2021.
Ah,
This was the year that was…
Propaganda over policies
Power over principles
Pandemic over protection.
A Whittling away of democracy
Lack of accountability
Politicians playacting
Where shadowed maestros play the tune
That we all dance to.
A corrupted system
Orchestrated by robber barons of old made new
With graft now unashamedly done in public
The old boys protected at every turn.
Falsehoods and fallacies overtake truth as myth
The cult of me over the community of we
Avarice prostrated as good
Elitism and entitlement rule
And we stay in indentured servitude
Service industries
A so called gig economy
A mockery
Of what is just and true.
With blatant fascism and racism
Now proudly on display
Drumbeats of war to distract us
Talk continues to be cheap
Deaths in custody continue unabated
A national woman’s movement
Decrying subjugation, rape, their hurt
Cheerily do-opted and then ignored
A web of lies spun from every orifice
While men in power positions continue to escape their rightful day in court.
The disabled remain invisible
A footnote consigned to oblivion
Our wealth before their health
Swept away
A dirty secret ignored.
The continual demise of biodiversity
A clock ticking down on the climate
Code red, klaxons blaring
Unheard.
What did we learn?
For the fires that swept through our nation will surely return
And all the co-branding of resilience
The isolationism from our global brotherhood
Where we ignore wave upon waves of new virulent pandemics
That beat incessantly on others shores
It will mean nought.
For what lies ahead of us?
Will we see that the bleakness of 2021
Was but a child's game?
And bring to bear a new reality
That we can no longer spin away
Our truth will be to wish
To plead
That it was the previous year
Where destiny can be prevented
Where there is time to change
The course of what lies ahead.
What did we really learn?
Ah, 2021.
It was the year that was.
Have you noticed the upturn in the number of of radical channels popping up in Youtube search ranking recently?
I’m not a fan of Sky News due to its incessant propaganda, especially Sky After Dark which has spread disinformation around Covid, vacinnations and many other matters.
However, I’m finding it harder to get ABC and other channels in my Youtube searches. I really don’t want to be fed slanted articles and I fear what this trend does to others. I certainly am wart of what this trend has done to Americans and what it will end up doing to Australians.
President Biden’s Inauguration speech analysed through IBM Watson.
President Biden’s Inauguration speech analysed through IBM Watson Personality Insights.Put speeches or tweets through this tool and see the results is pretty fascinating. Even more interesting to compare and contrast with demagogues.
President Biden’s Inauguration Speech
I used this once a few years ago as part of a workshop with a GM of Wealth divisions direct reports – the results weren’t too flattering of the GM 🙂
BIDEN – Summary You are heartfelt, analytical and strict. You are philosophical: you are open to and intrigued by new ideas and love to explore them. You are assertive: you tend to speak up and take charge of situations, and you are comfortable leading groups. And you are mild-tempered: it takes a lot to get you angry. You are motivated to seek out experiences that provide a strong feeling of organization. You are relatively unconcerned with both achieving success and taking pleasure in life. You make decisions with little regard for how they show off your talents. And you prefer activities with a purpose greater than just personal enjoyment. Of course, speechs are filtered and polished and so are not true reflections of an individual.
TRUMP
And here’s Trump’s speech put through the analyser with results you cannot believe.
TRUMP = Summary
You are analytical and heartfelt.
You are empathetic: you feel what others feel and are compassionate towards them. You are altruistic: you feel fulfilled when helping others, and will go out of your way to do so. And you are self-controlled: you have control over your desires, which are not particularly intense.
Your choices are driven by a desire for organization.
You are relatively unconcerned with both achieving success and taking pleasure in life. You make decisions with little regard for how they show off your talents. And you prefer activities with a purpose greater than just personal enjoyment.
Fascism has take a grip on America which will take years to tackle but we can also see its rise in Australia.
Fascism in the Breeze
Fascism has take a grip on America which will take years to tackle but we can also see its rise in Australia.
Dehumanisation of immigrants and the working class, attacking the university system, political corruption without accountability, increasing militarisation, increasing racism, media complicity and the spread big lies are some of the signs.
These are some of the things that we need to be vigilant against to maintain a vibrant and healthy democracy.
What are other things do we need to consider?
It began with a whisper An almost imperceptible murmur An uncomfortableness stirred That could be heard faintly In the breeze.
At first we ignored it That annoying irritant We rose above it Reassured by our moral superiority.
But the noise became louder Impossible to ignore Drowning out all rational thought As it inflamed all in its anger.
Nothing now left but cinders Yet I hear more whispers In the breeze.
It began with a whisper
An almost imperceptible murmur
An uncomfortableness stirred
That could be heard faintly
In the breeze.
At first we ignored it
That annoying irritant
We rose above it
Reassured by our moral superiority.
But the noise became louder
Impossible to ignore
Drowning out all rational thought
As it inflamed all in its anger.
Nothing now left but cinders
Yet I hear more whispers
In the breeze.
We live lives
Of fallacy
Sleepwalking
Oblivious
Indentured slaves
Endlessly
Monotonously
Going around and around
The hamster wheel
Powering someone else’s
Flame.
Parroting those
Surrounding us
Their diatribe
Lulled by ignorance
Sweet Lullabies
Deadening blows
Leaving no visible marks
As we gorge
Leftover morsels
Their seductive charms
Brainwashed and
Blissfully unaware
As we are
Inevitably trampled
Ground down
To dust.
Marionettes
Pulled to and fro
By dispassionate puppeteers
Elites
With a system rigged
Unfair to most
Stark disparity
Their right of birth
To maintain the status quo
Intent to fulfil
Every privileged desire.
Time removes
Unstitches
The invisible strings
That bind consciousness
Unbidden thoughts
Seep though
I sense
My surrounds
With newly opened eyes
I start
To spot
Needless disparity
Injustices all around
My mind
It does
Cause me to pause
To assimilate
These hidden tapestries
No longer
Beyond my
Grasp.
I see
The world as if anew
Layer upon layer of
Nameless institutions
Politicians Protecting
Power and inequity
Revulsion
Fills my core
How have we
Allowed this
To become our society?
How could
Our apathy
Be so great?
So many remain
Cocooned in false narratives
Playing another’s
Game.
It’s time
To take a stand
Break the chains
The bonds that bind
To protect
What remains of
Our land
To stand up for those
More invisible
Than you or I
To break the shackles
On our minds
Regardless of consequences
To take a leap of faith
And act
As if our
Very lives
Depend on it
For they surely do.
Come.
Do your worst.
Two ideologies intertwined
Who perceive themselves as poles apart
Meet in righteousness indignation
Staring down in the safety of distance
Dismissing the other
As too radical for a country
Torn asunder.
Two ideologies intertwined Who perceive themselves as poles apart Meet in righteousness indignation Staring each other down With the safety of distance Dismissing the other As too radical for a country That's been torn asunder. A country where Thousands needlessly die each night In agonising pain alone With machines switched off A silence too familiar To be quickly reused again. But in truth These two pillars of democracy Of boundless virtue Were never so far apart Unrecognising that special interests Hold them in thrall Their opinions bought and paid for Many years ago. The Grand Old Party To its shame has abandoned its proud legacy The party of Lincoln Moved to unrecognisable extremes Paranoia now its staple Paying its dues to special interests Of what was once considered the extremist right. And the Democrats Sidestepping the pleas of its base Unsurprisingly fails again A party who has become Due to its genuflections A pale and mediocre simulacrum Representing the same rich constituents The allure of money Intoxicating power of the Establishment Oblivious to the needs of the many. What of those who were proudly proclaimed around the world The protection of the huddled masses The tired The poor The wretched refuse washed up upon its gallant shores? Those who for decades have been ignored More precarious year after year There is no place for them Those perceived as a rounding error That ignores all math On silent lips Once more.
As I reminisce of our nation’s capital Of vanquished ideals our forefathers swore Where megawatt smiles are switched on in an instant Compassion only available through a camera’s lens Carefully crafted words available in neat little packages With well-practiced obfuscations wheeled out in response to crisis A dance well-choreographed as it sidesteps all questions.
As the world burns around us with increasing frequency And the environment is damaged beyond repair As science is followed or ignored depending how well it aligns to manic ideology And pandemics disrupt any sense of normalcy As our previous generations are treated as chattel And money source to be milked and not revered.
As authoritarianism and neo-fascism become increasingly institutionalised And we turn our backs on fellow man escaping deprivations beyond our imagination As millions face destitution, death or despair And we turn inward and ignore our moral duty to the world.
As our leaders become thralls to big business And corruption becomes a badge of honour As the media sings to a single tune And propaganda and news become indistinguishable As our outrage putters out in a single news cycle And we sleep to forget our waking nightmares.
Don’t worry for our leaders are here to protect us Save us from a far worse fate Let their words soothe you and dull your senses As they lead you blissfully unaware To the butchers table.
The Spoken Word 