Fake News

Talking head
but no leg to stand on.
It doesn’t matter because
the conspiracy fits their agenda.
Their paste-face idol proclaims it to be truth
and it’s enough evidence for them.

Radicalization unregulated
in the name of free speech
and constitutional rights.

Yet they all cock their brows
and crinkle their noses
as they demand mountains of evidence
from the oppressed
who wish for the same chance to proclaim truth-

but don't you dare call them bigoted.

The truth is a jagged pill to swallow-
unlike the soothing swill of sanctimonious slabber
from the mouth of their favorite head-
so they swiftly spit it out
and the opportunity to learn is missed.
Again.

When we refuse to learn from history
we refuse to learn for the present,
we refuse a better future.
When we view tragedy
as a rarity
we miss the patterns.
Again.

It's not
"bad people do bad things."
It's not simple.

It's our ever-present culture of violence.
This violence,
this blood,
this suffering,
is in our DNA
because we methodically miss the truth,
again and again and again.

The truth is that tragedy and violence
are preventable
but we won't work
to prevent it
and we won't withdraw
from our contributions.

The talking heads
never pay respects.
They never report the tragedies,
they report the conspiracy.
They feed the agenda by bringing up
the possible threat of
a competing agenda.

They embody the fake news they always warn you about.

When the tragic stories of the human beings
who have fatally suffered
at the hands of our bigotry
are regularly used by pundits
to fuel more hatred
and we gobble it up like it's popcorn
that gently guzzles down our greasy gullets —

when we believe in the news more than we believe in our people —

we are missing our humanity.
Always.

How many more tragedies will we have to witness
before we decide it’s time to change the channel?

Thank you for reading! What did you think? Leave a comment below. To support my work, consider buying me a cup of coffee!