Facts...

I was a huge fan of the TV show Dragnet when I was a kid.  Actually, I should more correctly state that I was a fan of the revival of Dragnet that featured Jack Web and Harry Morgan.  The original series ran before I was born and featured Ben Alexander as Officer Frank Smith, instead of Harry Morgan's Office Bill Gannon.  Most true fans of the show know the often quoted "Just the facts, Ma'am" was never uttered by Sgt. Joe Friday.  If you want to learn more about this, go see:  http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/dragnet.asp

Facts are an important component of life.  Yet, in this day and age, people seem to think that facts don't matter or facts are simply what they believe, true or not.  We see this more and more in the political realm, where politicians seem to quote tons of "facts" to the point where it seems if they simply state something (true or not), it's a fact.  I really get annoyed when a politician declares "The American people want blah, blah," when the facts show otherwise.  This phenomenon recently reached a new high with the most recent presidential election.  Spokespersons in all the parties spouted off all kinds of statements as "facts," when in reality most were just outright falsehoods or extreme distortions of facts.  The Trump campaign and the President himself are most guilty of this.  Interestingly, both the media and other "independent" groups have tried to "fact check" statements by politicians.  Sadly, even these groups find it difficult to be heard among the cacophony and have even been accused of being purveyors of distortions.  More disturbing is that it seems like the vast majority of Americans don't really want to know the facts.  Facts don't seem as important as what is being said.  It just seems like we can't have a reasonable conversation that relies on facts to guide us.  If someone challenges your statement with a fact, attack the messenger as a purveyor of lies.  Yelling down your opponent seems to be the order of the day, rather than having a civilized exchange.

With all these distortions happening at an even greater pace, I'm waiting for the moment when someone starts to tell me that 2+2=17, ignoring mathematical properties that say otherwise.  Well, they may just be presenting "alternative facts" to show how 2+2 really isn't 4...my bad.  People may argue that I'm living in a bubble and that I have unreasonable expectations of the world.  Maybe I'm turning into that old fart that I swore I'd never become after hearing stuff my parents and grandparents would say about my generation.  However, I remember a time not too long ago when people cared about these things and facts were facts.  Just the facts, Ma'am....even if Sgt. Joe Friday never uttered these words, these are words we should all try to live by if we want to move forward as a country.

#LetsMakeAmericaBuenoAgain