.
“We’re running things now;
we are great, you are small.”
“You will talk as we think,
or you’ll not talk at all.”
No longer permitted
to utter their Truth,
they are banished and exiled—
dispatched with a poof!
The land they’re interned in
—called Limbo by name—
is sheltered from Hope
but not Anguish or Pain.
The goal there’s not rehab—
second chances disdained!
“Call them out; cut them off!”
“Make them broke—or—insane.”
.
.
Tonia Kalouria, a former Spanish teacher and “soap” actress, is now a poet in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Her most recent—and rhyming—poems appear in Literary Veganism and Fox Hollow Stories, and two anthologies: “Quoth the Raven” and “Poems from the Lockdown.”
In “Cancel Culture,” there isn’t much difference between a concentration camp and a rehabilitation program. The former simply liquidates you, while the latter brainwashes you into intellectual conformity. Those who are pushing “Cancel Culture” don’t really care about changing your way of thinking. They just want to get you fired, get you socially ostracized, and then drive you to either starvation or suicide.
It’s the modern version of the policy of all tyrants: “A few public executions are great for keeping the populace in line.”
Well said, Joseph. Many of us feel like aliens in this new reality which is quickly becoming far too familiar.
Cancel Culture has been employed by tyrants throughout history. The best known version is from the CCP in China which is recent and been used frequently: defame with all media and so get people to attack the group or idea. The CCP did not need to do the destruction themselves. The populace did the rubbing out and the CCP strong arms followed as though doing the people’s will.
The goal there’s not rehab—
second chances disdained!
“Call them out; cut them off!”
“Make them broke—or—insane.”
This quatrain is almost the same as the memo Jiang Zemin thought he could wipe out Falun Gong with. It roundly said: “ruin them financially, destroy them physically!” and the 6-10 Office was set up specifically to persecute Falun Gong.
Sadly, the “social” in social media is more socialistic than social nowadays. Thank you for the comment.
Tonia, I love the title and hats off to you for saying it like it is in punchy, thought-provoking poetry that, hopefully, drives the message home. You highlight the consequences of speaking freely to the point that it sends a shiver down my freedom-loving spine. The comments this bold and brave poem has brought about say much. “The CCP did not need to do the destruction themselves. The populace did the rubbing out and the CCP strong arms followed as though doing the people’s will.” Damian, this feels just like the world we’re inhabiting now, and it’s dire. Tonia, thank you for keeping the truth out there!
Thank you for the comments. Yes, indeed it is
scary times we share.