No, we’re not asking whether the message of Al Gore’s global warming movie has crossed the threshold of mainstream acceptance. (It has.)

We’re wondering about the term itself: Like “perfect storm” and “tipping point,” has the phrase “inconvenient truth” become the new way to describe any set of facts that is getting short shrift in the public arena?

  • We’re wondering because we’ve seen it around a lot, most recently in George Lakoff’s column on the Huffington Post, “Occupation: The Inconvenient Truth About Iraq.”
  • Are there other examples? Have Al Gore’s publicity efforts, the public’s growing unease about climate change, and a piece of evocative language combined in a perfect storm that has pushed past the tipping point the term “inconvenient truth”??>
  • I want to hear from you, Truthdig readers….

    Blair Golson is Truthdig’s managing editor.

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