Truthiness is the state or condition of a person purporting to know something emotionally or instinctively, without regard to evidence or to what the person might conclude from intellectual examination. The term was coined and popularized by Stephen Colbert after he used it during the first episode of his satirical television program The Colbert Report, as the subject of a segment called The Wørd. (from Wikipedia)
But to really understand the word, you need to listen to some segments of Colbert’s program:
"I will speak to you in plain, simple English. And that brings us to tonight's word: 'truthiness'. Now I'm sure some of the 'word police', the 'wordanistas' over at Webster's are gonna say, 'Hey, that's not a word'. Well, anyone who knows me knows I'm no fan of dictionaries or reference books. ...
"I don't trust books. They're all fact, no heart. And that's exactly what's pulling our country apart today. 'Cause face it, folks; we are a divided nation. Not between Democrats and Republicans, or conservatives and liberals, or tops and bottoms. No, we are divided between those who think with their head, and those who know with their heart.
"Consider Harriet Miers. If you 'think' about Harriet Miers, of course her nomination's absurd. But the president didn't say he 'thought' about his selection.
He said this:
(video clip of President Bush:) 'I know her heart.'
"Notice he didn't say anything about her brain? He didn't have to. He 'feels' the truth about Harriet Miers.
"And what about Iraq? If you 'think' about it, maybe there are a few missing pieces to the rationale for war. But doesn't taking Saddam out 'feel' like the right thing? ..." (Colbert report, Oct 17, 2005)
Now, isn’t that just exactly what we’re hearing more and more of? Let’s think with our hearts and feel with our heads.
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