In an era defined by elusive post-truth conditions, illusions and trickery saturate public discourse—circulating with breathtaking speed, overshadowing sustained reflection, and igniting cultural divides. Drawing on select posthuman perspectives and Marshall McLuhan’s figure/ground analysis, this article explores how illusions become events in which truths are simultaneously asserted, obscured, and transformed. Rather than dismiss illusions as mere deception or lapse in rationality, I consider them emergent phenomena co-produced by humans, machines, and intangible intensities—fueling a new “shock-shrug” cycle of ephemeral attention. As cynicism or confusion easily follow, an ethic of re/truthing offers an alternative mode of inquiry: one that refuses naive faith in universal truths while pursuing genealogical mappings of illusions to retain possibilities for critical engagement. I examine these dynamics through concepts such as ephemeral intensities, comedic appropriation, and the overshadowing of ecological crises. Ultimately, illusions require genealogical approaches to memory, shifting our educational engagements beyond linear corrections toward collaborative sense-making across human and nonhuman entanglements.