Undifferentiated Empathy

Malignant like cancer

All empathy unqualified

Breeds cowards so helpless

Mere ideas leave them shell shocked

So defenseless their intellect

From mere words they feel raped by

So entitled their feelings           

Free speech must erode

And free thought turn to sickness. . .

In the hands of these children

Our only future's left regressive

Author's Note

Reviews

[Nipplegrinder]

There's some truth here.
Much of it ugly.

[Davidgeo]

Things will self correct I think. You'll be dead when this happens.

[Anjali]

wow... deep. i liked this.. very nice.

[Chris Shaw]

When I read your poem, the first thing that sprung to mind were the words of a song. Every generation blames the one before. My three teenage grandchildren live with me, so we are two generations apart. Their views are so different from the ones I had at their age, but I listen to them and I keep listening, and we keep talking because I don't want brick walls built between us. Now what I see happening in universities and the erosion of free speech, a lot of that has to do with the Universities themselves pandering to the whims of some. I have great hopes for the youth of today with their wizz kid technology and their energy. I love the openness and they aren't afraid to be themselves. My generation was brought up to keep things hidden, how unhealthy was that? Your poem will be a matter of much debate I am sure.

[Davidgeo]

I am directly talking about compelled speech in regards to gender pronouns. It has nothing to do with openness or individuality but rather the imposition of forced speech in regard to gender pronouns. The generation itself beyond that will be just fine I think.

[Chris Shaw]

I didn't pick up on the compelled speech issue so much. Poetry is subjective. Each reader's interpretation will have a different slant. I must admit the pronoun issue, I can't get my head round, pleased though apart from that you think the generation will do ok. They have to.

[Davidgeo]

"free speech must erode"

I think that's pretty clear.

[Indra's Child]

I like this, I can respect that you don't feel the invisible social pressures usually thrust onto all of us. The rest of this doesn't really mean jack s**t, just trying to strike up a conversation, not a heated debate, I don't expect anything.
On another level, no respect for me merits little respect for you. Right? Or is it all one sided? Half the world is calling the other half snowlakes for just living like they want to and wanting to enjoy basic human rights.
Meanwhile, the reason for this is out of different unjustified and prejudiced fears based on nothing but ignorance. It's a perfect storm for any fuckface politician to swoop in for either side, promoting democracy or other highly sought after ideals, and selling corporate privatization, two sides to a drug 'war', etc. You may not be on the same side as me, but I would love to hear what your exact opinion on this stuff is, it seems that everyone has a completely different idea of the same principles lately...
I know for instance I'm transgendered, and one might not agree with that or whatever, but it doesn't mean they should show me any less respect as a human being. I don't care, though, if someone slips up and calls me another pronoun. Well, I do, but I forgive them, because it's not that big of a deal. I agree with you, I think, in that the more controlled anything becomes, the less freedom there is. The less liberties we have, the less we can learn until something s****y comes along to shake up our snowglobe. But it seems that, because I have a gender identity other than what it says on my birth certificate, that I'm automatically placed in the 'democrat/liberal/sjw/snowflake/'insert f*****g insult here'' category without even having to say one damn word. I'm 18. When I tell people the stuff I've been through, they're usually the shell shocked ones, not me. Empathy? Try false Sympathy and hidden lethargic apathy with a twist of idealized and propaganda-fueled narcissism.
That was all I ever got growing up, not to say I'm not in touch with my emotions. Living through what I have, you have to know what's going on in your head. It's survivalistic.

[Davidgeo]

I don't care if you respect me, that's irrelevant to the point I'm trying to make. This poem is about compelled speech in regards to gender pronouns, in particular a Canadian bill called C-16. I don't care what people chose to do with their gender identity or political beliefs... what I do care about is when those people are forcing others to say or not say certain things in regards to those things. I will never be forced to use words that I do not want to use, codifying a law that forces that on others is a slippery slope.

And before you get up on that cross of yours you might want to consider that other people besides yourself have been through hard times. We aren't playing some kind of "oppression Olympics", let your ideas stand on there own logical merit not your subjective interpretation of your personal struggles. You don't me, you don't know what I've been through and you never will because my thoughts on the matter are either logical or not logical... my personal tribulations exist independent from that. I could be wrong, I mean, your 18 and transgendered so... that means, something?

[Davidgeo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXvU8DEbyAw

[Indra's Child]

lol never meant it to be an olympic event. You don't have to listen to me at all, or compete with me, I never meant to give you that impression. You're right, I have no idea what you've gone through or who you are. That does go both ways, though.
I'm not really much oppressed in comparison to nearly anyone, the point was that many people are in one way or another, was just using myself as an example. I agree with you on the fascist laws 100%. However I never said anything about respecting you directly, but I understand where I could've been misinterpreted (I usually get way sidetracked when talking about this stuff, the edibles didn't help much either,) I only meant to comment on the phenomena where people seem to think that people are 'soft' or inadequate in some way for being open about ideas that have been repressed forever, like Hirschfeld's theory of sexuality and gender constellation. The majority of his work was actually torched by the Nazis, and to this day he isn't as well-known as he should be. Not that you said anything about that, but I just found it interesting and to be part of the debate people are always on about in general. Just trying to get a clearer view on all that is going on in North Am. right now. Being an expat kid is strange if you go back, you get a bit of culture shock, you know?
I went back when I was 14 once. F**k, Walmart is strange after you've lived in rural Guatemala for a bit.
Anyway, didn't mean to come off as... well, anything, but I know I might sound a little defensive for no reason, sorry. I've had to defend myself a lot recently in the strange climate.
Okay, if you weren't too offended by my- defensive...
I can't say that I love it when people misuse gender pronouns on me, but fine. What bugs me is when they argue with me about myself.. it's just frankly all bullshit, everything in life is. I just think I would like it if people learned to be like, "Hey man, that's cool, I've got my own weird s**t going on too.". But, should this stuff be enforced? F**k no... Maybe instead of writing new laws, there could be actual effort put into it, you know? Not criminalizing people for stupid s**t is probably the first step in a good direction, anyway. Would you say it's similar to gun control in the States? Like, alright, maybe not the free speech part, but people act as though things will automatically get better if they outlaw guns. But there are so many ways around the law that it doesn't really matter- if someone wants to shoot a f****r, not a lot can be done to wane the determination. Throwing them in jail for shooting someone is like giving antibiotics to someone after they've died of dysentery. It's not actual effort being put into this... it's like plugging a leak in a gas tank with a bundle of matches, waiting for the sun to come out to see what happens. It doesn't heal or fix anything, just hides and amplifies it, whatever it is.
On the gender pronoun thing, it deeply wounds me when someone purposley tells me what they think I am. No, it's not your problem, and maybe nobody should (in an ideal world) have to deal with this, but whatever, it's life, and changing laws to control people's thoughts won't actually do anything but hurt the cause in the first place. I mean, why do people go around calling themselves Jr. Sr. Mr. Mrs. and Ms? Societally speaking, we can slice and dice ourselves up any way we want, it still won't change the fact that you are very different than me as an individual, and your preferred label (religion, title, gender, politics, etc.) is what you believe suits you best anyway. In my own opinion, difference needs to be respected, lest we all end up as hopeless gray masses of culturally indifferent people with nothing to learn from each other to help us grow or evolve. (Oh the bit when I said I'm 18 was supposed to give you an idea of maybe how to understand where I'm coming from, in the possible event you wished to. The part where I said I was trans was an example, something to the same effect. I don't want a war- just a conversation, and I'm willing to be trans-parent about it boop booooop).

[Davidgeo]

I'm not offended... but I do find you rather sophomoric. As far as the pro noun thing... don't expect the world to cater to what does or does not offend you. Respect is something that is earned, not blindly given or legislated. Your attitude is one of entitlement and I don't think you are aware of it.

[송지ፏ..]

Here in my country, many of us youth are callled the 3-Generation-Give-Up since many of us have given up on education and I can’t remember the other two.

[Davidgeo]

Aren't you the little twerp who blocked and reported me for not being artificially nice to you in a review? This poem is about kids like you... so I find your review of it ironic (and not in a good way). Thanks for the review but I have no respect for your disposition. So, let me politely tell you to f**k off now.

[Indra's Child]

Where I'm from they call mine Generation Z. Because we're all f*****g asleep.

[Davidgeo]

I think that's just you. The post-millennial generation might be soft with misguided politics but they are quite active especially in regards to technology; and will probably be responsible for reforming and modernizing the public education system. I don't really care for mindless comments, but I'm sure it was funny to someone.

[Indra's Child]

Well, I was talking to the person who originally made the comment, and if you saw it as plausibly humorous to another dela gente, that is your subjective opinion...
I meant it to comment on a marginal opinion that lots of us are brainwashed with media, for example anti-weed PSA's about talking dogs and melting kids.

[Davidgeo]

You are using a discredited, propagandized and absurdist minority viewpoint to justify your vacuous comment... ugh... you are a stereotypical example of all I find wrong with your generation. I'm thankful kids like you are just the vocal minority... most of the time I have reasoned and productive conversations with post millennials and find the stereotypes to be over hyped. Not with you though... you are one of the vocal minorities who give an entire generation a bad name. When you grow up I hope you become more rational.

[송지석 / Ji-Suk]

@John
You're an extremely rude individual. Didn't your parents teach you respect to tohers?

[Davidgeo]

Respect is earned, not granted.

Always remember that.

[Davidgeo]

Did YOUR parents not teach you that?

[송지석 / Ji-Suk]

They taught me to respect others and br mindful of others. Do not post on my posts. Be a decentralized being.

[Davidgeo]

I find your intellect to be lacking. And I will post where I please. If you have a problem with that you can block me.

[Indra's Child]

Man.... I don't know where you're getting your ideas.... like I said I only know in person one other kid IN my generation. Just because you have a different viewpoint than me doesn't mean anything. I don't know where you think I get mine- but it's not from watching T.V. or youtube ads all damn day...

[Indra's Child]

My comment was only 'vacuous' in your opinion. Maybe someday you'll learn to differentiate between your opinion, other's opinions, and the facts...

[Davidgeo]

No s**t it's only my opinion. Notice how I said "I find you to be..."... that's another way of saying "in my opinion". This is all opinion... all of it...including your opinion of my opinion. And of course there's this gem "...just because you have a different opinion than me doesn't mean anything"... genius... that goes both ways, even by your own "logic"... so what you say doesn't mean anything either? Hypocrite much? I think you might be too stupid to realize how reductively idiotic your most recent comment was. Feel free to stop responding to me, you're actually proving yourself to be a lot dumber than I originally thought; which is kind of surprising to me since I already thought you were pretty stupid to begin with.

[Indra's Child]

Man, using my supposed poor attention to detail as an in to slam me on the internet shows just how damn entitled you must feel behind your computer screen. You said it yourself, I must be stupid- so what the f**k is your excuse? I think I have a pretty clear picture, thank god not everyone is like you. You're a narcissist, it's pathological. I'm sorry I made the mistake of thinking you a normal human being, because for you, the less human you appear to people, the 'better' you are. I'm glad that you've chosen me as your supply. Thanks for the advice, I will be blocking you shortly, and anyone who sticks around you is a f*****g kissass d***o. Haha the funny thing is you care more about how 'stupid' I am than the genuine points you COULD be making, and that alone could point to a very low intelligence level itself, but I believe it actually shows off your inability to view other's intellects as equal in any way, making your entire basis for any debate unstable and predictable. You've probably chosen this website as a personal playground, one where you can act intellectual, only to pick on people like a spoiled little kid. Oh, I know you're going to think it's personal, whatever 'it' may be, but at least you can pretend you 'won' an argument you started, when in fact you can't even do that right, because you refuse to acknowledge anyone as human individuals.

[Davidgeo]

I'm "slamming" you? Ha... okay. Since, unlike you clearly are, I'm not a normal person you better hurry up and block me then... I wouldn't want to "slam" you any further and hurt your feelings. Ugh, talking to you is like talking to a brick wall. Bye bye kiddo...

[Cherrie Palmer]

Awe the anatomy of a Snowflake.

[Davidgeo]

George Carlin called it 1972 and then again in 1990. I wish he was still around to lampoon the whole transgendered pronoun insanity currently taking place. Compelled speech is actually becoming a real thing in terms of gender pronouns in Canada. It's really weird... you can say all the racist epitaphs you want but if you call a "whatever" a man or women you can actually be charged with a crime. It's called bill C-16 and the reason I lost all respect for Canadian law makers.

[Davidgeo]

(I meant epithet... damn you to hell spell check)

[Cherrie Palmer]

I hate spell check but I think spell check hates us more.
I am perplexed that entire nations can hold diplomas in one hand and be so idiotic.

[Davidgeo]

I'm guessing it's group think based on a very vocal minority and a certain amount of unjustified class/race/gender/etc. guilt. That crap sounds progressive so most just go along with it for the sake of being on the right side of history. But anyone who really thinks about it comes to the same conclusions... compelled speech is the beginning of controlled speech which is pretty much the death knell for any free and open society. There is a professor from the University of Toronto named Jordan Peterson that you should check out. He is one of the few uncompromising voices against that BS.