Ceci Ne Pas Un Poème...

Ceci Ne Pas Un Poème...

Non, non, c'est juste une mauvaise blague!

Tell you what though; lunkheads need not apply themselves to deciphering thoughts well beyond their base IQs. Better crack another cold one and watch the game instead.

Happy go lucky? Nah mate. Swindled voters cry all the way to the bank and back. Bellyaching about "fake news" and how the corporate media sold out. *SHOCKER*

When will the people outgrow those false dichotomies, which they claim to reject, yet cannot stop debating over in every comment section of all the social forums?

Forget progress — rather we're regressing into caveman tribalism. Manipulated by an invisible hand. Manus Lavat Manum. Divide Et Impera. Oldest tricks in the book. No need for conspiracies.

Enter orchestrated chaos, where not a single group can rally. What a 'flustercluck' of irreconcilable differences. Mankind surely shit the bed here on this planet. Mayhap The Matrix should reset?

Oui, oui, minuit viens vite ici!

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Geekology

Geekology


Up to snuff on the canon
ever since the series' inception.

Watched a trio of films fashioned after
the literary trilogy, three times, in 3D
(but read every book years before cinematic debut).

Fanboy fawning over fiction
avidly awaits memorabilia and merchandise;
cultural baubles induce idolatrous fascination.

Raised by the capital
as another man-child filled with yearning
for a time that never was in fantasy lands.

"Did you see the new trailer?"
"OMG — its looks amazing!"
"Let's all go watch it on opening night..."

Real life is too boring anyway:
its bland narrative has become predictable.
Around here, there are no superheroes to save the day!

Satirical Infographic courtesy of Dorkly.

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Curmudgeonly

Curmudgeonly


Not actually a nice guy,

Just play one in real life.

Killer instinct on the sly;

Prepared at any time for strife.


Antisocial \ corner cutter \

Bifurcating hidden agendas

Like a hot knife through butter!

Neither sugar coats nor Splendas ®


Look at this camera shy weirdo

Who thinks awkward silences are golden.

Never mind disheveled hairdo —

Let his letters right you: emboldened.


Those who don't get it aren't deserving

Thirsty though they be for comprehension.

Most will find these verbs unnerving,

If they can clear the first declension!

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Counter-Culture Failure

"And as this fake world grew, all of us went along with it, because the simplicity was reassuring. Even those who thought they were attacking the system — the radicals, the artists, the musicians, and our whole counterculture — actually became part of the trickery. Because they too had retreated into the make-believe world, which is why their opposition has no effect and nothing ever changes."

~ Adam Curtis; prologue to HyperNormalisation

---

Counter-Culture Failure

Artists have become complicit with the spectacular aspects of commodification. All talents are now coopted in service to capitalistic enterprise.

Fatalistic as it may sound, there isn't any chance for an effective revolution to overthrow this system ... Its roots reach too deep into the collective unconscious.

Inertial tendencies have been inculcated in us since infancy. Everybody's parents and even grandparents were ensnared long before our arrival.

The nature of the beast is such that it has already assimilated any resistance to its preponderance well beforehand.

Dissenting voices find themselves drowning among a cacophony of competing choruses. Yet national anthems still define the terms of engagement.

Fine art is presently naught but skillful seduction; a well-polished reflector obfuscated by wispy vapor.

Its finest offerings adorn the towering edifice of traditionalist establishment. Hollywood holds sway over the untrained mind.

Glamour and glitter bedazzle beholders more than Huxley's 'Moksha-Medicine'. Banality brings spectators together, while larger than life superstars subvert their individuality.

Such impressionable peons get ground under industrial gears set in motion to demolish public doubts:

"Keep your faith in wealthy figureheads, because they must surely know what's best for society's collective investiture!"

Related Readings:

Geekology

Spectre of The Spectacle

Infamous

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Echo-Chamber Chant

 "I study social media. Which means that to a first approximation, I watch people argue." 
~ Clay Shirky

Echo-Chamber Chant


(Rhythm: Calypso Andante)


Yelling in a tin can

Imbalanced between yin and yang

One can't be right all of the time

Our two cents aren't worth a dime


Opinions are like sphincters

Too vulnerable to pranksters

If you feel that facts don't matter

Then you're madder than a hatter


Quit craving biased confirmation

It's all just monkey imitation

What we think is nothing major

Stunted thoughts like a teenager


The Fake News has taken over

It's better now to run for cover

There's no wiz behind the curtain

Let's accept Being uncertain


* Repeat it ad absurdum *

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Gruß Vom Krampus!

Gruß Vom Krampus!


Jolly old Saint Nicholas?
An outdated yuletide hymn —

With more naughty brats than e'er
This season's ripe for him ...

Christ-Mass eve approaches;
Come now feared old goat,

Quit flipping those channels
(Give up that darn remote).

It's all commercials anyhow
After the clock strikes twelve:

Advertising crap to wrap
Like woeful workshop elves.

So stuff these stockings full of coal;
Bad boys and girls beware —

He'll spank you with birch branches
Or box your ears mid-air!

Johnny wants an iPod touch,
Susy's dreaming of VR.

Nellie thinks a 'Selfie Mic'
Will make her a big star.

As for us with half a brain
We still need to smarten ...

Send out our reminder
Via vintage Krampuskarten!

Image: And the Children Shall Inherit the Earth (Krampus) by Chris Buzelli.

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Sometimess

Sometimess


No it's not a typo
Yes to that extra s!

Must now confess:

Sometimess, sob uncontrollably like an insolent infant.

" ", cheat at romance and gamble good opportunities away.

" ", fret in regret — forgetting getting older.

" ", feel vulnerable or weak; oppressed by what's professed in houses of public acknowledgement.

" ", resent the advent of cement, asphalt, and autos. Pedestrian playing fields aren't level.

" ", realize having had 'it' all along, then smack forehead!

" ", sing actions out loud as if every mundane move was a lyric.

" ", laugh to self about zany harebrained schemes just then conceived.

" ", nickname everyone in sight to the point of becoming obnoxious.  

" ", wish friends from over the years were a lot closer by during hardships.

" ", mind being reminded that this terrestrial husk must eventually be shed.

" ", look forward to crossing over after spending an entire lifetime in relegation.

" ", catch glimpses of that gracious blue yonder beyond any Terran wonder ...

Held as more than human —

Rare specimen (a Lumen).
Descendants' blood? Double Type O!

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It's Festivus For The Rest of Us!

It's Festivus For The Rest of Us!

Strip down that tinsel tree to its bare aluminum pole.

Behold it has a very high strength-to-weight ratio.

Let the Airing of Grievances commence around the table.

Got a lot of problems with you people, and you're gonna hear about it!

Savor some meatloaf served on a bed of lettuce during dinner.

Up next come Feats of Strength; pin the patriarch or we continue.

Festivus YES — Bagels NO — Hey! No bagel, no bagel, no bagel ...

Don't be two-faced about the whole thing. Stand under good lighting.

If you buy nothing this season, it'll be a Festivus miracle!

All proceeds this year will go to the Human Fund: Money For People.

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Misanthropic Principles

"I am a misanthrope and yet utterly benevolent, have more than one screw loose yet am a super-idealist who digests philosophy more efficiently than food." 

 

~ Alfred Nobel

Misanthropic Principles

Like many other manners unbecoming to the mass
Misanthropy is misunderstood as a half glass.

It isn't always driven by fundamental hate
But rather by an aversion to what most are apt to imitate.

Fitting in isn't important to us curmudgeons, antisocial.
Lambs may play it safe; rams break through barriers quite crucial.

While everybody else will take the given at face value
Our eyes shall analyze until they find which facts stand true.

Nothing novel was ever wrought with complacent hands.
No new vale gets discovered if you're content in your own lands.

Real artists must detach from what the crowd believes it knows.
Pioneers explore forever; outgoing despite naysayers noes!

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Twitter Is Like, Crack.

Twitter Is Like, Crack.

Another sleepless night,
Course failed at school,
Day missed at work.

Casino fruit machines,
Dog and horse racetracks,
Barely compare to the blue bird.

Instant gratification
From a pleasant chime;
Irresistible urge to connect.

It's all or nothing on the line ...
What's trending now?
Who's hashtag tops the polls?

Follow those who reciprocate.
Cut loose the dead weight.
Hurrah for verified accounts!

Cursed be the white whale
Whenever Le Tuit does fail.
Cross your fingers, reload page.

140 characters should suffice to sayeth
Expressing cheap thoughts is all the rage.
While lost in cyberspace don't lose control — keep faith!

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Yucky Yuppy

Author's Note: For some context regarding this piece, please refer to this > ARTICLE.

---

Yucky Yuppy


The age of the Hipster is officially over
Enter the era of the "Yuccie"
(Young Urban Creative)

Coasting off parental payments
Education exceeds intellect
A diploma equals entitlement

Little respect for predecessors
Qualitative labeling for all
Recapitulation due to oversight

Beatnik and Hippy rolled into one
With inauthentic pretentiousness
Even irony gets lost in the shuffle

Every damn dolt is now an artiste
There is perhaps no greater tragedy
Than meaning subverted by money

Anything to make a quick buck
Nothing is sacred that can be sold
The world's an oyster laid barren

Ah hell, take that selfie for Instagram
Watch another rerun of Seinfeld
Getting over oneself is no mere career move!

Image: Portlandia poster for "This is an art project" episode.

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Twitch Was Born In The Arcade

Twitch Was Born In The Arcade

Back in the day as they say
You had to stand at a colorful cabinet
Feeding quarters into the machine to play
And if you happened to be any good at it
Lots of people would gather around to watch.

Spectators crowded together during a versus match
Oohing and aahing when contenders clashed
Wowed by audiovisual effect of hits landing
Joysticks spun, buttons were mashed
High scores gave one social standing.

Nowadays those old ways have mutated;
Games are broadcast from the comfort of home
Long-distance buffer zones keep players isolated
Hecklers become blacklisted, n00bs get p0wn3d!
Onlookers flood internet streams by the millions worldwide.

Video gaming is a new spectator sport played inside.
MMORPG addicts and FPS elites are virtual athletes
Impartial systems re-spawn those who've died
Platinum trophies prove what one completes
But among masters who compete, only skill decides!

Image: Twitch, see: twitch.tv

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Decadence Throughout The Decades

Decadence Throughout The Decades

Today's trendoid douche bags regard the 80's and 90's as the epitome of COOL.

Back then teens took their inspiration from the 60's and 70's.
So it must go on indefinitely in retrograde;
each generation admiring the best of what came before
while simultaneously rejecting tacky tradition and rebelling
against any oppressive state of affairs.

Thus we find ourselves reliving similar dramas
or reiterating those same likely stories
as our lamentably predictable predecessors
(at least insofar as hindsight reveals them).
Still we're unsure of how what's coming will differ.

A pattern appears to crystallize when we lay our eyes upon it...
Minute men worn by many years resist its advent:
Hegemony is leading us into the limbo of Homogeny!
Yet even within that oneness of identity conflict will persist,
because it's an inborn trait of mankind's fragmentation.

Upstarts rail at tried and true technique—
old timers reminisce over some bygone golden era.
Monomaniacs criticize just to constantly rehash the same devilish details.
Everybody dwells on what formative memories have dictated for them.
Who would even notice the handbasket reaching hell?

Tomorrow's misanthropes already read this as a perennial quintessence!

Image: Kali (goddess of death and destruction) projected onto the Empire State Building by digital artist Android Jones. Many Hindus view our present time as Kali Yuga; the iron age of decay.

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History Repeats

"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history." 

~ Aldous Huxley

History Repeats

 
Alter your behavior
Else be bent through thought control
As you flirt with grim disaster
In their twisted game of minds

This whole world is mired in words
Too much faith is staked on lies
Come September and it'll be last year
History repeats itself — History repeats!

The towers are coming down
During commercial-break distractions
Can anyone justify such actions?
Can we even make peace anymore?

Cause never ready for indignity
Our ignorance runs rampant
Buck naked in broad daylight
Deja-Vu served up with all the trimmings

An anchorman cracks under pressure
Exhausted by the laws
Of a mute and idle GOD
Martyrs broken by his truancy

So light your lantern in this darkness
Prepare a pyre for the funeral
May you be reborn
Bright as the skies' celestial eyes

Because History repeats itself —

History repeats...

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Morality's Mortality

Morality’s Mortality

The Good you ask?

A relativistic concession!

Evil wears every mask;

Sinners will hear your confession.

Much bloodshed throughout history

Has been considered for just cause.

There really is no mystery

Why we challenge those old laws.

The Good is apparent only

When present becomes past.

Future judges, lofty, lonely

While dead culprits are amassed.

As we now pass judgement on yesterday

So by tomorrow on us it shall pass...

Yet who can rightfully say

If any given purview will ever last?

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