Tags
1984, Auschwitz, Government, inaugural address, nazism, Obama, Orwell, Poem, Poetry, socialism
on a sad little hill
speaking ex-cathedra
surrounded by all of his men
pontificating the new term
of actions in the name of freedom.
Crying “Liberty and Social Security for all”
for fourteen hundred days
doesn’t make it real.
We have heard these words before.
“War is Peace”
“Freedom is Slavery”
“Poverty is Plenty”
The Ministry of Truth is cranking
out all sorts of new ideas,
even some old ones.
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the ministry of truth…even those words send a shiver down my spine…war will def improve the economy, make people happy…smiles…poverty sadly is plenty…freedom is slavery, sheesh….nice write…
i hope that those things will never repeat again..
I am not an American but I can identify with values like peace and freedom ~
Don’t you just loathe newspeak? And that last line is chilling enough without the photo.
I hate newspeak..
So scary and yet nothing suggests to me that it is not true.
That’s exactly it, isn’t it?
Oh, a political poem. Hmmmm, not my favorite. I want people to speak clearly on policies. Rhetoric like “Work makes us Free” can be taken so many ways — as can this poem.
Work is important. Nurturing a system that motivates folks to work is important.
The more abstract the terms, the more easy to manipulate. The more vague the poem, the more …
agreed, work is important, as is a society that encourages it.
political usage of the abstract near always borders misuse. and yes, poets can do the same with them as well. Even with words like ” love” and ” poetry” …as you have been apt to point out.
This poem was mostly an idea mash of a letter I write to a newspaper following the inaugural address…not exceedingly pleased with it.
Awesome write, and very well said!
strong point and the “work will make you free” line…a lot can be said about all this. nicely done.
you are right. it feels like we are listening to this kind of language.
how do we make change. as you say protest does not make a new context by itself.
You are right, protest won’t effect the change, and neither will violence. While I think that I won’t see the society I’d like in this lifetime, what is necessary is that we continue to spread the knowledge of freedom and what government really is, and raise our children as non violently as possible.