depends on how you look at it

shame
and pride
two sides
same coin
or maybe
a sword
instead

the rules, a poem and a list

1. recognize that your poetry sucks
2. don't try to pretend it doesn't
3. write more poetry
4. it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks
5. write more poetry
6. you can't get better without practice
7. write more poetry
8. have fun writing your crappy poetry
9. not all art speaks to all people, and it shouldn't have to
10. if somebody likes what you write, that's just a bonus
11. write more poetry

copy/paste here

rational discourse doesn't rely upon emotional triggers and red herrings and ad hominem attacks and appeals to authority. such fallacies are all signs of persuasive/divisive rhetoric instead. bullies who are like that want you to fight back, because violence is the only thing they understand.

********

the wardens live in the same prison as the rest of us, they just get special status and privileges denied to others... tricks people into thinking the game can be won.
(hashtag panopticon)

the only thing the rulers were born with that the rest of us don't have is money
(friendstacy on the divine right of kings)

*********

who is going to want to take the energy to try to explain something you have already decided you don't want to know and closed your mind to the possibility? it's like running face first into a brick wall. no fun.

mind manipulations

manufacture fear
less freedom and
call it "security"
BE AFRAID
timeless battle
war rages on
point over there
not my fault
billions spent
broken machine
hungry people
without a home

because, trains

what if...

what if love was a gift
not an investment
and you stopped
expecting a return?

what if love were free?
no price to pay
no debt owed
no contractural fees,
administration costs,
nor balances due?

(your mileage may vary)

**********

what if love was a train?
would yours have wrecked?
where would it go?

"when my ship came in
i was waiting for a train..."
but that song grew old
like everything else

chattanooga choo choo
is just a fancy hotel
no trains go there now

and johnny cash
dead, still sings
about trains
and love

(from march, and edited august, 2014)

GamerGate

it's a troll war. the purpose of a troll war is to prevent any rational dialogue from happening on any particular subject through the unrelenting use of emotional triggers. trolls almost always play both sides against each other to achieve that end. you would think gamers know that game is rigged so everyone loses and would refuse to play, but then there's all this publicity, which just feeds the trolls more fuel.

ain't gonna work on maggie's farm no more

long wars
wage on
create debt
more taxes
to pay for
more war

strawman

lemme see
if i get this straight
you borrow something
an idea, but just a part
maybe steal it instead
twist it all around
then ridicule
the absurdity
of the train wreck
you made of something
you never understood
in the first place

there's a name for that

friendstacy remix

history keeps repeating
because we keep forgetting
it already happened before

some people will tell you
whatever they think you want to hear,
especially if they are trying
to sell you some bullshit.
and that's nothing new. it's a really old trick.

beware the jabberwock, my son
chop off its head (silence the voice of dissent)
and the poem ends the same way it started

and sometimes i cry

voting is like being forced at gunpoint to choose which rope you want hung with

none of the candidates are ever opposed to war.  they don't represent me.  when i sent letters, they would only reply to tell me how wrong i am.  they don't listen, they never did.  and now they don't even pretend to.

***
choosing between two or more options is not the same as making a decision. if no is not an option, you have no choice. voting is just a way of passing the blame around, rather than doing anything meaningful. facebook hid from me all those "go vote" posts. first time their algorithm got it right. but not until after i had already seen them, so i know they are missing.

rejoice!

laws don't prevent crime. the system of control is not fixable. it can crash and take us all with it, or we can dismantle it slowly, but it was always doomed to fail. getting rid of bad laws would be a great step towards just that. once they start throwing out bad laws, it won't be long before there's no law left.

hashtag guru

they don't put
"trigger warning"
on quotes from
mindfuck artists
extraordinaire
but maybe
they should

do what we say and nobody gets hurt

(or, a society based on fear, trauma and abuse)
what makes anyone any sort of authority over anyone else? when they assume authority over our actions, thoughts, beliefs, etc, that is the same as telling us that we are beneath them, that they are somehow better qualified to make our decisions for us. that is the greatest insult of them all. and when it hurts our feelings to be so insulted, constantly, by those who think they are superior in some way or another, those bullies blame us for it, it's our fault for being too sensitive, they were only trying to help.

where does this power come from? it certainly didn't come from the gods i believe in. it comes from fear. we are taught to be afraid so that we may think we want to be controlled. who puts this fear in our hearts? it does not come from within. who are the real terrorists?

and since i enjoy answering my own questions (even if i might be wrong) i'd say the real terrorists are the bullies, the ones who think they know what's best for other folks. the ones who claim to be "protecting" us from some threat, real or imagined doesn't matter which, so long as we buy into the fear that allows such abuses to continue.
(november 2010, revised september 2014)

are we there yet?

if we become aware of the attempts to control our minds, then it doesn't work the same way anymore. thing is, it's not in the future, but the past, and we just deny that, which allows it to continue. but not for much longer...

sick

assholes in the park
training puppy dog, attack!
scary dog, attack!
making the 'hood safe?
for nobody...

attack dog, mean dog
not his fault, bad dog
hole in the head dog
dead dog
stupid humans

did you hear that? that there's the sound of minds slamming shut

mindsplit:
do the divisions in society
reflect the walls in our head
or do they create them?

mindsplit:
defense mechanism
for protection
from mindfuck

groupthink:
defense mechanisms
for protection
from somebody else's
mindfuck?

mindfuck:
because some people
don't know
the difference
between making love,
being fucked,
or getting raped.

defense mechanisms
walls that don't exist
trauma-based control
we have all been violated
repeatedly abused
terrorized

today, i refuse
to engage in battle
with minds slammed shut
they only want to fight
to prove their mindfuck
is better than yours...
to rationalize away
that feeling of terror
at the very thought
any thought
not approved

the lines that divide don't even exist

fear makes people stupid
groupthink multiplies it
creates the "other" to hate

the memory hole

it doesn't matter how you vote, they are going to do whatever they want anyway, voting is just how they blame us for it. and if you send them letters, no matter how well thought out and carefully crafted, what usually happens is they go down the memory hole (a la orwell) and if you do actually get a response, it is only to tell you how wrong you are.

this is why i started blogging, and why i have never allowed ads on my blog(s) nor taken any money in exchange for my opinion. my voice was not being heard, but not due to a lack of me trying.

and when posts to my own personal blog started going down that same memory hole that swallowed my letters to congressmen and comments on news websites, i just started more blogs, and copy/pasted my words in several different places, for safekeeping. the old ways of creating public opinion don't work anymore.  the internet has leveled the playing field.  and if nobody else reads my blogs, the spooks whose job it is to shut people like me up do, and my voice is not silent.  so fuck ya

blowing in the wind

the problem with taking responsibility for your own life is that you can't blame anyone else for your bad decisions anymore. and that is what keeps the obedient ones following the leaders, they want somebody else to blame. and the problem with following the leader, is you don't get to decide where you are going. so when you end up there, where you never wanted to be, does blaming them for leading you there really help to make it any better? and how many times will we be led to war, pretending that we aren't aware of where that same path has always led us before?

random facebuk status dump

from inside the box it appears that we only have two options, to control or be controlled, pick your side, be the aggressor or play the victim. but outside the box is where the possibility is endless.  ...and the walls of the box are built of denial, once you notice them there, they don't exist anymore.

****

pretty rich boys
fighting over a girl
that doesn't want
either of them
one dead rich girl
equals 700 dead poor people
as far as they're concerned
deadly virus epidemic
man-eating bacteria
politicians and movie stars
nobody buys the paper
but they still call it news

****

groupthink is bad for us
... consensus doesn't automatically make us wrong,
but can be a good reason to think a little harder,
just to make sure.