We have a fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But we have a fact for you.
It’s what we say is true.
Here’s a fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But here’s a fact for you.
Our experts agree too.
We’ve regorged a fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
So we’ve regorged a fact for you.
A morsel you can chew.
Accept this fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But accept this fact for you.
There’s no reason to argue.
Don’t reject this fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But don’t reject this fact for you.
That would make your name taboo.
We have a fact that’s you.
We’ve verified your blood is blue,
And yourself you must subdue.
There’s nothing you can do.
The Breakdown
You know, I had a tough time deciding whether to call this piece Blue Pills Matter or Fact-Checker Blues. While I think the latter rolls off the tongue better, the former is better at capturing the meaning behind the poem. And it’s clearly a reference to Black Lives Matter, which is still to this day a blue pill for many of its supporters—it is often not quite what it seems or claims to be (or at times ignored for the more absurd goals it does claim to subscribe to), and all too many are happy to not do too much digging due to ideologically motivated laziness and a fear of what they might find. Still, I decided to go with Fact-Checker Blues because it better sets the stage for helping the reader understand what they’re about to delve into.
Much of the “fact-checking” being done nowadays is anything but fact-checking—it’s fact-choosing. It’s often political and ideological, a cherry-picking of data that puts forth evidence of what one wishes to be true instead of what is actually true, and it’s largely coming from people driven by left-wing politics. And thus, the “blue pill” in the alternate title is of course a reference to The Matrix that we hear often nowadays. To put it plainly, it’s about swallowing the blue pill instead of the red pill in order to avoid learning uncomfortable truths.
The word “blue” found riddled throughout the poem is there at first to act as a synonym for “disheartened,” but as you reach the end you can see that it’s more of a reminder that the majority of our current fact-checkers are leftists, and the point of the poem as a whole is to show the reader how insidious these fact-checkers can be. Snopes, PolitiFact, social media fact-checkers, etc., have all deemed themselves the arbiters of reality. The first stanza begins innocently enough, but by the end you can see that these arbiters are grooming their readers and viewers. They are attempting to create a single-minded society of like-minded others by being deceptive with their data and by threatening “nonbelievers” with societal stigma. It’s about more than simply controlling the narrative—it’s about churning out more citizens that push their ideals and more voters that give their chosen politicians and experts more power.
Again, as I’ve noted in previous articles, I consider myself to be center-left. I’m a registered Democrat. So if you’re reading this and thinking I’m some kind of far-right conservative pumping out my own propaganda, I can assure you that is not the case. Not that you have to believe me. Now let’s move on to the stanzas, shall we?
Stanzas 1 & 2
We have a fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But we have a fact for you.
It’s what we say is true.
Here’s a fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But here’s a fact for you.
Our experts agree too.
The first line of every stanza gets more aggressive as you read down the page. It’s a way of showing that the more you refuse to blindly accept the fact-checkers’ narrative (the longer you choose to think for yourself), the more the self-proclaimed arbiters of reality lose patience with you. We see this everywhere nowadays with supposedly pro-science people telling you to #TrustTheScience, when what they really mean is to not question the data they’ve decided to place their golden stamp on, which is of course the very opposite of how science works.
This is also emphasized with the final line in the second stanza, “Our experts agree too.” “Our experts,” not your experts. Not the experts who hold different opinions, of which there are many, but their chosen experts, the ones who tickle their brains by reaffirming the data they’re looking for.
Stanza 3
We’ve regorged a fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
So we’ve regorged a fact for you.
A morsel you can chew.
I considered changing the word “regorge” here and restructuring these lines many times, as this stanza stands out quite considerably from the simpler language used in the blocks of text surrounding it. However, I thought it was great at capturing the idea that fact-checkers are attempting to redirect your thought processes so that you’re viewing certain facts at a different angle, which isn’t inherently bad, but it’s often a more distorted, simplified, or illogical angle—an angle often deprived of form and taste, let’s say. Facts are chewed up and spit out, robbed of intellectual nutrition, sitting there in front of you as a glob of refuse that you’re expected to accept and store somewhere inside of your brain without question. They’re doing the thinking for you, so you don’t have to.
I also like the idea that the “Not to make you blue” line here has a meaning not found in the other stanzas: The fact-checkers are chewing up and spitting out “facts” that are easier for you to swallow so that consuming them yourself doesn’t cause you to choke—doesn’t cause you discomfort when you consume the more nuanced, inconvenient, and raw data before it’s “properly” broken down for you.
Stanzas 4 and 5
Accept this fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But accept this fact for you.
There’s no reason to argue.
Don’t reject this fact for you.
Not to make you blue,
But don’t reject this fact for you.
That would make your name taboo.
Here’s where what seemed like pleasant suggestions begin to turn into threats. “We have a fact for you” and “Here’s a fact for you” have changed into “Accept this fact—for you” and “Don’t reject this fact—for you.” In other words, “It’s in your best interest to start accepting our facts.” “You wouldn’t want to lose friends, family, or your career because you didn’t start repeating our facts, would you?”
The end of the fourth stanza says, “Stop arguing with us,” and it’s followed up by the end of stanza five, which says, “You’re going to damage your reputation if you reject this fact that we’ve decided for you.” We see this a lot with people being labeled conspiracy theorists if they disagree with the mainstream narrative. The problem is over the past half-decade or so, most of what the left has demonized as conspiracy has turned out to be true soon after the demonization was made. This is why we must allow conversation and debate with those who may have dissenting opinions. We must push for humbleness over hubris. One of the most dangerous characteristics a human being, society, or culture can have is arrogance attached to ignorance.
Stanza 6
We have a fact that’s you.
We’ve verified your blood is blue,
And yourself you must subdue.
There’s nothing you can do.
Stanza six is where the veil is removed. This is where the arbiters of reality have had enough of the dissenters. It’s saying, “This is what you will believe. Our decided truth will be who you are. You will give up yourself and you will be us. If you want to continue living comfortably and without conflict, you have no choice.”
It’s a bit of a dark ending, but the poem is from the perspective of the fact-checkers, the arbiters of reality—the Thought Police, those pseudo-intellectuals who invent flawed moral reasoning to justify marching with their boots on our necks. It’s meant to sound threatening and hopeless. However, I personally don’t believe there is nothing we can do. We can speak up. We can write articles like this. We can start conversations. We can protest. We can push back. In fact, if we want to preserve a future where enlightenment values and freedom of thought remain the law of the land, we have to. We have to unite and make our voices heard. We’re quickly approaching dark days, and now is not the time to sit on the bench and wait for the starters to win the game for us.
Stand up and get in the game.
That’ll do it for now. Stay safe out there.