“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
_____ I am singing to you Soft as a man with a dead child speaks; Hard as a man in handcuffs, Held where he cannot move:
_____ Under the sun Are sixteen million men, Chosen for shining teeth, Sharp eyes, hard legs, And a running of young warm blood in their wrists.
_____ And a red juice runs on the green grass; And a red juice soaks the dark soil. And the sixteen million are killing –– and killing _____ and killing.
_____ I never forget them day or night: They beat on my head for memory of them; They pound on my heart and I cry back to them, To their homes and families, dreams and games.
_____ I wake in the night and smell the trenches, And hear the low stir of sleepers in lines-- Sixteen million sleepers and pickets in the dark: Some of them long sleepers for always,
Some of them tumbling to sleep tomorrow for always, Fixed in the drag of the world's heartbreak, Eating and drinking, toiling –– on a long job of _____ killing. Sixteen million men.
Stopping Racism today is now believed No harm, but only good could ever do –– Of Paramount Importance. –– We’ve deceived Innumerable millions, brought them to
The point where kicking over all the traces A counterfeit Altruism now prevails: Zig zags must be viewed as straight, so races Ill-informed may proudly fill their sails ––
Reject all hope of Mental Elevation –– Enjoy, instead, White Perquisites unearned –– Given –– by “The Rich,” whose education, Goading them to see all Privilege spurned,
Informed them they should not be what they are. Now, Prehistoric Depths loom not so far.
How does it feel to be cut in half _____ by a sudden burst of machine gun bullets?
What does it feel like at the precise moment _____ when a bullet enters your eye, and pierces your brain?
Can you imagine having your lower jaw smashed by bullets _____ and then see its bloody, splintered fragments __________ drop to the ground ?
What is it like to take a direct hit to the skull? _____ Would you know that you were dead?
What sensations must a person feel _____ as his body is being consumed by fire?
What would be the thoughts of someone _____ just thrown to the ground and kicked, __________ whose hands have been tied behind his back, who then gets chained by his heels _____ to the rear end of a vehicle __________ about to drag his still-healthy, still-unbroken _______________ young body over stones, gravel, _______________ dirt and thorny stubble?
How does it feel to have the flesh ripped off your cheeks? _____ To have all the flesh on your hands torn off __________ exposing bones and tendons?
How does it feel to have grit and gravel _____ embed themselves in your eyes?
How does it feel to be torn _____ limb from limb by a jeering mob?
Exactly how does it feel to have your head _____ stomped to jelly by hobnailed boots? Or your genitalia ripped out by the roots _____ and stuffed into your screaming mouth?
How does it feel to be smart enough to realize _____ you are suffering and dying for the sole purpose __________ of lining the pockets of international bankers, _______________ global industrialists and the suppliers ____________________ of war materiel with gold?
Exactly how would you react to being held down _____ and having your teeth kicked down your throat, __________ your eyes gouged out, _______________ your ears and your nose sliced off, _______________ or a glass rod inserted in your urethra ____________________ and then broken?
How would you feel when you are forced to eat _____ ground glass or drink hydrochloric acid?
How would you feel if you were sodomized by barbarians _____ then buried up to your neck in sand __________ and systematically stoned and kicked to death?
How does it feel to be held down _____ and deliberately blinded by acid?
How does it feel to be maimed by “Friendly Fire?
How does it feel to be flayed alive _____ and then slowly cut to ribands?
Talk about Zizek. I’ve just come back from a short holiday in a lodge we rented a few miles south from our home. Lovely seafront view and no WiFi, so that was kind of ‘liberating’.
The first thing that struck me was that it had an ‘open fire’ of the synthetic kind: electrically heated with plastic wood and ‘flames’ played on a continuous loop (a flat screen monitor, no doubt). Decaffeinated open fire! ;-)
Will watch that video letter. Have some catching up to do now!
The Enemy of the People is The People.
ReplyDelete_______ KILLERS ______
ReplyDelete_____ I am singing to you
Soft as a man with a dead child speaks;
Hard as a man in handcuffs,
Held where he cannot move:
_____ Under the sun
Are sixteen million men,
Chosen for shining teeth,
Sharp eyes, hard legs,
And a running of young warm blood in their wrists.
_____ And a red juice runs on the green grass;
And a red juice soaks the dark soil.
And the sixteen million are killing –– and killing
_____ and killing.
_____ I never forget them day or night:
They beat on my head for memory of them;
They pound on my heart and I cry back to them,
To their homes and families, dreams and games.
_____ I wake in the night and smell the trenches,
And hear the low stir of sleepers in lines--
Sixteen million sleepers and pickets in the dark:
Some of them long sleepers for always,
Some of them tumbling to sleep tomorrow for always,
Fixed in the drag of the world's heartbreak,
Eating and drinking, toiling –– on a long job of _____ killing.
Sixteen million men.
~ Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)
_________ DIAGNOSIS _________
ReplyDeleteStopping Racism today is now believed
No harm, but only good could ever do ––
Of Paramount Importance. –– We’ve deceived
Innumerable millions, brought them to
The point where kicking over all the traces
A counterfeit Altruism now prevails:
Zig zags must be viewed as straight, so races
Ill-informed may proudly fill their sails ––
Reject all hope of Mental Elevation ––
Enjoy, instead, White Perquisites unearned ––
Given –– by “The Rich,” whose education,
Goading them to see all Privilege spurned,
Informed them they should not be what they are.
Now, Prehistoric Depths loom not so far.
~ FreeThinke
___ IDIOCY REIGNS SUPREME ___
ReplyDeleteOr What’s So Especially Bad
About Chemical Weapons?
Apparently, it’s AOK
To mow ‘em down with bullets,
But don’t dare try to kill ‘em off
By poisoning their pullets.
It’s all right too when bombs
Rain from aloft or on the level,
But when you kill with poison gas,
You’re in league with the Devil.
Lock ‘em in a building,
Then burn it to the ground.
By judges at The Hague
You’ll not be guilty found.
Go drag them from their cells
Into a courtyard to be shot.
The World Court will not chide you,
Nor tell you “Thou shalt not.”
Take mothers, babies, toddlers ––
Grandmas –– anyone who thrives,
Then hack them with machetes
And bayonets to end their lives.
Rape and loot and strangle,
Garrote or stab at will ––
Of you The World Community,
I promise, won’t think ill.
Set ‘em loose in wood or field,
Then hunt ‘em down like game;
Let half-dead bodies lie unhealed.
You won’t lose your good name.
Rob and cripple, maim at will ––
Dislocate their joints.
Multiculturalists will know
You must have your good points.
Gouge their eyes out, slit each tongue.
Sodomize, impale their young.
Club ‘em down, then crush with tractors.
Brussels won’t call you bad actors.
BUT, urinate upon the corpse
Who tortured your best buddy,
And you’ll be tossed in the stockade
With nose broken and bloody.
And should you dare to wipe yourself
With leaves from the the Koran,
‘Tis YOU The World Community
Will call BARBARIAN!
~ FreeThinke
ReplyDelete____________ QUESTIONS ____________
How does it feel to be cut in half
_____ by a sudden burst of machine gun bullets?
What does it feel like at the precise moment
_____ when a bullet enters your eye, and pierces your brain?
Can you imagine having your lower jaw smashed by bullets
_____ and then see its bloody, splintered fragments
__________ drop to the ground ?
What is it like to take a direct hit to the skull?
_____ Would you know that you were dead?
What sensations must a person feel
_____ as his body is being consumed by fire?
What would be the thoughts of someone
_____ just thrown to the ground and kicked,
__________ whose hands have been tied behind his back,
who then gets chained by his heels
_____ to the rear end of a vehicle
__________ about to drag his still-healthy, still-unbroken
_______________ young body over stones, gravel,
_______________ dirt and thorny stubble?
How does it feel to have the flesh ripped off your cheeks?
_____ To have all the flesh on your hands torn off
__________ exposing bones and tendons?
How does it feel to have grit and gravel
_____ embed themselves in your eyes?
How does it feel to be torn
_____ limb from limb by a jeering mob?
Exactly how does it feel to have your head
_____ stomped to jelly by hobnailed boots?
Or your genitalia ripped out by the roots
_____ and stuffed into your screaming mouth?
How does it feel to be smart enough to realize
_____ you are suffering and dying for the sole purpose
__________ of lining the pockets of international bankers,
_______________ global industrialists and the suppliers
____________________ of war materiel with gold?
Exactly how would you react to being held down
_____ and having your teeth kicked down your throat,
__________ your eyes gouged out,
_______________ your ears and your nose sliced off,
_______________ or a glass rod inserted in your urethra
____________________ and then broken?
How would you feel when you are forced to eat
_____ ground glass or drink hydrochloric acid?
How would you feel if you were sodomized by barbarians
_____ then buried up to your neck in sand
__________ and systematically stoned and kicked to death?
How does it feel to be held down
_____ and deliberately blinded by acid?
How does it feel to be maimed by “Friendly Fire?
How does it feel to be flayed alive
_____ and then slowly cut to ribands?
How? How? How?
But much more important is
WHY?
__________ WHY?
_______________ WHY?
~ FreeThinke
The 'mythical' people must be protected! The mirthical people must be SAVED! ;)
ReplyDeleteConfucius say:
ReplyDeleteMan who play riddler may just be piddler.
"There have been only two geniuses in the world, Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare." - Tallulah Bankhead
ReplyDelete...But, darling, I think you'd better put Shakespeare first." - Tallulah Bankhead
ReplyDeleteShakespeare's nothing special –– certainly not an original thinker.
ReplyDeleteAll he amounts to is a lot of fusty old quotations strung together.
};-]>
I never took you for an Oxfordian before, FT... ;)
ReplyDeleteTalk about Zizek. I’ve just come back from a short holiday in a lodge we rented a few miles south from our home. Lovely seafront view and no WiFi, so that was kind of ‘liberating’.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that struck me was that it had an ‘open fire’ of the synthetic kind: electrically heated with plastic wood and ‘flames’ played on a continuous loop (a flat screen monitor, no doubt). Decaffeinated open fire! ;-)
Will watch that video letter. Have some catching up to do now!
It is nice to get away. Routines need interuption lest our lives get put on a loop reel.
ReplyDelete