Post-truth vs. TRUTH. Coffee

Oxford Dictionary today chose ‘post-truth’ as their word of 2016. Naturally, we were intrigued.

“relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”.

Roughly defined, the concept dictates a divergence of objective realities and personal emotive beliefs. Whether conscious or not, the choosing of subjectivity over objectivity is particularly pertinent as we reflect on the year (Trump/Brexit). But as a new word antonyms are lacking, and the word truth does not quite specify the irksome nature of this year's choice.

We are TRUTH. Our central manifesto is ‘The Joy of the Extraordinary Truth’. The message almost directly contradicts the definition of post-truth. Flying in the face of 2016 literary guidelines, our message rather relays the possibility of a convergence of the principles that post-truth would suggest to be mutually exclusive: emotion (such as joy) and objective reality.

Our café is called No Sugar Required. The truth is in the coffee. No added distractions, to enhance or dull the experience. In this endeavour, we hope to offer our customers as naked a Truth as possible. Objective, unblemished, unenhanced, coffee. And yet, perhaps contrarily so, we feel with this truthful experience, you are able to experience an emotion such as joy. Your personal beliefs and emotions should dovetail effortlessly with the objective reality of your coffee.

We would be the first to suggest this reflection could be seen as a fantastical, quasi-philosophical exercise with sententious overtones and indeed rather limited potential resonance. But what this Word of 2016 suggests is a dichotomy at stringent odds with our mission statement. Whether divergence of principles or convergence of principles is a better pursuit is irrelevant here. What concerns us is the suggestion that convergence of realities and emotions has not been addressed. Hence, post-truth, as currently unopposed, is a premise that we as TRUTH are fundamentally opposed to.

The hint is on our door, on our cups, on our website, and on our clothes. “The Joy of the Extraordinary Truth”. We do not hide behind perfidious appeals to the palate. Find the common ground between your personal affections and our product, we are confident they are there.

So, Oxford Dictionary, we reject your post-truth preaching until it is provided with a sufficient antonym. And the word ‘truth’ does not suffice. Until such times you are welcome to use our phraseology. IN COFFEA, VERITAS.