Companies So Powerful
So, this is how it goes
In this economic construct,
Companies so powerful they can
Do whatever they want to
Whomever they wish,
Without fear of repercussion,
Complete impunity,
Absolute lack of remorse.
Joyous Moment
What should be
A joyous moment
Becomes a tedious
Chore, fraught with
Discomfort, trepidation,
The memory of how things
Evolved to this point.
It would be nice to
Be able to avoid it,
But some things
Are inescapable.
The Most Eloquent Argument
The most eloquent
Argument, based on
Critical thinking,
Empirical evidence,
Objective reality,
Reason,
Is no match for his
Emotionally-driven
(Fear-motivated to be specific)
Vituperations on pretty much
Any topic he decides
To inflexibly defend.
An Earnest Conversation with a Relative
She tries to have an earnest
Conversation with a relative
About why war is necessary
When there are so many other
Peaceful options available.
She shares her perspective that,
Along with the desire to
Destroy one another,
Humans possess an equal or greater
Capacity for altruism and love.
Appealing to his sense of decency,
Which she’s seen many times,
She plaintively beseeches him to
Clarify why he thinks problems
Need to be solved with violence.
No answers are forthcoming,
She finds out these things aren’t
About logic or fact,
Just a reflection of the
Torment in people’s hearts.
So Much Horror
She had a hard time understanding
Where his cruelty came from,
Until she met his family:
An ominous group of harsh
Belittlers who extolled the
Virtues of survival of the fittest,
Mercilessly putting each other down
To prove who was king,
Roughhousing and competition
Behavioral staples – requirements,
Women shown their place in the kitchen,
Encouraged to keep quiet
About important stuff,
Attitudes formed through
Severe indoctrination –
Ubiquitous punishment.
Sure, there was some perfunctory
Level of compassion for people
They knew personally, offset by
A scorching empathy desert
For anyone they considered other,
Which meant pretty much everyone,
Especially foreigners,
Freeloaders and softies.
That’s why she bid him goodbye,
A person of her nature could
Only take so much horror.
Sightlessness
He didn’t amass his
Fortune alone, although
He’ll tell you he did,
The sightlessness of
Privilege being what it is,
All he really did was
Be born a certain hue to
A family with the means
To support his endeavors,
A society that was set
Up to favor people like him,
Laws that protected and
Favored his interests while
Keeping down the competition
He claims he loves.
Common Knowledge
It’s cited as common knowledge
That both sides are the same,
But that’s not actually
True upon even the most
Cursory examination:
One group leaves a trail of
Suffering and devastation for
Everyone but the rich,
The other strives to help the
Most vulnerable, except
When members of their ranks
Emulate their foes.
One of the sides
Works hard to make sure
Nobody knows the truth,
Clearly benefiting from
Misinformation, propaganda,
The opposition’s fecklessness.
Cruelty versus cowardice,
A lethal state of affairs
For the little guy.
Receptive Listeners
She tells a group of
Receptive listeners
That the poor are that way
Because they are lazy
And subhuman, though she
Doesn’t quite word it
That way, it would
Far too clearly
Reveal her prejudice and
Shocking lack of empathy.
Forever Fail
I will forever fail to see
Why it’s a good idea for a
Civilized society to
Starve children,
Teach them some kind of
Exceedingly cruel and
Unnecessary lesson about
So-called personal responsibility
When their plight is
No fault of their own and
The deck is already so stacked
Against them that they
Realistically have very
Little chance of making it,
Even with superhuman initiative,
No matter what the louses
Condemning them to poverty say.