Get Your Facts Straight

 

I have often heard

“Get your facts straight”

But not nearly as often

As here of late.

 

Russia and Ukraine

Hamas and Israel:

Getting one’s facts straight

Is seriously debatable.

 

So, what does it mean

To get your facts straight?

How does it impact discussion

Or a serious debate?

 

It seems to me

That it is used as a ploy

And in this many an opponent

Has been destroyed.

 

 

 

Are facts anything else

Than being straight?

The statement seems to imply

This is one state.

 

You’d better get the facts

Would surely be more apt

If one or both the opponents

Are missing the facts.

 

I heard it today

On a “Call-in Programme”

And it sounded like an adult

Trying to correct a grand.

 

If I say to my opposer

Get your facts straight,

It’s one way to cause his stance

To dissipate.

 

Nothing might be wrong

With the facts he presents

But to throw him off his guard

May be my intent.

 

 

Like a gambler’s bluff,

If you see what I mean

Where I am holding the Jack

And he the queen.

 

We listen to the news

Regarding far away events

And that news often comes to us

With a certain bent.

 

And we form an opinion

Feeling we have the facts

Often not recognizing of course,

The cleverly laid trap.

 

 

Take Hamas and Israel:

Here is a very good example

Where neither side seem to care

About innocent people.

 

The fact as I see it,

Amounts to collateral damage

And in the grand scheme of things

It’s really about image.

 

I remain non-committal

Being aware of only one fact,

The innocent that are suffering

Is a disturbing fact.

 

Some people matter

And some people do not

And the latter as far as I see it

Can’t choose their lot.

 

Stewart Russell © November 7, 2023