“Truthiness” in hi-fi

Stereophile has discussed the pandemic occasionally because of its relevance to our industry and our listening lives. But for the most part, I’ve steered the magazine away from politics and current events, and I will continue to do so. In this essay, though, I will engage, glancingly, not with politics or current events but with an idea that’s drawn from them. I’m doing it to make a point about audio.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since Stephen Colbert—then of (pronounced in the French style)—coined the word “truthiness” to describe statements that true without true. Colbert, in his right-wing media-figure guise, told viewers that truth “comes from the gut” and not, for example, from books. He ended the segment with a promise “not to the news you” but to “ the news you.”