Lamenting the Death of Truth*

Lamenting the Death of Truth*

A Poem by Bob B

We hobble along with outrage fatigue

And watch as nothing ever exhausts

Our Machiavellian leaders' use

Of the media to win at all costs.

 

False story lines prevail.

To hell with accuracy and precision.

Sowing distrust of higher learning

Solidifies their paranoid vision.

 

Watch how their destructive disdain

For expertise gains vitality

As people's opinions and feelings stomp

On any form of objective reality.

 

Watch as they rewrite history;

Notice how data can be erased

As they become suspicious of much

Information that's science-based.

 

Language becomes weaponized:

Hyperbole, salacious lies,

And slippery superlatives

Celebrate truth's demise.

 

Party loyalty: that is key.

All that matters is the sale.

Hijacking democracy

Becomes the goal: the holy grail.

 

Mobilized by grievance, they

Inflame fear and anger. They hope

That we will find scapegoats to blame

When we are at the end of our rope.

 

A general illiteracy

On issues that affect our lives

Keeps us all in doubt while they

Create fake news and sharpen their knives.

 

Ah, how they want you to fear

Government, which is ironic,

For they themselves are government.

Look at their smiles, cold and sardonic.

 

Give equal weight to both

Sides of arguments, they say.

That's how they can justify

Bigotry and lead us astray.

 

While extremist views go mainstream,

Blurred lines make life hazy.

Keep watering narcissism,

And you will see it grow like crazy.

 

Their careful manipulation of language

Proves how much their rhetoric's swollen.

The people find it hard to accept

That basic freedoms are being stolen.

 

As we lament the death of truth

And wonder how it came to pass,

Before we cast blame we must

Peer into the looking glass.

 

-by Bob B (9-28-18)

 

*Inspired by The Death of Truth by Michiko Kakutani

© 2018 Bob B


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Featured Review

What a fabulous write. Nicely penned, I stand and applaud. As to the message, I sadly have to agree. We have got to the stage that we no longer know who is telling the truth, and social media and its all encompassing spread, can distort even further. Whilst reading your lines, my mind focused on politics in the UK today. I see our freedoms being eroded, your final two lines, threw a punch.

Chris

Posted 5 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.




Reviews

Free speech is being stolen and this is an excellent example of free speech and opinion artfully done.
Kudos.

Posted 5 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind...not over the airwaves on Faux News.
I don't fear the looking glass, however, but do avoid it, lest, like Alice, I am sucked into the upside down world of American politics, currently 'led' by Trumpty Dumpty.

Posted 5 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

What a fabulous write. Nicely penned, I stand and applaud. As to the message, I sadly have to agree. We have got to the stage that we no longer know who is telling the truth, and social media and its all encompassing spread, can distort even further. Whilst reading your lines, my mind focused on politics in the UK today. I see our freedoms being eroded, your final two lines, threw a punch.

Chris

Posted 5 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.


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3 Reviews
Added on September 28, 2018
Last Updated on September 28, 2018

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Bob B
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