What is the essence of Trumpism and this new (which is old) radical right? Post-truth, the idea that there is no objective truth above points of view, everything is relative, truth is oracular, that is, something is only true if it passes through the tribal oracle. There is no objective and universal oracle.
Fascism was thus relativist.
And who did us the favor of keeping this relativism alive, with its foot and a half in fascist epistemology? The postmodern left that dominated (and still dominates?) the departments of literature and social sciences. The Foucaults. The Boaventuras. The Prado Coelhos. For decades, between the end of the last century and the beginning of this one, they taught several generations precisely on the assumption of post-truth: there is no objective reality, only narratives. Science itself is not objective. Everything is narrative and perspective.
At the beginning of my career, I always felt more to the right, because on the right there was a classic resistance against this relativist epistemology. There is an empirical truth beyond our perception and narrative; we have to keep sharpening our lenses in an endless process of adjustment. And of course there is a universal moral truth (natural law, inalienable rights that no power or culture can deny).
But today, what I see is the right moving in a postmodern, that is, fascist direction. This is the sad story of the last eight years, perhaps more. And, as is clear in this Republican party, there is no difference between reality and alternative worlds, between fact and narratives, and the darkest narratives are protected by the idea of ”freedom”. But freedom cannot survive in an environment where it is not possible to objectively determine the truth. Because in this environment, truth is determined by power, by the tribal oracle.
I don’t know how to get back to basics, because neither the left nor the right are really interested in a real idea, no matter how humble it may be.
Source: expresso.pt
