Lynch, Michael. “Post-truth, Alt-facts, and Asymmetric Controversies (Part I): Between Liars and Truthers,” First 100 Days: Narratives of Normalization and Disruption (Program on Science, Technology, and Society, 6 February 2017).
alternative fact : Partisans make emotive appeals to their own “facts.” The verbal warfare is asymmetrical, however. The two opposing positions, each seemingly armed with its own “facts,” are not equivalent. As suggested by the term “alt-right,” purveyors of “alt-facts” confront established facts with extreme alternatives. Alt-facts, and the alt-truth they support, attempt to gain popular adherence by denouncing consensual facts. Consensual facts are discredited as products of a privileged establishment, whose views are sustained through groupthink and exercises of domination. (†2678)
