Yesterday, a lecture was given by the newest member of our Classics Department, Dr. Rex Stem. An expert on Cicero, his lecture was titled, Looking for Sincerity in Cicero's Political Rhetoric: The Case of the Pro Murena. It was a highly scholastic lecture, meaning I was able to make sense out of most of it, yet unable to ask questions showing comprehension. That's what the other faculty was for.

After several questions comparing Cicero's works to his views of Platonic thought and blah blah blah, one of my professors asked the following question:

Are you aware of Stephen Colbert's definition of "Truthiness?" Do you believe Cicero understood and used truthiness in his arguments?

If you were there and following the line of thought, it was a somewhat valid and relevant question. Yet the tone with which it was asked seemed to imply an argument made by the credentialed scholar, Stephen Colbert and his university publications on the Stoic term "truthiness." But no, it was Comedy Central.