Protesters

he listened to Volunteers by that one
group that named themselves after
the third President of the United States
and the thing that Airbus manufactures,

and he had to wonder,

what did the protestors really prove?

what did they even accomplish?

Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City,
and then Grenada happened,
and so did Panama,
and so did Kuwait and Iraq,
and so did Somalia,
and so did Kosovo,
and so did Afghanistan,
and so did Iraq again,

and the military has had less
casualities, injured and dead,
in all the abovementioned actions
post-Vietnam,

all because we can kill better
than anybody else,

the touchy-feely syndrome
that afflicted the minds of
the Flower Power decade
only proved itself a bigger
laughingstock than the
simian administration,

we are the cops of the world
as Phil Ochs once said,

and nobody remembers
Phil Ochs anymore anyway,

and more people volunteer
to be a part of that police service
than they volunteer to be members
of a fringe political group,

because the benefits alone outweigh
the substantial choice to be unpopular,

so what did the protest movement
of the Flower Power decade really
prove to those that control the
reigns of power,

absolutely nothing it seems,

but the music rules after all

Author's Note

Of note, this will likely annoy anybody who came of age in the 1960's. Of course, I am skeptical of any protest movement since The Who and Orwell proved beyond a shadow of a doubt "that meet the new boss, same as the old boss" is the truest political maxim ever recorded. What did the Tea Party or Occupy truly prove to anybody who aren't that ideologically motivated either way? All it proved was that sitting in a park or standing on Capitol steps does very little to turn the wheels of power around. With the Iran and North Korea conflicts heating up again, I see us entertaining more "police actions" because we are the cops of the world. Phil Ochs was absolutely correct I think.

Still love this song though...

Reviews

[Chris]

Annoy - nah... and I agree the music still rocks.

[Neva Flores Smith - Cha..]

Definitely educational and extremely thought provoking..........brilliantly written.

[roarke]

the point is, it's "easier"...... think about the ridiculousness of that statement.... it's easier and quicker to "let someone else do things for you." Sad, very sad. The don't teach self-sufficiency in school, never have, that was the responsibility of the family.... what happened to the families? Words are easy too, "I was gonna..." "I wish I had the time..." "THEY made me do it..."
DOING is the hardest thing in the world. Being INDIVIDUAL is the hardest thing to do on a planet with billions of non-self-sufficient consumers, programed that way from birth.
Lost since hunter gatherer/tribal days the freedom and responsibility of choice and action.

You've written some thought provoking words.... against the prevailing loss of thought tide. The masses are blind to the light as never before. Don't learn what they teach you, learn what you need. The powers that be can stop masses, whole civilizations, but they are as scared to death of the individual as an elephant is of a mouse....
revolution, a mass of individuals doing things for themselves.
Good write.

[Mockingbird]

historical and passionate. informative. reminds me of the book 'a prayer for owen meany' by john irving. thanks for the learning experience.

[Divinity Sleeps in This]

I guess I didn't realize what a history buff you are, but it's always like an education to read your work, it's so original and reverberates with humor and important absurdities.

Society is a make believe of fictive value and illusionary commodities.

[Ed Hart]

you are a protest movement