Holte's corner

The World Shrugged

The World Shrugged

When Upton Sinclair wrote with passion and anger;

about workers being pushed to death and dismembership;

and then discarded,

to beg in the streets, or live off their families

The world shrugged

But when he described what all that did to the meat we ate

The country cried for justice and reform

....but workers were still treated like rags

Nothing has changed...

Dis-Honor Killings still go on.

People still kill their own children

Slavery goes on, people are still enslaved by others

Bankers still con depositors and create fraudulent piles of paper.

...and they still walk away with the profits...

Only now they add bonuses from bailouts.

Our world engages in a collective yawn,

Until someone tries to fix the problems

Then suddenly they are teabagged.

Our world shrugs while we kill the wrong people

We don't see the coffins when our boys and girls come home

Mullahs laugh and cite divine providence.

Half what they say is true anyway.

What are we doing ten thousand miles away?

I don't see any democracy.

Meanwhile, the rest of us better watch what we say on the phone.

Yawn, and turn on the TV.

We still have homes for the moment...

We still can buy meat, it doesn't seem to stink.

and anyway the TV tells us what to think