In 2016, Oxford University Press chose “post-truth” (based on popularity, in large part) as the word of the year: “Relating to… circumstances in which… facts are less influential… than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” This was also the year Donald Trump was first elected President of the United States. Almost a decade later, (post-) truth featured heavily in physician and writer Abraham Verghese’s commencement address at Harvard University: “This is almost the reflex of so-called strong men: To attack the places where truth and reason prevail.”
The US — on paper and in practice — has been the staunchest defender of free speech. It has taught generations of its young what it means to stand up for reason and justice, to hang in there till the difficult moment passes. Perhaps this is what matters even now: To not be cowed down and to stand up for what is right. As Verghese wrote in The Covenant of Water, “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
