Our Newest Emperor’s New Clothes
How do we mentor our burgeoning youth
in these times of extraordinary stretchings of truth?
Teach them to sort out these rash acts of treason,
to approach them with heart and strain them through reason.
Teach them hating is wrong and exclusion is selfish—
that plastic’s destroying our coral and shellfish.
That medical care should be something for all
and that hoarding of wealth brings a country’s last fall.
Teach them the future is theirs to decide.
Teach them the truth of whom to deride.
Teach them that facts being taught by their teachers
may rival what they’re being taught by some preachers
and those who would rule to win their own gain,
lining their pockets again and again
with tax cuts that only extend to the rich
while the trickle down theory develops a hitch.
Teach them to sort out rhetoric from fact.
Teach them to care and to vote and to act
to stretch out the privilege to blanket us all.
We are not alone on this spinning great ball.
Our former meddling and incredible gall
is why we’re considering building a wall
to keep out the hungry and frightened downtrodden
who come to us weary, exhausted and sodden.
They ask for asylum and our protection
from dictators who have prompted defection
much as many Americans are fleeing south
to avoid the stupidity and the vile mouth
of the dictator who is now ruining our land
with illogical thinking and truth that is canned.
Who will mentor whom in this crazy new world
once the last hateful invectives are hurled?
Our world has been sold out for profit and gain—
overseen by leaders opportunistic and vain.
Perhaps it’s our youth who will now mentor us
to sort out the truth from this internet fuss.
As in the old legend, They’ll teach the uncouth
to forsake propaganda for naked truth.
It’s hoped that our youth wake us up from our doze
to point out the truth of our Emperor’s new clothes!!
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/11/04/rdp-sunday-mentor/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/11/04/fowc-with-fandango-extraordinary/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/11/04/burgeon/
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
“…much as many Americans are fleeing south…” I considered fleeing when my Fellow Americans elected Obama twice. I felt exactly as you do now, that my country was being destroyed by Enemies Within. I strived then, as I still do, to see my political foes as intelligent beings and to avoid “hurling hateful invectives”, such as this. When you attack the leader, you attack the millions who, with open eyes, selected this option over one far worse.
Yes, our eyes are open, and I assume that yours are, too. It is time for us all to lift our gaze above the rim of our small worlds and see what others see.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Love this poem. It speaks the truth for the need of a world full of empathy and respect for all. In the end, we are one world, and if we can’t care for the earth and all inhabitants of this world, then really what is the point…
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thanks, S. I hesitated to post this humiliating photo, but it illustrates so perfectly and ironically his lack of respect for women as well as his extreme vanity and greed and misguidedness that I had to use it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Ye Dowsers, All – TheGuern
Judy, I share your angst. When children recognize and call out the president as a bad man and a bully, then where are the standards that guide a nation. I hope that people can see the folly and lies and find a moral ground.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Someone reblogged this piece and told me when I denigrated the president, I denigrated the millions of Americans who voted for him. I wanted to reply that when those millions voted for him, they denigrated the billions of Americans who have come before them, especially the founding fathers.
LikeLiked by 4 people
I know. I saw that comment and was dumbfounded. I guess we really can’t understand all viewpoints
LikeLiked by 1 person
Slowly but steadily, we are unmasking him and exposing him for the fraud he is. And I hope in this life and the next, I never see him naked. He’s campaigning in MO on Tuesday with Hannity and Limbaugh. They’ll eat it up, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Egah. In St. Louis? We have to drive through there tomorrow. Ah.. you said Tuesday. Tomorrow he’s speaking in Cape Girardeau, Rush Limbaugh’s old digs, so they may have the Interstate closed down, so we are having to change our route.
LikeLiked by 1 person
AUGGGGGHHHHHH! That’s the most horrible thing I’ve seen all year, and I can’t ‘un-see’ it either….. oh my eyes! MY EYES! (brave of you to share that, btw.) He really is as ugly naked as he is clothed. Who knew (or wanted to)?
LikeLiked by 3 people
Sorry. It just suited the poem so well. The illustration was found after the poem was written. I have much the same reaction to it..
LikeLiked by 1 person
This statue clearly displays the heights hatred and contempt have hit in the US.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I know, Christine, I hesitated using that illustration and deal daily with trying to curb those feelings in myself. Then I think of how sometimes it is necessary to stand up against brutality by depicting it to itself, and Trump’s exploitation and views toward women seems to be so well depicted in this artistic satire…turning the tables on him…that I decided to use it. I chose it after writing the piece, and it so well illustrated the poem. It is an attempt to hold up a mirror, I think, both by its sculptor and by my poem.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well, I can’t say much about Trump since we don’t follow US media that closely. The media may be right about his abrasive personality and faults. But I’m imagining the kind of contempt the creator of this thing was feeling. One big problem I see about contempt is that it shatters the mirror in which we might catch sight of ourselves.
To some of us across the border, displaying something like this would be like printing porn on a US flag and hoisting to represent how many Americans are caught up in pornography. Which may be true, but still comes across as a desecration of something — in this case a position — once held sacred. As a sage once wrote: “When you’re slinging mud, you’re losing a lot of ground.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Someone else said “When you deride Trump, you deride the millions who voted for him,” but I say they were deriding the very principles of Democracy, which he has continuously flouted, when they voted for him. Deriding this man is like deriding Hitler. He is dangerous, an opportunist, a fool and a racist. I do not denigrate the office of the presidency, but I hold not one degree of respect for him. He who has bragged about grabbing women’s genitals and who has committed crimes against humanity by separating children from their own ethnic background and putting them in homes of other ethnicities (defined as genocide by the U.N.) deserves to be demonstrated against. It is the artist’s intention to reveal him for what he is and to use the same methods of sexual humiliation against him that he has used against others. Although I would not condone doing so in reality, as he has so often done, I uphold the right of the artist to convey her message by the means she chooses and the ones that attract the most notice. The man himself is human pornography. I’m not trying to debate you, Christine. I know you are a kind, moral woman. I am just explaining my decision to use the photo to illustrate a poem that carried the same message. xox
LikeLiked by 3 people
Well, it shows that everyone has their own way of looking at things — and you definitely have info I don’t have. If it’s accurate, it’s awful and totally disrespectful.
I see nothing wrong with criticizing any policy or practice that seems degrading or unjust, or any comment that seems degrading no matter who makes it. I’d draw the line at ridiculing the one who came up with the policy because my Bible tells me that — no matter who, Trump or Nero or Stalin — we are to honor the (office of) the King. Actually, it also says, “Honour all men.” I’ve no more right to call my neighbour a fool than to call Trudeau a fool.
Hopefully, if push came to shove, I’d have the courage to oppose Hitler’s policies in spite of persecution. While his insanity was a medical fact, and I believe from his actions that he was driven by a demon, I would try to refrain from “ridiculing” him. I guess it’s a fine line. What seems inappropriate is telling the world, “We elected an idiot.” Or “Half of us elected an idiot.” (Actually, the US has elected a lot of Leaders with questionable policies through the years, but we won’t go there. 😉 ) Unlike Nazi-controlled Germany, you have the option of voting your leader out of office.
We suspect this actually goes much deeper than Trump’ leadership. He may be the target, but I think there’s much more involved here. Canadian ex-PM Stephen Harper has just published a book analyzing this Left-vs-Right power struggle going on in our day, titled RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW. He feels Trump caught and rode that wave, followed by other politicians in recent months. Left-leaning media dread it and are trying to squash it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
HaHA! That statue…or whatever you want to call it is ghastly and irreverent but I LOVE it. I also share your sentiments in the wonderful poem. It does my heart good to know there are others who think like this. I am one of those socialist types who live in Canada. I’m just kidding I don;t really label myself that way but many Americans label us as socialists. Thanks for restoring my sense of humor today!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nice to meet you, Anne. Come back for more of the same?
LikeLiked by 2 people
And here Judy I thought that many of us thought that only Trump’s ego was badly bloated. I think his staunch supporters should chip in an buy him an industrial grade truss and girdle for Christmas. What he really deserves is a stocking full of foot. But we all know that. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t you wonder if he’s seen this? I can imagine it would be enough to make him push the button in spite.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is how you know when someone is not really evil. They insult and spread rumors about them. They dig up old dirt about them being as human as those they worship, so mass hypocrisy as usual. The Republicans are dangerous in one way, but now, the Democrats are worse and that’s a damn shame. I’m about to go back to my roots of Canada since most of my family is fairly new to America from there.
LikeLiked by 1 person