Post-truth as a rhetorical phenomenon in modern media space

The article considers the impact of CH. Perelman’s new rhetorical theory on post-truth phenomenon. Although the term “post-truth” appeared in the 1990s the peak of its popularity is the 2016-2020s. In 2016 the Oxford dictionary ranked it as the most used word in the media. The reason for this popularity according the most researchers is related to the spread and functioning of social networks where objective facts are less important in comparison with emotions and personal beliefs. The last five years are characterized by an increasing number of works in which the phenomenon of post-truth is investigated in the aspects of political science, social sociology, psychology, ethics. However, over the years not a single publication has appeared that treats post-truth as rhetorical phenomenon. The author of the article tries to fill this gap and highlight the main characteristic of post-truth rhetoric. Such features include a biased selection of facts and the way they are placed in media text, rigid scheme which includes four elements: a media person, criminal plot, step by step development of narrative and non-finished final. In the first of the scheme the media person can act as an organizer of an actual or imaginary event or as on object of extremal influence (a victim). The criminal nature of the plot is associated with a violation of the normal course of things. Moreover, such a violation should not be a one-time act but should assume development through the accumulation of new details. Also, to become a post-truth the event must contain the development potential associated with collision of opposite version explaining its meaning. In a situation of post-truth the role of the speaker in relation to audience changes. The speaker seeks not so much to join those who disagree with his point of view as to strengthen the split of the recipients who oppose each other. Thus, the post-truth as a method of information warfare and / or mastering the mass consciousness has become possible thanks to radical change in the media space excluding control over it. At the same time, its hidden premises appeal to the new rhetorical theory of Ch. Perelman.