Our democracies are drowning in a sea of lies

In a clickbait universe, a Trump is always king.

These days, the only thing melting away faster than the polar ice caps is democracy, largely because of the steady degradation of information. In the end, you are what you know.

With only 9 per cent of Canadians willing to pay for news online, an informational Dark Age looms. It’s already consumed the United States, where fake news is giving reality a run for its money — as illustrated by the magical mystery tour of one Donald J. Trump. Fake crowd sizes, fake numbers for illegal voting, fake promises.

The Rise Of Europe’s Far-Right Is ‘A Wake-Up Call’ For Democracy, Says Turkish Novelist

Elif Shafak is a celebrated novelist who lives in London and Istanbul. Her books include The Forty Rules of Love, Three Daughters of Eve and The Architect’s Apprentice, among many others. She spoke with The WorldPost in Zurich earlier this week in the wake of Donald Trump’s inauguration and a conference of European nationalist leaders.

Last weekend the far-right populist parties in Europe met together for the first time in Koblenz, Germany to coordinate their efforts. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the anti-immigrant National Front in France, said it was Europe’s time to “wake up” and follow President Donald Trump’s example in the United States. Do you see populists gaining power in continental Europe over the coming years, as they have in the U.S. and Britain? Is that a greater danger than in the U.S.?