Poetry – Bipeds with Big Brains

Posted on by Opher

Bipeds with Big Brains

Bipeds with big brains

Walking upright across the African plains.

Full of anger, cruelty and hate, 

Determined to become super-great.

Killing, maiming and enjoying pain,

Creating ruin, again and again.

With a lust for power and control,

They seek to impose their will on the whole.

Full of selfishness and greed,                        

They till the land and plant the seed.

Now we live in the aftermath

Of the destruction left in the wake of their path.

All that moves is brought down,

As wars rage regardless of black, white or brown.

One species, with the aim to expand,

Will destroy everything that comes to hand.

Profit is the recurring war cry

Blood for money; an eye for an eye.

The finite resources are under strain

Everywhere is death, destruction and pain.

Yet that large brain houses another side

To take another route – we can decide.

For love and compassion lurk there too,

And we can care for others in this human zoo.

We can give up violence and selfishness

And cherish a life not based on destructiveness.

There’s room for all of life on this great ark,

We don’t have to live in a plastic park.

Wildernesses full of creatures and song,

In which we humans can get along.

So will we use our great brains for creative invention?

And solve the problems we create?

Can we learn to care, share and find room for all life?

Or will we leave it all too late?

I fear the answer will seal our own fate.

Opher 29.4.2019

Human beings are the Jekyll and Hyde of the animal kingdom. We are often thoughtless, cruel and positively evil. We enjoy inflicting pain and causing death. We seem to gain pleasure from it. Give a man a weapon and he will feel the desire to take lives. Not content to shooting at targets they prefer to shoot birds off the wire.

We wish to subjugate nature and control it all. Chopping down trees, filling in swamps, killing anything that threatens us. Nothing is sacred.

Our worst aspects are the desire for power and wealth. We are prepared to sacrifice the whole earth for it.

Yet our altruism is also renowned. We will take huge risks to save an injured animal. We care.

Our brains are resourceful and ingenious. We can solve the most complex of problems.

We have the capacity to put right the mess we have created.

Do we have the will? Or are we going to allow the same greedy, power-seeking elite to continue to lead us towards the precipice?

How the West lost its mind and swung to the extreme right!

Posted on by Opher

How the West lost its mind and swung to the extreme right!

Back in the 1980s everything was not brilliant but it was good. Both in the UK and USA racism was on the decrease, society was fairly prosperous and compassionate.

Then things went haywire. There was a big rise in xenophobia/racism, fear, hatred and a big swing to the right. We entered the greedy, heartless world of fear, hate and selfishness epitomised by Trump and Brexit. We found ourselves in the Post-Truth era in which narcissistic, charismatic conmen were able to paint things in black and white, make preposterous promises, stoke up fear and get themselves elected.

Here’s what I think happened:

1979

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

The Russians tried to take Afghanistan. The USA supported the Mujahidin and funded them. Osama Bin Laden came in as a foreign fighter and we had the start of the extreme Islamic groups – al-Qaeda and the Taliban (funded by the CIA).

 The Russians were kicked out in 1989. The USA increased its presence and interests in Saudi resulting in an extreme form of Islam and an anti-USA/West sentiment. They saw the West as anti-Islam and wanted them out.

 

1990s

Islamic terrorism

Al-Qaeda became operational with many acts of terrorism. This created fear and started to generate a negative attitude towards Islam and Arabs.

 

2001

9/11 & invasion of Afghanistan

The flying of planes into the Twin Towers sent a wave of fear and hysteria through the USA and West. In a knee-jerk response Bush generated a War Against Terrorism and invaded Afghanistan.

This played into the hands of the terrorists who declared it a war against Islam. The USA found themselves in a war they could not win.

 

2003

Invasion of Iraq

Under the guise of a War against Terrorism, with Iraq seen as a threat possessing Weapons Of Mass Destruction and seat of power in the region with terrorist links, the USA (with Blair as its chief poodle) invaded Iraq.

At the time there was talk of the oil money but the truth was that it was a show of power and strength that was intended to intimidate the likes of Libya, Syria, Iran and Saudi.

There was no plan on how to get out, no knowledge of the tribal situations and the Sunni/Shia splits, and no real plan. They wanted a big show of strength and to topple Saddam Hussein.

Once more they got thems4elves enmeshed in a war they could not win.

 

2003

Rise of ISIS

The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq proved fertile for extreme Islam. They presented it as an attack on Islam and recruited.

In the vacuum in Iraq the warlords reigned and gave rise to ISIS. The terrorism increased and ISIS became a bogie-man.

 

2005

London bombing

The Islamic terrorism increased coupled with waves of Arab immigrants fleeing various conflicts in the Middle East. The suspicions grew, the fear grew and it was used by various parties – namely – the terrorist groups and ISIS (for recruitment and fanatical teachings based on the need to protect Islam from attack) and the right-wing groups who used the fear to stir up racism and xenophobia with images of being flooded with terrorists, rapists, criminals and drug-dealers.

In the USA it was the waves of immigrants from Central and South America.

The Right-wing thrived on the implicit racism against illegal immigration and threat of Islamic terrorism.

 

2016

Brexit

Using fears of terrorists, mass immigration and anti-EU sentiment the Right-wingers of the ERG, with the connivance of Cummings, Johnson, Gove and Farage, plotted a break from Europe.

Promising to secure borders and a sunlit future with masses of money for the NHS and a repulsion of five million Turks supposedly heading our way, the country voted for Brexit in a tight result.

People like Rees-Mogg made millions and Johnson (the lying conman) got himself elected but the sunlit uplands were but a mirage, a fabrication and we were all shafted.

 

2017

Trump

On a similar far-right promise of security, walls and America first, with the promise of prosperity, resurrection of old technologies (oil, coal, fracking and steel) Trump promised to Make America Great Again. By pandering to the American right and the strange (given his wildly immoral past) bedfellows of the Christian evangelists (willing to sup with the devil in order to get their extreme views met with draconian legislation on things like abortion) and the NRA, he managed to get himself elected creating an extreme right seizure of the GOP Republicans. The nutcases of the Tea Party now held sway.

 

2020s

Trump, Brexit and the far-right

The Tea Party radicals and ERG loonies were now in control with a narcissistic imbecile and a buffoon of a clown in charge – both looking like scarecrows. Everything started going pear-shaped.

 

Now

The demise of Trump and Johnson

Fortunately the West began to wake from their thrall and realise they had been lied to and led up the garden path. America wasn’t becoming great and there were no sunlit uplands.  We’d been conned.

Both Trump and Johnson walked off with millions into the sunset and we’re left in the wreckage.

 

 

Now, have we got Trump, Johnson, Brexit, MAGA, Erdogan, Oban, Meloni, Le Penn and the rest of the odious right-wing chancers out of our system or are we going to have to wait a bit longer?

Has Islamic extremism burnt itself out? Or are other potential Bin Laden’s stirring up religious hatred?

Can we start putting right the immense damage done by Brexit and MAGA and start building bridges?

Then there is Ukraine!

The Alternative Universe

What if the CIA hadn’t armed Bin Laden and set up al-Qaeda?

What if Bush had not invaded but simply taken out the terrorist camps?

What if……..?

America’s descent into the fantasyland of QAnon and Trump.

Posted on by Opher

The undermining of democracy for personal gain.

The twisting of truth.

Fake News and lies spread as facts.

It all lays the groundwork for a greedy, selfish populist conman like Trump to gain power and make himself enormously rich.

The cost is the destruction of the USA.

Nothing is believed.

No experts are trusted.

Yet millions are prepared to believe the ignorant nonsense spouted by this inept conman.

This undermining has only one end – disaster!

Trump is destroying the USA and the Republicans are aiding and abetting.

The Hall of Infamy

Posted on by Opher

The Hall of Infamy

Wednesday morning at five o clock as the day begins. That’s when we started putting the final touches for the show together. It takes a lot of work to put together a Media Show. I don’t think anybody knows how much effort goes in. The team spends all week gathering all the little clips on our candidates – clips that will get the crowd going, and that final day is madness as we rehearse, write the links and decide the final format.

That’s where I come in – Bang Max – the man who gets the crowd roaring. It’s my job to pull it altogether and make a show out of it. I’m Bang Max the showman. I have, even if I say so myself, made the Hall Of Infamy the biggest show on Earth. Our ratings are through the roof.

Last week we focused on the mucilaginous gunrunners. This week it’s the politicians turn.

Time to hit the boards. Cue flies, hair and smile.

‘OK you Crazy Crew!!!’ I started with my trademark greeting to get the show off the ground, looking right into the camera and gesticulating, wide-eyed and looking suitable manic.

A great roar went up from the audience that I milked for all it was worth.

‘Last week you chose that slimy scumbag Leonid Minin, the Ukranian gunrunning thug, as the latest entry to our Hall of Infamy.’

Another great roar of approval went up.

‘A good choice,’ I agreed, nodding my head and grinning round at them all.

I quietened them with a motion of my hands, changing my expression to one of seriousness.

‘This week we turn our attention to politicians,’ I told them what they already knew.

A big oooooh went round the studio. They understood their role and were playing it to perfection – an integral part of the show.

‘So which one of these scurvy shysters is going to join Minin in the Hall of Infamy?’ I asked, mouth open, hands upturned.

Shouts and hollers echoed round as they bellowed their choices. I let it run a few seconds before cutting back in. The show depended on their energy but it had to be controlled. There was only one maestro here, and that was me – Big Bang Max. I called the shots.

‘Well you’ve already expressed your views,’ I told them in conspiratorial tones. ‘The votes are in.’ I paused dramatically. ‘You’ve told us who you want.’ A great murmur went round the studio. ‘It seems that dithering May, Blithering Boris and moldy Mogg didn’t make the cut.’

There were cries of dismay but the excitement still built. They wanted to know who was in.

‘No!’ I told them, pausing again, raising the level of tension a notch and dragging it out just long enough. ‘We’ve got it down to two. You’ve instructed us that it’s between these two behemoths of populist ugliness. That it is down to these two purveyors of hate and division.’

I allowed the bated breaths to hang as they waited on my words.

‘Which of these two lying, disgusting perverters of democracy are you going to vote in to join the savage Minin and the other sleazy paedophiles, murderers, rapists, serial killers and warmongers in the Hall of Infamy?’

They roared. They wanted to know who it was that they had to choose between. They were chanting names, on their feet, stamping and waving their arms.

‘You’ve chosen……………..’ having to raise my voice above the din, I waited for exactly the right moment, ‘a run-off between the gun-mad, scourge of the Amazon – Bolsonaro!’ A great bellow of approval nearly took the roof off. ‘And the hate rallying, Muslim bashing, epitome of arrogance – Trump!’

A bigger roar shook the walls.

Over the next half hour we ran through the video clips, juxtaposing the carefully chosen cameos, as I gave each one a nice little intro and biting comment, as I played the audience, working them up into a frenzy and maintained the balance of humour, disbelief and anger that made the show the success it was.

We had Bolsonaro threatening to build a motorway through the Amazon, Trump working up his base with evocations of ‘Drain the Swamp’, ‘Crooked Hilary’, and ‘Lock Her Up’, Bolsonaro taking away all environmental restrictions and opening up the jungle for logging and farming. There was Trump urging his mob to beat up hecklers, Bolsanaro looking to arm everyone to beat crime. Then Trump, looking surly as he pulled out of the Paris Treaty, while Bolsonaro stated how he was going to hunt out and shoot all the leftists. Trump building walls, supporting the NRA and exaggerating the threat of the refugees, portraying them as an invasion of rapists, murderers and Muslim terrorists and Bolsonaro saying the Blacks were not even good enough for procreation and should go back to the zoo and that an opposition politician was too ugly to rape – that the Juntas mistake was to torture but not kill.

I brought it all to a head.

‘Which one of these clowns is the most repugnant? Who’s the most despicable?’ I asked them as they bayed and chanted their choices. ‘Which one deserves to be included in the Hall of Infamy?’

‘Who’s your choice? Grab your buzzers.’

‘Time to vote!’

Conspiracy has become the biggest threat to mankind.

Posted on by Opher

There is a general distrust of politicians based on the fact that they always lie, that they are self-serving, promise the earth and never deliver and spin everything so that black becomes white.

Nobody trusts them.

Making politicians accountable for their actions has proved difficult due to the media (for various reasons) being controlled by the politicians themselves or their backers. They feed us on a diet of propaganda within which democracy is strangled.

That is the background. It’s the swamp Trump refers to.

It has driven many people away from all mainstream media and to doubt anything reported in mainstream media or from the mouths of politicians.

In the past, we (the more discerning and less gullible) would apply healthy scepticism and read between the lines. Now we have the internet.

The internet has become the source of information for many people. The premise is that the media lies and the internet is a more reliable source of information; except it isn’t.

The internet is worse that the media, far worse. It’s a platform for every nutcase, anyone looking to make money (look at Alex Jones), every nasty propagandist, big business with vested interests and the organised political groups that, for their own ends, want to spread chaos and disbelief.

So we have the petrochemical industry.

Right-wing propaganda machines.

Spreaders of conspiracy theory for profit – like Alex Jones and a number of other nutcases who have made millions.

Companies with vested interests.

Foreign powers.

They spread false rumours, put out lies, create conspiracies, stoke up disbelief and stir up hate. They thrive on division.

The result of this has been:

The election of Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro and a raft of populist self-servers.

Brexit.

A fear of vaccination.

Disbelief in global warming.

The daft rise of QAnon nutcases.

Disbelief in scientists and experts.

A rise in superstition and flat-earthers.

Beliefs in bizarre conspiracies – we never landed on the moon, 9/11 was run by the CIA, the UN is a world government, the Democrats are paedophile lizard aliens, they eat babies, planes are seeding the air with some unknown chemical.

It’s interfered with votes in crucial elections. It has brought the USA to the brink of civil war.

All so that some can gain power and wealth.

Of course, there is a grain of truth in everything. Most politicians are greedy, lying bastards. But at least things were stable and we weren’t subject to this extremism.

I preferred things as they were. Conspiracy is taking us to the brink of annihilation. Global warming is not a conspiracy. The petrochemical industry, along with politicians like Trump, has undermined a global response that might have saved us. Global warming is going to be catastrophic. It hasn’t even started properly yet. Conspiracy is likely to see our demise.

The Fog of Conspiracy

Posted on by Opher

The Fog of Conspiracy

Rabid hordes of fascist muscle

Wave their flags and grip their clubs

Engaging in the racist hustle

In their camouflage scrubs.

The future of the country wanes

In reckless grinning idiocy

The sense of all logic

Consumed by a fog of conspiracy.

Opher – 9.1.2021

Fighting for freedom. No they are not. A bunch of racist thugs fighting for a fascist state, a racist state. They’re still fighting the Civil War. They want a white America ruling the world with black slaves fuelling the economy.

Their commander in chief pushes all the buttons, encouraging their madness, feeding lies and conspiracy while filling his bank account.

America is dissolving in a sea of madness.

Poetry – Cynical Leadership

Posted on by Opher

Cynical Leadership

Inciting, infiltrating and spinning

Deviously

To prey upon the gullible.

Threatening, posturing and jeering

Arrogantly

To enrage the peaceable.

Cajoling, lying and frightening

Blatantly

To scare the fallible.

Any tactic will do

To gain their power.

Illegal, immoral or insane

Turning the future sour.

Opher – 31.8.2020

I was thinking of Trump, Johnson, Cummings and Bolsonaro when I wrote this. I was thinking about the way they manipulate people with simplistic slogans; the way they drum up fear; the way they incite division and tribalism.

We’ve had the obnoxious reign of Trump and we’ve got the disaster of Brexit that will hit us in January 2021. All conjured up with blatant lies and duplicitous statements.

Spin, fake news, conspiracy and outright untruths.

That’s politics.

It stinks.

What has happened to politics??

Posted on by Opher

I think we can trace it right back to 9/11. When the planes flew into the World Trade Centre the world changed.

We were going along quite nicely – standard of living was good, we were getting on top of racism. Progress was slow but we were heading in the right direction.

9/11 and the wave of extreme Muslim terrorism sparked off a reaction. Fear created paranoia. There was a rise in racism and a surge of nationalism – kick out immigrants, shut the borders.

Populists seized their opportunity, rode this wave of fear and racism, stoked up hate and division and gained power.

Politics became extreme.

In the USA it resulted in Tea Party madness and then Trump. The rabid far-right populist loonies took over the Republican Party and transformed it into a fascist party.

In the UK we had the lunacy of Brexit followed by a take-over of the Tory Party by the ERG and the election of Johnson the affable populist clown (really a cynical narcissist).

The whole world lurched to the far-right with the election of nutcases like Bolsonaro, Oban, Modi, Erdogan and Morrison.

Poetry – Source of the chaos

Posted on by Opher

Source of the chaos

Searching for the source of chaos

Is not a difficult task.

Look who’s sowing division

In his KKK mask.

Look who sacks anybody

Who disagrees with him.

Look who sulks petulantly,

Perpetually looks grim.

The harbinger of chaos

Can’t even read a book.

Is ignorant of science

And is nothing but a crook.

He won’t show us his tax returns

Or his Russian connections.

All he’s got inside his head

Is winning the elections.

He loves to have the power

And craves more wealth.

The only person he loves

Is the image of himself.

He’ll stir up the rioting

And condone the killers.

With snout in the trough

With all the other swillers.

The source of all the chaos

Is hiding in plain sight.

Pretending to have solutions

But never getting it right.

He feeds his loyal base

With cynical concessions.

While sneering at their loyalty

And feeding their obsessions.

The master of fake news

And conspiracy theory.

Tweeting long into the night

When other eyes are bleary.

Out on the golf course

In the midst of emergency.

Calling hoax, misinforming;

Not understanding urgency.

He does not care about people.

Has no ounce of compassion.

He’ll do anything for a vote.

The truth is on ration.

The architect of chaos

Is serving up the blame.

Passing the buck

Without an ounce of shame.

Opher – 3.9.2020

Trump has been actively inciting and dividing, lying and cheating, all his life. He thinks that’s the only way. He thinks that is what is meant by doing business.

He presents himself as something he isn’t – a successful businessman, a friend to the poor.

The gullible fall for it. They believe he’s fighting the alien lizards! That’s it, those lizards live out on the golf course!

Poetry – Trumpville – where only one life matters

Posted on by Opher

Trumpville – where only one life matters

Welcome to Trumpville

Where a black man’s life counts for little.

Welcome to the land

Where police dispense justice

With a trigger.

Welcome to the leader’s policy:

Sow fear,

Pour blame,

Stoke division

And soak up the power.

Opher – 2.9.2020

The arrogance and effrontery of Trump’s posturing – the sheer nerve of it.

He swears black is white. The lies pour forth and he just brushes it off when caught out, either ignoring the facts altogether or insisting he is right despite all the evidence to the contrary.

And the stupid thing is that so many people believe him.

We are in the age of fact melt-down.

Facts, statistics and the evidence of our own eyes count for nothing!

The propaganda machine pumping fake news through the internet is the only truth in the eyes of the sheep.

The billionaire Trump, master of the business deal, is fighting the Deep State on behalf of poor people.

Not the bankrupt, failed businessman, propped up by his Dad, in debt to his ears, a man of corrupt deals, tax evasion and illegal activities, is busy squirrelling away as much cash as he can get his paws on while using office to avoid the law.

Talk about crooked Hilary!

It’ll all come out in the wash!