issued a blue-green algae alert for part of Lake Okeechobee after Sept. 15 samples found harmful toxins. Avoid visible blooms.
Redrawing Madison's map, Cap City's charming song cycle, Reunion to close
In this week's newsletter, Reunion will close in Spring Green, Madison's Capital City Theatre debuts a delightful song cycle, a murder mystery rec and more.
9 best movies of TIFF 2026: 'River,' 'Misty Green,' ''The Debut,' more
Julianne Moore, Kate and Rooney Mara and Amanda Seyfried captivated in their showcases, while more young horror directors continue to rise worldwide.
Updated downtown Greenville design guidelines approved: Design Review Board notes
The board recommended approval of the city’s updated downtown design guidelines to Greenville City Council.
Small business owner in Asheboro shares her key to success
ASHEBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Minkology in downtown Asheboro has been open for about five years. Co-owner Wendi Mink looks to bring some of the best finds all under one roof. “I think that it’s just importa...
Young Michigan voters cozy up to DSA agenda to abolish Senate, upend political system
Michigan State student calls Senate ‘inherently undemocratic’ as Green Party candidate backs DSA proposals and Detroit resident weighs political overhaul.
Jonathan Greenard itching to finally shake off the rust
Eagles edge rusher Jonathan Greenard is working his way back from injury but is hoping to return to action soon.
Why Trump’s new rule for green card applicants is sparking controversy
A new Trump administration rule that is expected to make it harder for many legal immigrants to obtain green cards if they receive or are deemed likely to need public assistance is set to take effect Friday – even as lawsuits seeking to halt it wind their way through federal court.
Could This Alternative Milk Actually Be Good For Healthy Aging?
Camel milk is having a wellness moment, but the science is still catching up.
Underdogs are a film festival's best friend
TORONTO — Who could have predicted that Peter Farrelly would make the fan favorite of this year's Toronto International Film Festival? Everyone who voted for "Green Book" eight years ago.
Underdogs are a film festival's best friend
TORONTO — Who could have predicted that Peter Farrelly would make the fan favorite of this year's Toronto International Film Festival? Everyone who voted for "Green Book" eight years ago.
Darren Soto contrasts record defending Social Security to Dan Green's support for Donald Trump cuts
An ad touts Soto efforts to cap prescription costs.
Vikes Views: Who Ya Got? Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears
The Minnesota Vikings travel to the unfriendly confines of Soldier Field for Week 2. The Vikings roll into Chicago riding high after destroying the Green Bay Packers in the 4th quarter last week. However, the Bears (at least the offense) had a great time Week 1 against the Panthers. They went on the road to […]
Recap: East Greenwich School Committee Approves $296,096 Science Classroom Award, $105,650 Anatomy Table, Lunch Payment Contract
The East Greenwich School Committee approved $296,096 in science classroom work and a $105,650 anatomy table under a new federal rural health grant.
US moneymen buy house for former Greenland official
Wæver Johansen says the property was an investment intended to provide short-term housing for business partners visiting Nuuk
Recycling Committee Starts Brainstorming Green Business Certification
The Recycling Committee toyed with a new green initiative at its meeting on Monday, September 14, that would have them work with local businesses to reduce restaurant waste.
Wake Forest medical Students, Atrium Health start wound clinic for the homeless in Winston-Salem
Buzz on Business: Low Key Cocktail Bar to Stay Closed
Above: Low Key in 2021, shortly after it opened. And Savor EG is happening next week! With additional reporting by Elizabeth McNamara Do you have an update you’d like to see included here regarding an 02818 business? Whether it’s small or big news, we’d like to hear from you! Share the buzz: editor@eastgreenwichnews.com. Low Key […]
Colts’ green dot gaffe falls firmly on coaching staff’s shoulders
If you’re the only team in the entire league asking a safety to don the green dot, maybe there’s actually good reason for it.
Packers’ Matt LaFLeur gets real on offensive line woes
The Packers’ fourth quarter against the Minnesota Vikings was an abject disaster. Not only did the Vikings put up 29 unanswered points on Green Bay, but the offensive line had no answers for an onslaught of pressure from Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who sent blitzes at quarterback Jordan Love on 78.3 percent of dropbacks [...]
Acore takes control of Beacon Capital’s Hell’s Kitchen life science development
Acore Capital has put an end to Beacon Capital Partners’ plans to build a life science development in Hell’s Kitchen. The lender took control of two office buildings at 707 11th Avenue and 615 West 50th Street that were once used as Kenneth Cole’s headquarters and more recently pegged for a 185,000-square-foot life science development. The sale was a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, according to property records. The transfer value of the sale was $60 million, per records. PincusCo first reported the news. Beacon Capital Partners and CalSTRS partnered with Georgetown to buy the properties from SL Green for $95 million […]
EVS-4
From ice in Greenland to rivers in Alaska’s North Slope to fires and farmland in the U.S. Southwest, Earth Ventures Suborbital-4 (EVS-4) constitutes a series of airborne campaigns.
How Trump’s new green-card policy could affect immigrant families
The policy, set to take effect Friday, would give immigration officers broader authority to deny permanent residency to people using public benefits.
Newlab startup tests stoplight tech with Detroit fire trucks
Detroit is piloting technology that would increase response time for fire trucks by turning the traffics lights green before they arrive.
Green Bay Packers sign OL Cordell Volson
The Packers brought in Volson for a workout yesterday. Now, the 48-game starter is signed to Green Bay
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Says No To Andrew Tupone in PA-07
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling to keep Andrew Tupone, a Green Party candidate, off the 7th Congressional District ballot. Two weeks ago, the state's Commonwealth Court sided with the Green Party of Pennsylvania, which stated that Tupone was not their chosen candidate for the ballot, challenging…
Measles exposure reported at Walgreens in Scottsdale, health officials warn
A measles case has health officials warning anyone who shopped at an East Valley Walgreens on Sept. 9 to watch for symptoms.
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.
The Iran war is driving clean energy development. It’s not enough to help the planet, yet
Countries are embracing clean power and taking steps to use less energy because of the war against Iran, but it is not yet enough to help address climate change. When the U.S. and Israel launched the war in February, some backers of renewables opined it could drive a green transition as oil and gas prices […]
CASCADES: A Journey Along Greenland’s Coast Where Ocean Meets Ice
CASCADES is an international, multidisciplinary expedition bringing together glaciologists, marine-mammal observers, microbiologists, geologists, and biogeochemists.
Business Briefs: Sept. 18, 2026
Greenfield Cooperative Bank celebrates employees and milestone anniversaries at Employee Appreciation Dinner WHATELY — Greenfield Cooperative Bank recently gathered employees for its annual Employee Appreciation Dinner at Whately’s Quonquont Farm. The evening offered a way for employees to come together outside of the workplace to recognize the people who make the co-op what it is. […]
Booming Business: Atlanta Firm Creates Cleaner Way to Sop Up Oil Spills
After the Deepwater Horizon spill, o-founder and CEO Sudhir Sharma, a Georgia Tech Ph.D. and chemical engineer, started wrestling with how to actually clean up spilled oil instead of just moving the problem from the ocean to the landfill.
‘The secret is finally out’: Upstate teams weigh in on national sports recognition
The Upstate is getting national recognition for its minor league sports scene, with Greenville-Spartanburg named the No. 1 minor league market in the country by Sports Business Journal.
After communication breakdowns, Colts make key defensive leadership change
Colts admit green-dot mistake, shift play-calling duties from FS Camryn Bynum to LB Akeem Gaither-Davis after disastrous season opener
Brookfield to invest up to $600 million in India's ACME green fuels business
US alternative asset manager Brookfield will invest up to $600 million in India's ACME Cleantech Ventures to help the company develop and build green ammonia and green methanol projects, the companies said on Thursday.
Liverpool given green light to sign Andoni Iraola favourite
Liverpool signed four new players this summer. And, while each of them have already had a fairly positive impact on the way that things have gone at Anfield, it still feels like more needs to be done ...
Packers Discussion: How would you fix the offensive line?
If you have any ideas on how to solve Green Bay’s issues up front, let us hear them
ECU Health expands prenatal care with group visits
Health officials launched the “CenteringPregnancy” program at ECU Health Women’s Physicians in Greenville.
Pair of Packers Starters Suddenly Land in Concussion Protocol
The Green Bay Packers hit the practice field on Wednesday in preparation for their Week 2 matchup against the New York Jets. They will look to bounce back from a disappointing season opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings. It won’t be easy, as Green Bay will be back on the road once again, and the […] The post Pair of Packers Starters Suddenly Land in Concussion Protocol appeared first on HEAVY.
GPT-6 Astra Plays Minecraft, Gets So Depressed After Creeper Destroys Its Progress That It Farms Potatoes for Hours
OpenAI’s newest model, GPT-6 Astra, got so depressed after a creeper upended its progress in Minecraft that it listlessly farmed potatoes for hours and grew paranoid of anything green.
Packers’ Super Bowl stock tumbles after Week 1 disaster
The Packers entered the 2026 season, as one of the teams executives and coaches across the league believed could make a Super Bowl run and bring the Lombardi back to Green Bay. Sunday’s come from ahead disastrous loss to the Minnesota Vikings was a disastrous wakeup call for head coach Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love, and [...]
Bucks Get Off Undesirable Contract in Three-Team Trade Idea
A proposed AJ Green trade would bring Wendell Carter Jr. to Milwaukee, but the added salary and crowded frontcourt complicate the Bucks’ return.
What Does the Science of Climate Change Really Look Like?
Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series on how the Right should think about environmental and climate policy. Read Chris Barnard on Reclaiming Environmental Policy from the Left. More than a decade ago, the world’s governments negotiated and signed the Paris Climate Agreement, committing to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius. In the following years, climate had immense cultural power. Greta Thunberg emerged. Fortune 500 companies established net-zero plans. The U.S. got the Inflation Reduction Act. Then the pendulum swung back. President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, speaking of green energy as a “scam” and carbon footprints as a “hoax” and on all matters of international policy emphasizing bilateral engagement and power over globalism and cooperation. The technology companies that had been at the forefront of net-zero pledges and green leadership discovered the importance of all-of-the-above power to their visions for artificial intelligence and began quietly postponing or removing their targets. On the left side of the political spectrum, rising concerns about inflation and cost pushed climate lower down in the stated priorities of voters and stump speeches of politicians. The moment is ripe for a reset on the politics of climate change and for conservatives especially to chart a course that acknowledges and addresses the real challenges in plausible ways. So what should we think about climate change as we enter a post-peak climate era? If it is neither an apocalypse nor a hoax, what will hold up as a durable view of climate change? And how does it project onto the concerns and priorities of the right-of-center’s emerging coalition? New to Commonplace_? Subscribe below to get the magazine in your inbox._ Subscribe A Solid Foundation As the politics and economics of climate careened over the past ten years, the physics carried on regardless. In 2015, the year the Paris Climate Agreement was adopted, the world emitted 41.2 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide. By 2025, emissions had risen only 2.4%, to 42.2 gigatonnes, because falling emissions from land use offset increasing emissions from fossil fuels. But slow growth in annual emissions is not rapid decline, let alone net-zero, so carbon dioxide kept accumulating in the atmosphere, going from 399 to 426 parts per million. Global temperature kept rising too, from about 1.1 degrees Celsius above the 1850–1900 average in 2015, to 1.4 degrees above it in 2025. None of this should surprise anyone. Even most prominent skeptics, like the authors of the 2025 report commissioned by the Trump administration’s Department of Energy, accept the basic physics. Carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere at industrial volumes accumulates and traps heat that would otherwise escape to space. That heat warms the upper ocean and increases temperatures at the surface. Increased ocean heat and melting of land ice cause sea levels to rise. Changes in the climate become noticeable to us as subtle shifts in temperature and precipitation, seasons arriving early or late, changes in the surrounding ecosystem, and weather extremes. The much more meaningful debate is not about whether these things are happening, but about what it all means for human societies. (While it is a proxy measure of overall risk, no one experiences global surface temperature.) This debate invokes at least three interesting questions: how much today’s warming is showing up in regional climate trends, how much more warming we should anticipate, and how extreme weather events can be understood in the context of climate change. Recent scientific advances give us new insights into each of these, but there is still much to learn. This is the context in which the next generation of conservative leaders will be the first to deal with significant climate change as a fact, not a forecast. It will be with them for their entire careers. Our evolving scientific picture of climate change will come from weather and climate records stretching further into the past, new kinds of observations in the present, better modeling tools for the future, and simply more time to observe the emergence of climate signals and their tangible effects on ecosystems and communities in the United States and around the world. The policy landscape will be shaped by not only the impacts of changes in the climate, but also by the ways in which societies respond and by the emergence of new technologies for both altering the trajectory of emissions and adapting to new climate realities. Global climate records now show the fingerprints of warming in different phenomena around much of the world. The IPCC, in its most recent assessment report, documents warming trends over all land regions, even as natural variability adds substantial variance to local trends. And the highest temperature extremes have become more intense and frequent, almost everywhere, since the 1950s. Scientists are highly confident that these changes are attributable to human influence. But confidence in detecting trends and attributing them to human influence degrades across heavy precipitation events; drought trends are heterogeneous and not attributable to human activity with great confidence. For hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe storms there is even less confidence in trends or their relationship to climate change. In general, a fair summary of the evidence is that for well-observed phenomena, like surface temperature or heavy rainfall, with a clear relationship to warming, our multidecadal observations are consistent with human influence overcoming natural variability over long time periods and extremes increasing. For regions that are sampled more sparsely, or phenomena with a higher noise-to-signal ratio, we will need to observe them longer to understand the magnitude of the climate signal or improve dynamical understanding using models and observations together. But for Climate For those who can’t wait, we also have new techniques that attempt to understand the role climate change has in influencing particular extreme events. When the climate is changing and disaster strikes, it is natural to ask whether that disaster was somehow “caused” by climate change. For scientists and policymakers acting in good faith, answering that question helps develop a more accurate picture of the problem, how it may be getting worse, and what preparations we should be making to respond to it. It may, at some point, give some weight to how liability is assigned by courts or adaptation funding is distributed by society. But how we ask this question is extremely important. It is easy to get the analysis wrong by discounting the role that meteorology plays. As meteorologist Theodore Shepherd explained in a clear 2016 review of climate attribution methods, “if a weather or climate event is truly extreme in the present climate, then perforce it requires unusual meteorological conditions, which means that climate change is at most a contributing factor.” Share Scientists have two ways to probe climate as a contributing factor, both of which have entered media coverage of extreme weather events. One asks a probabilistic question: How much more likely is a particular event (e.g., a temperature record over a particular area) amid global warming? The answer involves using historical records and computer simulations to estimate the likelihood of such an event in both a changed and a preindustrial climate. The findings are less about the specific event, and more about events of that nature. The other question is: How has the changed climate affected the specific event in question? Here, scientists try to understand what a similar event would have looked like in the preindustrial climate. This is sometimes called the storyline approach, where the story is the specific meteorological details of the event. These methods offer ways to test the intuition of scientists about real weather extremes. In late June and early July of 2021, a persistent high-pressure ridge, or heat dome, set up over the Pacific Northwest and an extraordinary heat wave affected the area from Oregon to British Columbia. For six days, it shattered temperature records across the region and hundreds died from heat-related causes, in an area where such high, and persistently high, temperatures were well outside of experience and many live without air conditioning. Scientists have studied its connection to climate change using multiple approaches. This specific event was created by a rare combination of meteorological factors, a strong high-pressure ridge created the conditions for extreme heat, which occurred on top of higher average temperatures in the region from global warming. Probabilistic analyses showed that climate change increased the likelihood of such an event by at least 8-fold to more than 100-fold. One standout example found that such an event had effectively zero probability of occurring in the preindustrial climate. The enormous range in these assessments reflects how hard it is to estimate probabilities of events at the tail of the historical record. Estimates of the effect on the temperature of the event are more clustered. A recent review paper documents how multiple methodologies have found a positive influence, roughly 1-2 degrees Celsius of an anomaly that exceeded 15 degrees, of climate change on the temperature magnitude of the event. Multiple studies have investigated and found some positive influence of climate change in other extreme events. Attribution studies found climate likely increased the heavy rainfall that accompanied Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and surrounding regions in 2024. The extensive fires that struck Los Angeles in 2025 illustrate how the causal chain can become messy, though. Studies do detect a positive influence of climate on the event’s likelihood, but while climate change likely contributed to underlying aridity, it would not have played a role in the heavy winds or land practices that preceded disaster. These event attribution studies will become more common for extreme, or damaging, weather events. They can be produced quickly, and often are reported before peer review. As the Pacific Northwest heatwave example shows, when multiple methods converge on a positive attribution, the finding should probably carry some weight even if you have to be careful about accepting the results from a single study. I expect that as climate change proceeds and the climate thus departs further from a preindustrial counterfactual, the influence will become more detectable across a variety of extreme events and more easily identified. This will be used to cast blame, but can also be used to inform how communities and society adapt to ongoing change. We May Still Be Surprised One positive development, insofar as less climate change is better, has been that our central estimates for future climate change should probably be revised downward. Mostly, that is because the high-end warmings that scientists regularly analyzed about ten to 20 years ago, driven by high emissions throughout the twenty-first century, now appear to be somewhere between unlikely and impossible. At one time, the upper end of mainstream climate projections extended well into 4 to 6 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of this century, which, models suggest, would have wrought enormous real-world damage. Current energy and policy trends now point toward 2.5 or 3 degrees. Damages and risks are commonly modeled as increasing steeply with more warming, so this is already a better-than-previously-expected outcome for the climate (which is independent of the physical response to emissions). But we should maintain a wide range for plausible outcomes and prepare for the possibility of being surprised. Emissions trajectories are subject to deep uncertainty, the physical climate response is still developing, and whatever change occurs in the climate will then be mediated through unpredictable economic, social, and political institutions. Over the past decade, the pace of warming surprised some keen observers and appeared to accelerate, though not yet outside the range of expectation provided by climate models. The reasons for that apparent acceleration are being actively studied (as was the apparent pause in warming from 1998 to 2012), but no single driver has emerged. Some blame it on the El Niño, variability which would have no bearing on climate. Some think it is a result of factories in East Asia and global shipping fleets cutting aerosol emissions, which in the strongest version of the argument would indicate higher climate sensitivity to carbon-dioxide emissions. Others are more measured, not yet ready to draw solid conclusions as to whether climate projections require revision. We will have to see. Long-Term Thinking Climate change asks us to think over long time scales. But the pace of human-driven warming is compressing a large global change into a century. Changing weather patterns and extreme events are already causing adjustment costs and damages and will do more. Adaptation will help, but it is not free. For some communities, these costs will erode livelihoods and well-being, and may force migration. Are we prepared for large-scale managed retreats in the United States? Thankfully, American wealth, geographical diversity, and moderate climates may leave us better prepared than many around the world. But wealthy countries can still suffer serious disruption from narrowly concentrated costs, even if they appear entirely manageable in aggregate. Readers of Commonplace are familiar with the challenges of rapidly adapting to economic forces. The displacement that came from the China Shock is barely perceptible in aggregate GDP and employment data, but it affected millions of people and those people were far less mobile than economic models tended to assume. Deindustrialization rippled through the nation with enormous effects for not only our economic vitality, but also our national security. The forces surrounding climate change may not be so different; the world gets richer and must accept some diffuse costs. Those may be modest overall, but cause all manner of unpredictable effects with which policymakers must cope. In the case of the China Shock, our faith in a growing pie served us poorly. We’ll need to do better on climate. Leave a comment
Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland and Antarctica in 47 years, satellites show
A major report has found that 12.5 trillion tons of ice from Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979. The massive glacier melt is mainly attributed to warmer waters eroding the ice sheets from below and the sides.
Vikings place RB Jordan Mason on IR with fractured thumb
Mason is listed as a co-starter on Minnesota’s depth chart and splits backfield duties Aaron Jones. He led the Vikings with 15 carries for 59 yards in Sunday’s win over the Green Bay Packers.
Greenville rehab hospital doubles capacity after $40M expansion
Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Greenville has seen extreme demand since opening in 2021, leading to $40M expansion.
Colts Making A Change In Defensive Communication
The Indianapolis Colts are changing who wears their 'green dot' on defense.
World Business Chicago announces two winners of design contest
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Packers' Jordan Still Ranked Top-10 NFL QB by FOX Sports Despite Week 1 Loss
Green Bay Packers star Jordan Love is still ranked a top-10 NFL QB by FOX Sports despite the Packers losing in Week 1.
The science behind greener, healthier lawns
A healthy, green lawn can be the envy of any neighborhood, but how does someone cultivate a yard like that? Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Science Amber Churchill has been getting her hands dirty and ...
Andy Green’s Future With Mets Has Been Decided
This is a season that no one with the New York Mets would’ve envisioned. Almost right from the outset, they were a mess, and they haven’t been in the playoff picture down the stretch at all despite having an incredibly expensive roster that featured a host of changes in the offseason. Despite that, there’s been […] The post Andy Green’s Future With Mets Has Been Decided appeared first on HEAVY.
Could Tulane Be A "Trap Game" For Kansas State Wildcats?
After making the College Football Playoff last year, the Tulane Green Wave are off to a 1-1 start entering Saturday's game against the Kansas State Wildcats
Packers vs. Jets Week 2 TV Broadcast Map
A limited area of the country will be seeing Green Bay’s game on local TV this Sunday.
Packers’ Third-Year RB Gets ‘Damning’ Warning
Green Bay Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd was a high-upside swing in fantasy football drafts with an understandably low floor. So, finishing his first game of the 2026 season with 13 carries for 37 yards and no impact in the passing game was in the range of outcomes for the third-year running back. Despite that, […] The post Packers’ Third-Year RB Gets ‘Damning’ Warning appeared first on HEAVY.
Ballad Health's $65M lawsuit against United Health dismissed; moves to arbitration
Ballad Health's $65 million lawsuit against United Health is moving out of federal court.A federal judge in Greeneville dismissed the suit, but ruled the case n
‘Spoilers’ happen in Oregon. Will this year’s race for governor join the list?
Pacific Green candidate Brett Smith could siphon key votes from Gov. Tina Kotek in a tight Oregon governor rematch against Republican Christine Drazan.
Some Fish in the Great Lakes Might Be More Than 400 Years Old, a Study Suggests, Outliving Around 15 Generations of Humans
Lake sturgeon may be among the longest-living vertebrates, second only to Greenland sharks, according to recent research. However, scientists note that follow-up work is necessary to clarify the species’ lifespan
Uniform matchup set for Packers vs. Jets in Week 2
Which uniform will the Packers be wearing in Week 2?
A Century of Entertainment: The Greenwich Odeum Celebrates 100 Years
For 100 years, The Greenwich Odeum has welcomed audiences through its doors for unforgettable nights of music, theater, comedy and film. Now, as the historic East Greenwich venue celebrates its cen…
Singer Reimagined Keeps The GMT Hits Coming With The 1970 DualTrack
✓ Singer introduces the 1970 DualTrack in three variations ✓ Khaki green, Cobalt blue, and Dark Espresso brown ✓ CHF 23,000 (ex. VAT) ✓
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.
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