Saturday, November 18, 2006

CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS & OTHER PROPAGANDA & PART III OF AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME : A WORK IN PROGRESS


ANTONIO BANDERAS AS PANCHO VILLA IN A WONDERFUL FILM ABOUT AN IDEALIST & A REALIST WHO KNEW THE LIMITS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS ONCE IT IS CONTOLLED BY THE SELFISH & THE WEALTHY
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PANCHO VILLA LEADING HIS REBEL ARMY FIGHTING FOR DIGNITY & EQUALITY & JUSTICE ( OUT-DATED NOTIONS ACCORDING TO NEOCONS & THEIR "REALPOLITIK " & " ELITISM" )
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PHOTO OF PANCHO VILLA AS A CHILD
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And here's the next part in " AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME " which is a work in progress as it were .
In this so-called Clash of Civilizations who are the barbaians & who are the real bullies on this playground we call Earth.
And what happens when War & Politics are reduced to " Talking Points " & shallow Media " SOUND BITES " ?
And what happens when these political issues are viewed as merely subjects for college debating teams and are divorced from their true reality & their serious life & death consequences as if it were just a war movie or the simulated violence of a high tech video game ?
And what does it say about a Civilization that condemns millions to abject poverty & virtual slavery & acts as if the lives of all those peoples outside the WEST are not as worthy as our own & that we have been chosen by God or the inescapable forces of Nature to fulfill our destiny as the Rulers of The World ?
We are in need of more than just a change in governments in the WEST but also a change in our attitudes towards the rest of Humankind .

Anyway so much for my polemic now onto the main attraction :

AN EPIC FOR OUR TIME
PART III

I

pillaging the world of its wealth
believing it is ours by right
as willed by God or Nature
believing might is right
believing the world should kneel before us
believing we are the superiour race
believing we are God’s chosen ones
believing we have been chosen by Nature
to rule over the world as we see fit
if it were not so God or Nature would unseat us -


II

And the pop-singers sing little ditties
writing tunes to please & appease
writing GANGSTA tunes
glorifying chaos & violence
of brothers killing brothers
proving their phoney manliness
sometimes praising God
for being the last one standing
in the midst of the Killing Fields
in Ghettoes & not so innocent Suburbia
in the end becoming wealthy as princes
buying into the American Dream
of shiny bangles of silver & gold
big cars & lots of ass -

while all those who are mesmerized
believing themselves sophisticated
hang out in well lighted smoke-free cafes
where no one says a discouraging word
speaking of their sexual exploits
searching for the next thrill to pass the time
where everyone repeats the catch phrases of the day
parroting political pundits
& television news anchors
who praise those who hold power
proclaiming this is the best that could be
our leaders they proclaim love us
& would do us no harm
& everyone cherishes their ignorance & innocence -

while sad-eyed broken-down poets
their muse clinging to their backs
too romantic for their own good
write haiku & epics on napkins
while artists paint & sculpt few will see
in this sanitized cookie cutter world
of the politically correct
while they dine in second-rate cafes
becoming wordsmiths in greasy spoons
in the new ghettoes
speaking of love eternal & other nonsense
sometimes asked to share their wordstew
with the second-rate customers
who have no pressing engagements
who have no other place to go
who have become refugees in their own country
unable to grasp & adapt to the New World Order
or the new society of the facile
no longer just rebels going through a phase
after decades of seeking truth
or some other lost ideal
in the forlorn dry as dust world
where stone & bricks are covered in ivy
offer little sustenance
for souls bewildered
by all those false promises
bewildered by the glittering towers of steel & glass
of a world proud of its soullessness
as it verges on the brink of chaos
or just wearing itself out
its wheels cogs & gears grinding
in almost but not quite perpetual motion

or just more noisy Satanic Mills
belching out smoke steam & sulphur
a cacophony of pointless machinery
creating an illusion of progress & prosperity
while billions are enslaved
ensnared by the clutching tentacles we send
reaching across the seas
reaching across deserts
reaching over mountain ranges
reaching across continents
turning the world into ash & dust
stealthily stretching into cities & towns
even into the smallest thatched-roof village
implicating everyone in our crimes -

And if the locals dare protest
we have our M16s our attack helicopters
our bombs our drones our missiles
our baby nukes our napalm
to crush their resistance
to crush their houses
to rip up their streets
to turn their cities to rubble
to sow their fields & orchards with salt
and anti-personnel mines
and if they complain
we have our deathsquads
to keep them in line
as we build more mega-prisons
destroy schools & hospitals
to show them how civilized we are
as we pillage rape & kill
in the name of our superiority
in the name of our messiah
in the name of our prophet
and in the name of profit
the only thing that’s real
for its just business as usual
ours is still the only way
from one Empire to the next
from one corrupt regime to the next
its always the same
scribes accountants bureaucrats
holding onto their posh jobs
never argue with those in power
fearing for their pensions
making sure it all runs like clockwork
making sure the trains & planes run on time
delivering oranges & apples & tanks & guns
& soldiers eager to fight another war
returning home broken in mind & body
returning home mangled bodies in plastic bags
or kidnapped civilians delivered to secret prisons or death camps
what has this got to do with them they ask
while doctors nurses & psychologists do as they are told
keeping the tortured detainees alive & well for another day
for God & country & a weekly paycheck
while self-serving contractors building tombs & palaces
barracks or schools or hospitals pad their bills
in the ancient good old entrepreneurial way
they’re just out to make a buck they say
while the people settle for bread & circuses
swallow all the lies they are fed
it’s easier that way they say -

COMING TO A BLOG NEAR YOU PART IV

BYE FOR NOW,
GORD.

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