Postmodern interpretive relativism, once applied to politics, licenses alternative facts

Evidence

If there are really no facts and only interpretations, and if millions of Americans are ready to unthinkingly embrace your perspective, then why bother adhering to a rigid line that separates fact from fiction? If you interpret a period of cold weather as evidence that climate change isn’t happening, and if millions of other people agree with your point of view, then climate change is a hoax. If your subjective experience perceives record attendance at the inauguration, then there was record attendance—aerial photographs that prove otherwise are simply illustrating another perspective. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 293

Categorization

• XREF: Direct echo of the Sokal hoax and Conway’s ‘alternative facts’ framing that threads through the whole book. — connects to: Postmodernism holds that truth claims are really bids for political power — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 248; Postmodernist premises applied to politics yield post-truth reality denial — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 292; Post-truth roots lie in ancient cognitive bias, academic relativism, and media change (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Postmodern relativism enables Holocaust denial in the public sphere. #expands (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 259
• Postmodern discourse makes all cultural positions secretly political, except the overtly political #complicates (0.80)
• Post-truth roots lie in ancient cognitive bias, academic relativism, and media change #corroborates (0.75)
• A homogeneous epistemological field enables political tactical uses of discourse #qualifies (0.72) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 223