Saturday, March 2, 2013

Designer Purses and Truthiness


In 2005, "truthiness" was selected as The American Dialect's society's Word of the year and in 2006, it was Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year.  The word was coined by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report's segment The Word.  Apparently I haven't been keeping up with the words of the year because I had never heard of the term before I saw that video.  Truthiness is characterizing a "truth" based on intuition because it feels "right" without regarding facts and evidence.  Essentially, it is following one's "gut feeling".  I've certainly read many accounts of people experiencing "gut feelings" that have lead them to do certain things or make certain decisions.  Spouses accuse their significant other of cheating without any evidence - their gut tells them so and a lot of the time, they are correct!  I've experienced those gut feelings myself but I believe there is an extent to which I can rely on truthiness to make decisions.  For example, my gut give me great vibes when I am looking at (okay, drooling over) designer handbags.  My gut tells me "oh you deserve it, Zeba! What if you never get a chance to buy that gorgeous (and very expensive) purse again?"  And then I have to force myself to remember the facts. I have to remind myself that no, I should not purchase a $500 purse. My brain tells me it is excessive, I still have more essential things to shop for, and I should check the outlet store.  As Colbert says, my brain is "all fact and no heart".
Truthiness can sometimes lead in the right direction and other times, it can lead to destruction.  Is it responsible to think and act in a manner that is truthy? Should truthiness be accepted in science?  In my opinion, there needs to be a balance.  After all, scientific experiments are conducted based on an intuitive hunch and hypothesis.  There is room for good intuition in the scientific world.  However, everyone's perspective are unique - there is bias, emotional reactions, past experiences, and several other factors that influence an individual's decision making and cause us all to see things in different ways.  Truthiness is inevitable.  Due to this, there needs to be a standard to level the playing field.  This is where facts, evidence, and scientifically sound data comes in.  Everyone's truthiness will be different and it should be evaluated against the facts and evidence found by science to determine which course of action to take.
Now, when it comes to science writers, is there a place for truthiness?  If done in a controlled and tasteful manner, I think it is possible to write from both the brain and the heart/gut.  It is, essentially, a writing style and science journalism needs style (as evident by the drastic decline in science writing).  Science writers must report the facts and should also be able to incorporate their perspective.  Reading something full of facts is not as compelling as reading something with a sense of style. However, it is extremely important that the facts and science writer's perspective are distinguished with utmost clarity.  There should be merit, not misinformation - it's a deceivingly fine line.  The reader should be able to grasp the scientific concept of the writing and be stimulated to think about it further.  Science writers are still ultimately writers and opinionated people.  Just like everyone else, they are entitled to their truthiness.  If the science writer wants to write purely from his or her gut without factual evidence, it is no longer science journalism and that type of writing should be presented in opinion blogs/other outlets. Truthiness is certainly spreading.  People become narrow-minded and grounded in their perspective, unfortunately. But, if only truthiness was presented in our media outlets, anybody could make any decision and do anything because they felt it was right.  There would be no standards and society needs standards. There is a place for truthiness in our world, but it will never be a substitute for truth.

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