The lies about post-truth politics

Michael Macaulay and Simon MacKenzie discuss the history of post-truth politics and what post-truth politics mean for civil liberties in the future.

Spotlight Lecture Series—Associate Professor Michael Macaulay and Professor Simon MacKenzie

April 2017

The Trump presidency might be only a few months old but it seems to have ushered in a brave new world of ‘post-truth politics’, ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’. Or has it? Deceit has a long history in Western political philosophy and was promoted as a strategy for political rule by the Ancient Greeks.

What are the implications of post-truth politics for human rights and criminal justice? In an age where political campaigns rely increasingly on stirring up public anxieties and nationalist hostilities, are we losing touch with the fundamentals of justice such as assuming people are guilty until proven innocent and that they should not be punished for crimes not yet committed?

School of Government’s Associate Professor Michael Macaulay and Professor Simon MacKenzie from the School of Social and Cultural Studies as they discuss the history of post-truth politics and what post-truth politics mean for civil liberties in the future.

The Victoria University Spotlight Lecture Series is an opportunity to sample the research undertaken by Victoria academics, in bite-sized lunchtime lectures. The Spotlight Series will take place regularly between 12.30–1.15pm in the Wellington CBD.

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