Wie ein Volk den Verstand verliert: und was wir dagegen tun können

Ruprecht Polenz on the battle for truth on social media.

Democracy depends on an electorate that is capable of exercising sound judgement. This includes the ability to distinguish facts from opinions. As Hannah Arendt analysed, the ideal subject is someone for whom it no longer matters whether the ruler lies or tells the truth. If this becomes the general attitude, criticism will no longer be possible. The people will have lost their reason. In his new book, Ruprecht Polenz analyses how social media algorithms are fuelling attacks on the truth. It offers suggestions on how we can strengthen the truth-finding system and provides tips to help us avoid losing our own sense of reason.

A SPIEGEL bestseller, Ruprecht Polenz is one of Germany’s most influential political commentators. For many years, he has tackled fake news spread by right-wing trolls on social media, facing hostility and abuse in the process. Yet he fights back courageously in the service of truth and democracy. In his new book, he uses numerous examples from his own life to demonstrate how right-wing populists and far-right extremists are working to systematically drive our fellow citizens insane. They interfere with academic freedom and undermine trust in traditional media outlets ('the lying press'). This breaks down the defences against the flood of their lies. Criticism and scrutiny become impossible. Democracy seems to have been destroyed. Yet Polenz remains unwavering: his book is an invitation to use one's own reason, to sharpen it, and to defend the conditions under which this remains possible.