The truth about Boris Johnson

A liar is caught sooner than a runner

in colored

and executive socks, like Boris Johnson.

The British prime minister is in a delicate situation for hiding the parties he held during the pandemic lockdown.

But, as the press emphasizes, from

to

, his voters cannot be surprised.

Post-truth has been a core part of Johnson's career, first journalistic and then political.

If you vote for a politician and then he lies, the problem lies with the politician.

If you vote for a liar politician, the problem is yours.

In part, Johnson represents a civilizational leap.

Today's conspiratorial ruler meets secretly for events with his friends and not military pacts with the country's enemies, as was the case in the past.

Better to run in tacky clothes than to preside over parades in military dress.

But Johnson's case also tells us about a worrying trend: the enormous development of our time is not accompanied by a cultural advance.

As Kiko Llaneras reminds us every year, the world improves scientifically and technologically.

We live twice as long as 100 years ago, we build schools with 3D printers and wirelessly connect a human brain with a computer.

But, linguistically and culturally, we are going backwards.

It seems that humanity progresses in science, but worsens in letters.

A study in the journal

entitled "Rise and Fall of Rationality in Language" offers a curious explanation for the rise of post-truth today.

Its authors analyze the content of millions of books published in English and Spanish from 1850 to 2019. And they find an intriguing pattern, both in essay and fiction.

Words associated with the rational processing of reality (such as "determine" or "conclusion") were used from 1850 to 1980. In turn, terms linked to emotional experience (such as "feel" or "believe") decreased. ).

But, since then, this evolution has been reversed: now we write more sentimental words and less rational ones.

And we prefer the "I" and the "we", indicating a language, and therefore a more individualistic way of seeing the world.

We live in a sentimental and self-centered culture where facts matter less every day.

The strange thing is that we don't have more politicians like Boris.

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