Poetry in the News

Poetry and fiction writers must choose words wisely when attempting to convey meaning and support truth within context. News writers should but often don't. This has created societies where it's easier for readers to see the truth in fiction than it is for readers to see faulty dangerous logic in news reports.

She's married, has two kids and never been in trouble before, therefore many are shocked she's been accused of a crime. When marital, parental and criminal background status along with gender, race and other casual facts cause us to believe someone is more or less likely to do something, here we go again with our tendency to accept information without applying reason and logic to determine if a true cause and effect relationship exists.

“They've never been in trouble before, have no record and no prior background," are poor word choices when there is so much more to "trouble," "records" and "backgrounds" beyond the published criminal background.

The reason truth is stranger than fiction is that truth is lesser known than fiction. This occurs when we lose touch or hide the truth long enough that when forced to face the truth we've forgotten what it looks like; therefore, it seems like a stranger. Wouldn't we be better off if writers of poetry and fiction reported the news? At least we'd be more likely to gain insight and be on the alert to think about how much is truth.

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