Reality Show
In so-called halcyon days of yore,
I fear that label was merely lore.
For some it may have been a joy,
but not so for the hoi polloi.
They stood and watched the royal parade
and knew it for the grand charade
it was, and as the nobles dined—
stuffed and feasted, gorged and wined
on sweet elixirs and joints of beast,
it was famine for the least
of all the people in the land.
The rich, at least, the merry band
depicted in cartoon and book,
but instead by hook or crook,
the rich cavorted as they carved
their empires from the hordes who starved.
They kept unschooled masses naive
hoping they would then believe
God meant for some to eat their fill
while others toiled and paid the bill.
And now it seems it hasn’t changed.
The masses once more are deranged,
and educated fools have been
the ones who vote exploiters in.
They say it’s better for the masses—
all those toiling lads and lasses.
Yet,
when rich men go unregulated,
and untaxed, the poor seem fated
not to get the trickle-down.
Instead the powers grouse and frown
and tax them more. Their minds are fraught
with thoughts of payments on their yacht.
Beware rich men who say they’ll share
and pass their laws because they care.
If they profit by those laws,
the poor will simply not, because
the rich get richer out of greed
to have more and they do not heed
those for whom the laws were meant.
Sharing they call entitlement.
The reality you think you see
on TV shows is meant to be
mere entertainment. In fact it’s truthless
engineered by those most ruthless
who seek to turn our thought and mind
into an audience for their kind.
They seize our brains, then seize our nation
all the while in sure elation
that they do it for our good.
Oh that they did. Oh that they would.
But it’s a ruse
we can’t excuse.
The rich man tends to his own riches
while the poor men dig the ditches
for the one who rants and raves.
I fear instead they dig their graves.
Today’s prompts are halcyon, cartoon, royal and parade. Here are the links:
https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/rdp-monday-halcyon/
https://fivedotoh.com/2018/12/17/fowc-with-fandango-cartoon/
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/royal/
https://onedailyprompt.wordpress.com/2018/12/17/your-daily-word-prompt-parade-December-17-2018/
We voted a cartoon into office. So … shouldn’t we all be laughing?
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We will when he’s gone if he hasn’t blown up the whole world by then.
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“The reality you think you see
on TV shows is meant to be
mere entertainment. In fact it’s truthless
engineered by those most ruthless
who seek to turn our thought and mind
into an audience for their kind.”
This section, especially the last two lines, is exactly so. It’s a royal spectacle meant to dazzle our colorless scrabble for survival. In the olden days fairy tales were spoken to instill a culture’s norms, moral(e)s, etc. In the electronic age, the fairy tales on TV are used to instill a tragic obsession of consumerism that most can ill afford, while the overlords keep hoarding more and more wealth. Sorry to ramble on about it, but your poem sparked it 🙂
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I know. I rambled on first. You are absolved of blame.
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Excellent work Judy, a very accurate description of our delusional dilemma. The planned dumbing down our society makes it much better to manage. Like Puppets on strings.
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Hi Leland! Good to hear from you. I was just wondering about how you were yesterday!
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We seem to wind up on the same wavelength from time to time. It is good to see you’re still getting out your educational messages.
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Stating the obvious and those who need to see it aren’t, but need to say it anyway.
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powerful prose … here is one similar … it’s just so wrong!
http://aroused.blog/2018/10/16/entitlement
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