Believe Whatever You Want - Jan 13 2023

 

Believe Whatever You Want

Jan 13 2023

My words, twisted.

Airbrushed pictures

and those intentionally lost.

Even film and video

cleverly massaged.

We always thought

truth would endure

falsehood be exposed.

Yet now, you can believe whatever you want,

or choose to believe

nothing at all.

Except that even before all the misinformation

manipulation

and simple indifference,

we always only saw

exactly what we expected.

Or were so practiced at denial

it didn't matter anyway.

So really, has anything changed?

Objective fact is out there

but we rarely agree.

And when talk is free

and all opinions regarded as equal

there can be no reality

only belief.

Even a nihilist like me

wants to believe in something.

So if nothing else

I construct meaning despite myself,

if only to live

the improbable gift

of a full rewarding life.

Even though death is final.

Even though posterity

is a comforting illusion.

And even though the planet

will eventually die;

all memory expunged,

and, like Ozymandias

the mighty king of kings,

our colossal works

turn to dust.

When our atomized remains

will return to the stars,

and it will be impossible

for anyone, to any longer

deny reality.

When all those who believed

they were somehow exempt

from physical law

will be shocked to learn the truth.