While Aristotle glamorised democracy as the most viable political system, refuting Plato’s idea of a Utopian Republic with a guardian class and philosopher king, he, however, agreed with the Socratean dissenters’ disdain for sophistry.

What then is sophistry? It is the use of false arguments with the will to deceive. Democracy’s shortcoming, according to Socrates, was this system succumbing to sophistry. Democracy has always been about the will of the majority, and rhetoric is used to convince the majority. Since the Greeks were the first to dabble in democratic system of governance, they were probably the first ones to realise the utility of political persuasion, which they called “sophistry”. Socrates vehemently stood against the sophists, who, according to him, corrupted democracy and lied to convince the majority and subsequently to govern. Due to the presence of the sophists, democracy degenerated, Socrates believed, and this belief gave birth to Plato’s elitist Republic.

Modern-day sophistry goes by various names: Disinformation, political spins, propaganda-setting, and now, after Donald Trump’s first presidential victory and Brexit, it is popularly known as “post-truth” politics.

In post-truth politics, what is perceived to be true is rarely the truth, but it is what is widely held to be true and which, in turn, impacts the majority psyche. These political post-truths are often churned out by hard-nosed political men who have made careers in politics and media and mimic ancient sophists in “manufacturing” favourable conditions. As Noam Chomsky would put it, to manipulate and control the system as per their parties’ will. The impunity that these established political parties enjoy despite their undemocratic, illiberal and oligarchic character is due, largely to a distinct breed of parasitical men (and women) for whom continuity of these parties’ hegemony means self-preservation.

One of the most uncomfortable post-truths faced by Nepali society is the touted severity of the misconduct of the Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Indira Rana Magar, who is also the Deputy Speaker of the lower house of parliament. The party’s President Rabi Lamichhane’s involvement in the cooperatives-related graft is another example. In a system riddled with political grand larcenies and corruption to petty misdemeanors, conflict of interests, misuse of authority and everyday violation of ethical codes of conduct by the cogs of the old political machines, morally high-sounding attacks on newbie politicians somehow bewilder and sit uneasily with those who are not part of this party ecosystem.

As the established political machines such as the NC and the CPN-UML defiantly place hardened criminals in strategic positions in various government offices, they are unashamedly making noise about the immorality of a couple of lawmakers from the RSP when the large-scale corruption such as land grabs in Bansbari, Bal Mandir and Baluwatar, scams involving the larger cooperative scenario and private businesses have faced no serious investigations. This shameless display of post-truth politics by the established parties is fast creating a polity that is aggressively denying space to those who are outside the folds of the old political machines.

Lamichanne is guilty, by association and of the unethical organisational process. He cannot say that he was “just an employee” and get away. Unethical organisational process was debated as early as 1961 during the Eichmann trial. Magar also erred and signed letters she should not have. However, hardened criminals such as Deepak Manange, Badshah Kurmi, Chakre Milan and Sunil Sharma are placed in strategic positions by the two largest political parties. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is led by Arzu Rana Deuba, whose name has been embroiled in the Bhutanese refugees/human trafficking scam. Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, whose name has repeatedly come up in the Giribandhu Tea Estate controversy, heads the country’s most prestigious office without facing any kind of questions. The parties are unabashedly defiant as they suggest names embroiled in financial and sexual misconduct and gender-based violence for high-ranking positions.

However, our headspace is occupied by lesser, mundane evils as we rally behind punishing a new political miscreant; this should tell us that we live in a post-truth society.

One often wonders why there is absolute impunity for established party men and their kith and kin and about the post-truths created in these last 30 years. How do you dismantle post-truths that help us shape our political perceptions?

Maybe deconstructing them is the way out. While deconstructing the Magar controversy, one should understand that this is not about establishing a moral precedent that syncs with a democratic polity. What it is, is the quest to establish a hold on the Constitutional Council. As per the recent amendment, the six-member council will nominate office bearers for constitutional bodies such as the Election Commission with the approval of its chairperson and at least half of the existing members, i.e., three members in total. The existing equation is not feasible for the ruling coalition since the current leader of the opposition, the national assembly chair and the deputy speaker, are not politically aligned with the ruling coalition. Despite the public call for a proper investigation, the ruling coalition never started the investigation process. It was as if the intention was to “smear and remove”.

Likewise, Lamichhane appears guilty because of the unethical discretionary judgements he used regardless of the RSP shouting itself hoarse about his innocence but then so does Nepali Congress’ Rita Singh Vaidhya in the Bal Mandir case, Bal Krishna Khand in the Bhutanese refugees’ case, Maoist Centre’s Janardan Sharma in the financial embezzlement case and a dozen others who have strong affiliations with the old political parties. What we are experiencing is a period marked by general anxiety about what to believe as truth. Political polarisation—where old parties aim to prevail at any cost and their concern about “political instability created by smaller parties”—creates modern-day sophists, who use the ambiguity of language to deceive, to take the central stage.