Just the Facts Ma'am, Just the Facts

"Just the facts Ma'am, Just the facts."   

To some who are old enough, these words from 

Jack Webb in the TV show "Dragnet" from the 1960s may bring a smile of recognition to your face.   The hard boiled cop of black and white tv fame wanted only to deal in what was true.  The facts.

Reflecting back on this leads me to want to think with you about "fact checking."

Over the past year or so there has been a clear and increasing need to check on the veracity of the candidates' statements.   That's right.  Unchallenged, bald-faced lies are coming to us from the mouths of those who would lead our nation, and we actually need people to research and tell us whether what we are hearing is true or not.   To be candid, this takes my breath away.  

Fact checking?  Really?    

Even as these words flow from my fingers to my computer screen I can hear the reaction coming. This is nothing new.  Well,  yes.  it is true that politicians have always exaggerated, engaged in hyperbole, and even lied.  There's no question about it.  The name of Richard Nixon comes readily to mind.  But the absolute  and ongoing need for "Fact Checking" during debates and in public statements in this political season reveals a brave new world where lying is the norm.  It puts on display a media that will not provide skilled journalists who will call politicians to account. And it illuminates the disintegration of a social covenant that has historically recognized that truth telling is something we claim as a shared value.

Today we strangely echo Pontius Pilate who leveled his gaze at Jesus and asked, "What is truth?"

For centuries, people and systems have conspired to blow smog and smoke over truth, claiming that all is relative and that there really no truth.   After all, it''s just a matter or perspective, right?   This ceaseless effort  to blur reality has made all manner of unspeakable evil possible.   

But friends, we do know the truth. 

We know the things that are good and true. 

We know the things that makes for peace. 

And in our heart of hearts we do know the difference between right and wrong.

We know it's wrong for people to perish in the hellish reality of ongoing permanent war around the world.  Moreover, we know that it is evil for people to profit from this slaughter.

We know it's wrong for millions to go hungry while the few wallow in unspeakable wealth.

We know it's wrong to victimize and objectify women and people of color.....to treat anyone as a commodity.

We know that is wrong for people to suffer and die because the cost of health care is beyond their reach.

We know it's right to strive for equity for all.

We know that it is right to make sure that all people are safe and well fed, housed and secure in good jobs.   We know that it's right to welcome all people into the embrace of authentic community.   And we know it's right to struggle against oppression and discrimination in any form.

Oh yes. We know, and no amount of shrill pandering to television ratings,  profits and greed can change what we know.

Let us come together around these things that are good and true. Let us build communities of hope. Let us work together for the dignity and respect owed to all people. And let us place justice and wonder at the forefront of our shared agenda.

And the next time Pilate looks in your direction and asks you, "what is truth?"    Tell him.