The senators all mobilized (by “mobilized”, I mean
They were “praying for Orlando”, and they wanted to be seen)
Yes, the dead were “in my thoughts and prayers”—the right response, because
Doing anything about it would require changing laws.
(And they don’t do legislation—well, at least, they won’t today,
When the stuff that’s been suggested might upset the NRA—
And so generous a donor can’t be easily ignored
So a principled position is a stance they can’t afford)
So they’re praying, and they’re praying, and they’ll pray a little more
Which achieves precisely nothing, like it did the time before
“It’s a strike against America! A terrorist attack!”
You can search the stupid statements for the adjectives they lack:
They don’t mention “homophobic”, “anti-trans”, or “anti-gay”,
Cos that doesn’t paint the picture that they wish to paint today.
See, for months and years they’ve blustered, and they’ve pandered to their base,
Spouting biblical allusions which they’ll try now to erase
If the motive here was bigotry, as cannot be denied,
The senators’ own rhetoric is on the shooter’s side
So they’re praying, and they’re praying, and they’ll pray a little more
That the people won’t remember what they said a week before
My writing is far too lightweight to properly speak to the heart of yesterday’s horrendous events. So I have written about one small tangential part, one which still infuriates me, but with a less painful target: hypocritical senators.
You’ve seen them, I’m sure; every tragedy, no matter what sort, reinforces the views they had held all along, no matter whether the evidence fits. In this case, we can see the statements of condolences (#prayforOrlando) that contain loads of pious posturing, not a mention of guns, nor of their own anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. But people are noticing.
Thanks as always Cuttlefish for lasering right through the bullshit
Slightly off-thread,an experimental sepielle commenting on all the populist politicians and their followers:
A salesman of skill will inspire desire
and strengthen their customers’ hope, fear and need.
The populist likewise aspires, yet slyer,
and adds xenophobia, victimhood, greed.
They’ll say, while conducting The Choir of Ire
(the “poor huddled masses who yearn to be freed”):
“Our nation is headed from fryer to fire –
unless you, My People, put me in the lead”!
But seriously, who wants to hire a liar
who proudly boasts “us versus them” as a creed?
From wolves dressed in lambswool attire, what buyer
would purchase this snake oil and swallow the screed?
Are they unaware, I inquire, what prior
employment of othering led to, indeed?
I can’t say for sure they conspire to tire;
in my case, however, they really succeed!
Although Trump is in the news a lot, he is unfortunately just the US version of something ubiquitous; this side of the pond, there’s Farage, Le Pen, Åkesson, Soini and so on. All of them reduce multi-faceted complexes of societal change to simple us versus them problems and then push solutions based on discriminating some group of people. I can sort of laugh at them, but seeing how many followers they attract just makes me sad…