Feelings vs Facts

I'll hold onto you

Till the stars no longer wink

I'll hold onto you

Till you figure out just what to think

--Ric Ocasek

Interesting paper that uses Google word counts to detect longitudinal changes in language related to rationality vs emotion. Rationality-related words such as fact, analysis, conclusion were counted and compared to counts of sentiment and intuition-related words such as feel, believe, and trust. Content of books, newspapers, and recent Google searches were examined.

Results indicate an increase in rationality-related words from 1850 until about 1980 yrs ago when trends reversed toward more emotional rhetoric.

The authors suggest that their findings help quantify existence of a post-truth era, where 'feelings trump facts.'

Hard to argue...