Court of Public Opinion

Prompt: Write a story in which a character discovers that a truth they’ve believed their whole life is either false or not the whole story.

Court of Public Opinion

The phones were buzzing, lighting up the predawn night. Fingers moved deftly across their glowing tablets sending messages across the electronic skies. A great commotion interrupted the airwaves of daily life. An immense crowd gathered at the national courthouse. The morning mist covered the ground as the assembly continued to gather in the early sun. A fever pitch swelled across the multitude.  Hysteria spewed from all directions causing some people to faint and others to scream.

There were people well dressed and adorned with their trendy bling; others looked haggard because they had been living on the streets. And there were those who wore their livelihood on their backs: some were athletes, some tradesmen; others were dressed professionally, and notably there were those who garbed themselves in the religious attire of the day.

Intermingled with the masses were observers wielding their cameras and recording devices. They hailed themselves as impartial purveyors, promoters, or hawkers of the “Truth.” They hid their identities behind corporate acronyms and social media outlets. Banners touting CNN, ABC, NBC, FOX were raised in an air of defiance demanding allegiance to a synthetic righteousness.

As a middle-aged man, I wondered about the Truth. Through my entire life I had been instructed and cajoled into the belief that the Truth was sacred. Its essence was the absolute ideology of our government. The Truth was self-evident. The laws and executors of the Truth were to be obeyed and respected. Nonetheless, there were subversives who wanted to undermine them. But contrary, negative thoughts and actions were readjusted by the purveyors so no special interest group or person could acquire power or sovereignty over anyone. But now in the early hours of the day, all of this was being called into question by a single man. The Court of Public Opinion was about to convene with justice to be served.

“You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.” ⁽¹⁾

A dais was hastily erected at the entrance to the courthouse to facilitate the viewing of the ominous affair. Religious principals and politicos ambled their way to the platform.   A lone figure was brought before the crazed crowds surrounded by an armed militia. Was this to prevent an escape, or was it to protect the various principals from the captive man? I wondered. I wondered also who would protect me from the unruly crowd if they lunged at the accused.

“All eyes are upon you.” I whispered. Nothing about this person’s appearance would capture your attention. I wondered why all the hoopla? I was beginning to think my time could be better spent elsewhere. However, the intensity of the spectacle compelled me to whisper it again. “All eyes are upon you.  Your every move is being watched. Every breath you take is measured. Any word you speak is captured and interpreted. Be careful what you say because the Truth will use it against you.”

“See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!” ⁽²⁾

The accused man seemed terrifying to the people testifying because witness after witness rambled on delivering incoherent arguments. I was more confused than ever as to why this figure was on trial at the Court of Opinion. The illogical, unsubstantiated rhetoric from the witnesses did not yield one valid accusation. No one would come to the defense of the lone figure, however. Those purveyors captured every word and the cameras gleaned the crowd seeming to elicit a raucous response. The purveyors loathed complacency and wanted action, quite possibly a conviction and the shedding of blood.

“Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.” ⁽³⁾

The accused spoke. “None of the witnesses by their testimony can convict me because I speak of the Truth. I have come not to subvert the Law but to establish a new order in the Law.” The crowd hearing this became inflamed with rage.  I heard shouts of “he has stirred up people to rebel against the laws and the government.” I became frightened because the fury of the crowd continued to increase. I thought a riot would ensue. All of it was captured by the purveyors of the Truth.

Distinct chanting of “Guilty, guilty,” was amplified by the speakers on the dais. A speaker from the politicos summarized the charges brought before the accused: “Guilty of intolerance toward the sanctity of the Truth and our way of life; guilty of obliterating the Law; guilty of inciting a revolution; guilty of collusion with the morally decrepit; guilty of unsanctioned healing of the infirmed; and most grievously, guilty of offering hope, mercy, and forgiveness to anyone, especially to the enemies of the Truth!”

^“Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” ⁽⁴⁾

And like a boiling cauldron, the heated water vapor of rage continued spit out from the crowds. The roaring cries and shouts pierced my eardrums and filled the air with the utmost contempt. The ground shook from the unified rebuke of the assembled masses.

I was dumbfounded by what I was hearing and seeing. How could one man undermine the entire known world? All my beliefs were rapidly disintegrating as I heard whispering from others in the crowd. Some quietly said he would be a new ruler of the people establishing peace, equality, and freedom to all. My head hurt from all of the contradictory stories.

“But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: They hated me without reason.” ⁽⁵⁾

And the Truth became obscured and smothered by jeers of venom…a bloodlust was about to occur.  The accused would die. I watched with morbid fascination as this man was prepped to die.   The purveyors of Truth never missed a moment of the ghastly spectacle. It would be an excruciating and final end for the man.  

Later, the media had broadcasted that the problem was eradicated; the trouble quelled. The voracious appetite of the crowd had been filled. The crowds walked away satisfied. And so the Court of Public Opinion had declared the fate of the accused. He would be scourged and executed. 

His final words were “It is finished.”

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. Did it really happen?  Was it a hallucination? The people are no longer assembled. They immerse themselves back into their daily distractions. They worship their technological gadgetry; they strive for trinkets of gold and silver; they seek to satisfy their appetite for power and pleasures of the flesh as though nothing happened. No mercy and certainly no remorse.

“…This is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.” ⁽⁶⁾

The question still remains “what is Truth?”   Has the Truth been revealed? Was the accused actually the Truth? Was the Law fulfilled? Time continues to march on, but we are entrenched in the nightmare of reenacting his death through our actions. We are the purveyors of falsehoods! The jeers are the piercing noises we say and hear again and again never mindful of them. And, the hawkers are there, lurking in the corners and recording everything but the Truth. Did they actually record the Absolute Truth or did they edit it to increase viewership?

My life is a wreck, filled with lies embedded in the falsehood of ideological, worldly truths and the Court of Public Opinion. The accused man was innocent and more than just a mere man. I now seek the Truth outside the Court of Public Opinion and from the Law and government. I hope it is not too late for me!

-END-

Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” ⁽⁷⁾

(1) Psalm 52:3 NIV

(2) Psalm 25:19 NIV

(3) Psalm 27:12 NIV

(4) John 8:46 NIV

(5) John 15:25 NIV

(6) Jeremiah 7:28 NIV

(7) John 14:6 NIV

NIV=New International Version

Author: Pete Gautchier

Acknowledgement: Reedsy.com prompts