{"id":1507,"date":"2014-05-01T14:24:38","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T19:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2014-05-01T14:26:33","modified_gmt":"2014-05-01T19:26:33","slug":"poem-ghastly-alchemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/01\/poem-ghastly-alchemy\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: A Ghastly Alchemy"},"content":{"rendered":"

For just<\/strong>
\nSome<\/strong>
\nDam<\/strong>
\nWeepin’s permit<\/strong>
\nI protect and serve<\/strong>
\nUp my enemies<\/strong>
\nLike<\/strong>
\nCold<\/strong>
\nTurkey<\/strong>
\nShoot<\/strong>
\nOnly to rifle<\/strong>
\nBut growing ode<\/strong>
\nIn a ghastly alchemy<\/strong>
\nSilver bullets turning to lead<\/strong>
\nDown the wrong path<\/strong>
\nInstantly poisoned<\/strong>
\nHearts and minds<\/strong>
\nIn the cruelest democracy<\/strong>
\nCommunity going<\/strong>
\nFor broke<\/strong>
\nThe simplest solution<\/strong>
\nDrunk<\/strong>
\nWith wons<\/strong>
\nBritches down<\/strong>
\nIn a flash<\/strong>
\nA bad moon rising<\/strong>
\nEclipsing gumption<\/strong>
\nIn the forced<\/strong>
\nAnd bye-ways<\/strong>
\nCamouflaging knights<\/strong>
\nAnd daze<\/strong>
\nSeeing evil<\/strong>
\nThrough darkness<\/strong>
\nAnd narrow sites<\/strong>
\nSeeing in for red <\/strong>
\nAimed for more heat than light<\/strong>
\nAs mirror man<\/strong>
\nShutters a mist<\/strong>
\nThe in side out<\/strong>
\nAs awe the rage<\/strong>
\nFor their own<\/strong>
\nGood<\/strong>
\nI mean<\/strong>
\nBad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is yet another poem against gun violence.\u00a0 When it comes to ballads not bullets, I have plenty of ammunition.\u00a0 Besides just being cruel, violence is inherently anti-democratic.\u00a0 There are inescapable conundrums in eliminating, or threatening to eliminate, other people as a form of building community.\u00a0 Of coarse, many people are willing to sacrifice another than do the hard work of making high ideals manifest.\u00a0 Even the concept of “self” defense razes issues of human rights, inclusiveness, and the sacredness of life.\u00a0 There is little doubt that practicing nonviolence takes great discipline and sacrifice.\u00a0 This is in sharp contrast to the so-called “last-resort” of violence that so lazily creeps up to number one.<\/p>\n

At what price do we give up our freedom to practice nonviolence?\u00a0 The Faustian bargain of violence offers an escape from the rigors of morality and authentic community by claiming, “They made me do it,” a convenient denial of one’s freedom — and another’s!\u00a0 Of course, the enforcement of might makes right<\/em> extracts the bulk of the price from others, the opposite of self-discipline and sacrifice.\u00a0 Creating community is costly, just as destroying community is costly.\u00a0 The real question is: Who pays the cost and who reaps the benefits (in the case of destruction, of what remains)?\u00a0 As in the dysfunction of capitalism, where greed and selfishness are raised up as virtues necessary to “progress”, violence is about getting the most benefit for oneself (and one’s kin) at the lowest cost to oneself.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, when the lowest common denominator is oneself, and greed is a virtue, community, which prospers on the common good, suffers. The fundamental problem is that the destruction of violence extracts a cost from the whole (community) that can only be rationalized in piecemeal, selfish fashion.\u00a0 Violence is an attempt to shift a cost to others.\u00a0 This works in part when you force others to experience loss due to your violence, and the cost of this is disproportionately shared by your victims.\u00a0 However, there is no substitute for your own moral agency.\u00a0 Your responsibility cannot be “cost shifted” to others (only the effects of your irresponsibility can).\u00a0 This is the irrevocable loss of moral failings. Morality is simply exercising your freedom in a responsible way.\u00a0 Saying you don’t have a choice, e.g, “They made me do it,” is a cop out.\u00a0 Morality isn’t easy; if it was, everybody would be doing it!\u00a0 In short, wielding lethal weapons is perhaps the worst way to demonstrate personal responsibility.\u00a0 Guns are the lowest form of community.\u00a0 Even if guns are the last resort, this is not a resort in which I want to live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For just Some Dam Weepin’s permit I protect and serve Up my enemies Like Cold Turkey Shoot Only to rifle But growing ode In a ghastly alchemy Silver bullets turning to lead Down the wrong path Instantly poisoned Hearts and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,57,9,15],"tags":[294,87,607,331,335,246,272,363,104,392,428,115,117,450,122,618,359,611,155,81,34,448,658,94,585,489,409,128,333,517,163,429,380],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anti-war","category-peace","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-awe","tag-capitalism","tag-common-good","tag-community","tag-conundrum","tag-defense","tag-democracy","tag-denial","tag-enemies","tag-evil","tag-experience","tag-freedom","tag-greed","tag-guns","tag-human-rights","tag-ideals","tag-life","tag-loss","tag-moral","tag-morality","tag-nonviolence","tag-ode","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-progress","tag-rage","tag-responsibility","tag-sacred","tag-sacrifice","tag-selfish","tag-violence","tag-virtue","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: A Ghastly Alchemy | Anti-War, Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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