Poem: The cover-up

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When a story is told
Over and over,
It takes on a patina of truth.

Investigations, inquiries,
And blue-ribbon commissions
Burnish the story's verisimilitude.

Denials and refutations
Polish the tale to a fine gloss.
The more vehement the denunciation,

The more likely the story becomes
Because we want to believe.
The stronger the case

Against becomes,
The more heinous
The cover-up appears.

The logical beauty
Of cover-up theories
Is they can never

Actually be refuted,
But snowball
With every new telling.

The absence of facts
Further inflames
The conspiracy theory:

The lack of facts itself
Points to the utter and diabolical
Efficacy of the cover-up.

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