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“My mind is made up – don’t confuse me with the facts!” This sentiment – widely attributed to American Senator Earl Landgrebe, in his defence of President Nixon during the Watergate scandal, is a mindset which surprisingly persists in the minds of millions. For example, according to a recent report in The Times, a large majority in the UK believe that there has been a troubling increase in violent crime over the last 25 years. In fact, ONS data shows that in that time, it has fallen by more than half. We know how students learn to write a thesis by weighing evidence and drawing conclusions. A polemic, by contrast, begins with a conclusion and then selects only the evidence that fits. News feeds and social media postings driven by polemic, sound authoritative, but let down their readers with their often-inaccurate accounts. Good people can end up being demonised and bad people glorified when the real facts are not considered to be central to the storyline. This week, as Jewish communities around the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the centrepiece of our prayers is the shofar, a ram’s horn, which has been sounded since Biblical times. Our liturgy strikingly declares: “A great shofar is sounded, but a still small voice is heard.” – words taken from the Prophet Elijah, who recorded that he did not encounter God in a mighty wind, an earthquake or fire, but in a still small voice. The sounding of the Shofar is a dramatic moment, when it echoes like an alarm call. But, if all we hear is the noise and not the still small voice, then we have missed the point. This message could not be more timely. The loudest noise, the voice that dominates the airwaves or our newsfeeds, is not always the truest or the wisest. We tend to look back disdainfully at those who once believed that the world was flat, or that illnesses could be cured by bloodletting. Yet today we see how falsehoods flourish in echo chambers, with each side convinced that it alone is immune to propaganda. The shofar blasts point us back toward the still small voice of conscience, humility and self-reflection. We are called upon to resist being swept away by the noise of outrage, and to search instead for the quieter truth that can heal, renew and guide us responsibly forward. The facts do count. And it should not be the echo of outrage that defines us, but the choices we make when we stop and listen.