ABSTRACT

This chapter depicts post-truth as a politics of control through chaos. Unlike much academic and cultural-political commentary, which presupposes the spectre of an imposition of a single truth (think Orwell’s 1984) to frame the promise or peril of modern post-truth, Durant focuses on the overflow of information, the will to entertain, and manipulation via sensuality. The dystopia of Huxley’s Brave New World is thus the harbinger of modern post-truth. The implication is that our public and political discussions face the obstacles of gaslighting, information overload, and trivialisation, more than Big Brother styled domination.