In 1938, millions of Americans tuned into their radios for what they thought was a normal evening of programming. But what they heard was terrifying: Martians had landed. Cities were under attack. Chaos was spreading.

Except — it wasn’t real.

It was Orson Welles’ dramatized broadcast of The War of the Worlds. Fiction, clearly stated at the top of the hour. But that didn’t stop thousands from panicking, fleeing their homes, or flooding police stations with calls.

Why?

Because fear is louder than facts. Emotion travels faster than correction.

And in that moment, the illusion felt more real than reality.

This is the world we now live in — every day.

In 2016, post-truth became Oxford’s Word of the Year. Not because it was clever. Because it was chillingly accurate.

The term actually dates back to the early 1990s — coined by Serbian-American playwright Steve Tesich — who warned that we were entering an era where we’d accept lies if they comforted us more than the truth did.

But by the time 2016 rolled around, post-truth politics had gone mainstream. The Brexit campaign, the U.S. presidential election, and countless media narratives made one thing clear: emotional appeal had officially overtaken objective facts.

Here’s what that means:

• In a post-truth environment, it doesn’t matter if something is true.
• What matters is how it feels.
• Facts become negotiable.
• Truth becomes optional.
• And trust becomes endangered.

This isn’t just about politicians or the news cycle. It’s about us.

It happens when we focus on “we” vs “they.” When we scroll past inconvenient data and double-tap the meme. When we confuse certainty with wisdom.

The danger isn’t just misinformation. It’s disconnection. From each other. From shared reality. From the foundation that allows us to collaborate, to innovate, to move forward together.

We don’t need more shouting. We need more signal and less noise. More listening. Less defending. More curiosity. Less confirmation bias.

Trust isn’t something we can mass-produce. It’s handcrafted — through honesty, vulnerability, and a commitment to truth, even when it’s hard.

In a post-truth world, the bravest thing we can do is choose truth anyway.

Not because it’s easy. Because it’s necessary.