Died for Nothing

I had a rather wide-open Facebook feed for the past two years and got postings from the full spectrum from looney left to the radical right and kept abreast of the comings and goings of all political persuasions. Lately, I got tired of all the fake crap flying around and it seemed very few of the people actually checked out any stories before "agreeing whole-heartedly" and reposting. It has been a long and tiring mess and I recently cut off 90% of my feed.



During the campaign, over a year ago now, I noticed that the people following Bernie Sanders reminded me a lot of the young folks that followed Bobbie Kennedy... with one rather glaring exception: in 1968, they were protesting the war. In Bernie's army, I did not see any movement toward protesting the war that has been going on for much longer than Viet Nam. I don't think anyone has really mounted much of a protest yet - especially not in the music industry where, in the '60's we had so much anti-war activism going on.


Tonight, I was listening to several older songs from that era and one I played was "Ohio" by CSNY. My wife mentioned that it seemed so very long ago and reminded me that last year we passed through Ohio and she was surprised to see the small town where Kent State was located. Anyway, when the song ended, I wrote the following. Enjoy, if possible.


Died for Nothing -
Modern Kent State Blues
(While Listening to 1960's Protest Songs)


The JFK files are being released and they're painting the roses red;
the mental midget media piles up neatly the manure on which we're fed
to the detriment of our nation, the continued floundering of its soul;
the Camelot of yesterday, its crusade pushed toward such a noble goal
but ended in the sacrifice on the bloody streets of a place called Dallas
and the corpse wrapped in false testimonies, innuendos far too callous -
conspiracy reigns in the nation's heart, it's soul died many moons ago,
and today they're blaming Trump but that fake news is worse than blow.
Pages turned from the half-century past but the passage reads the same:
lapping up the news as if that shit's been wrapped in a fancier name;
in the shadows of Camelot, the left moved and sang against damned war
but their inheritors today stare at phones, moan for safe place and more
concerned with bathroom politics and correctness, ignoring all the death
while lapping up the fake news drivel, they're hanging on every breath;
in past, the journalists spoke from a place that held the sheen of honor
but today their bilge is good for nothing more than pulp or cannon fodder.
In the sixties I thought we cared, thought we'd be the generation of peace,
but seems the lessons were wasted on us, as we've caught the slacker's disease;
resting on others' laurels, placated with dreams passed over for comforts' sake
we've dithered the time and the inertia's lost in our drive to keep us all safe.
Now they blame it all on Donald, these losers on the left who still refuse
to honor those dead by picking up the reigns of responsibility hanging loose;
but who's the time for such endeavor? When there's so much going's on?
The Facebook needs updating and the BLM has a new rap song to sing along...
one focuses on those things important in each life, what matters we suppose,
but knee-jerk reactions to revelations by spamming news sources are those
things that garner interest, allow anti-"anyone" bilge to be freely spewed
without the need of fact checking other than that which snopes has reviewed.
Walking encyclopedias-not are the woes we've become, clinging to petty creed
instead of being the solutions to the problems embraced that just impede
any journey back to Camelot, any longing for some glory glimpsed as missed,
instead we moan and take a knee, or against some claimed nazi use our fist.
This ChristianNation-not is lost - as it has been since it lost the thread
of what the Founding Fathers wished for futures when they'd be long dead;
our freedoms are gently sacrificed, as our responsibilities are one by one
added to the list of all those unsightly things that modern people shun -
self-driving cars, man-made food, AI to do all those things we'd avoid
if we could get someone to remove from us this feeling of being annoyed;
and with universal basic income for all, we'd all grow fat and sassy,
not have to think about news or laws - like looking under the chassis,
purchasing sight unseen because someone tells us its the bestest thing...
we'd easily believe because, you know, thinking's so damned excruciating.

Nice.

Thanks, Vinny.