The strategic use of exaggerated threats about the "post-
truth era" to justify censorship, dismiss dissent, and protect established power from scrutiny. Post-
truth scaremongering treats any challenge to official narratives, any skepticism about institutional claims, any alternative information sources as threats to democracy, reason, and civilization itself. It's the pundit who blames every political problem on "post-
truth" without examining why
people stopped trusting institutions; the fact-checker who treats all misinformation as equivalent, from genuine errors to legitimate critique; the establishment that uses "post-
truth" as a cudgel against anyone who questions its version of reality. The scaremongering serves power by making dissent itself seem
like a threat to truth—painting those who ask awkward questions as enemies of reality.
Example: "He called any reporting that contradicted the official narrative 'post-
truth propaganda'—Post-
Truth Scaremongering, using the concept of
truth to protect power from accountability."
