What's wrong with me is also very likely what's wrong with you, too.

Are you against genocide?

Is a bit of a fucking loaded question.

There's a tender scale that begins to tip

With every microsecond of hesitation I take.

Are you a good person

Or completely and utterly evil?

Pick your poison

Because some of us are gonna be the reason

The system starts to unravel;

And the ones who do not take action

Are the ones who will have to crumble.

I don't get much of a choice,

So I answer with a perfectly demanded

Yes.

As I am shoved a greasy flyer.

I can see it in their faces -

They knew it would force my hand.

With wrists bound together I listen obediently while they ramble.

I try not to argue as best I can.

But is the economy really the worst problem we have?

Who am I kidding, there's no stopping generations of trauma and warfare -

I am merely a statistic giving them the upper hand

In people's opinions; their uninformed, malleable, squishy opinions.

Who are they to question the way things are,

When in this system, they are allowed to have their own opinions?

Well, they'll retort, have you looked at the Capitalist structure?

Your arms are cogs

Your lungs two pumps

For pumping steam and gold

Into the hands of those greedy, evil dogs.

Don't you feel abused, like a slave?

Here we go -

Are you against slavery?

I sigh, knowing where we are headed.

Are you against the fact that you are a slave to the machine that exists to restrict and control you

Or are you a docile, obedient, ignorant, complacent citizen?

I have no choice again,

But then I remember.

I am uninformed

And vulnerable

It is easy to get angry -

So with all of my courage, I say

No comment right now

Before walking away.

~

Author's note

I'm going to try and keep this bit short, but it's also important. Also, please take this all with a grain of salt - these are my own experiences and opinions -, it's very late at night for me. Let's keep it kind.

I don't want to really explain this poem, because I prefer as a writer to let things fester in your brains however you interpret them. But I would like to emphasise that this was based on a very recent, real, lived experience (with some creative liberties taken/details omitted).

It can be very easy to get emotionally fired-up at something or someone. It is very easy from there, to then do things, say things, believe things, or make judgements, based solely on those intense emotions.

In a world of constant media consumption, political chaos, misinformation, AI, confirmation bias and the algorithm - it is very easy to get caught up in it all and become fired-up about things we do not fully understand. We are complicated, we are emotional, and we are all biased. Which makes us all the more vulnerable to these things that can try to divide us.

In the situation I experienced, the one that inspired this poem, it was so easy for me to get fired up and angry. But I chose to recognise the way "they" were talking about topics I knew little about, and therefore, how disadvantaged I was. I could not have a balanced, informed discussion with them, so I was stuck there listening, and instinctively agreeing.

I chose to stop, and be open, say that I cannot make an informed decision without doing my own research to really understand the issues we were talking about. And this was while serious words like genocide and dictatorship were being thrown around, but I did not know or understand enough of the deeper side of these words - you know, the situations we were actually referring to - to really make any kind of thoughtful, fair, judgement.

I stuck with my gut. In that moment, I knew that I would rather make an informed decision later on, than an uninformed, fired-up decision straight away (in spite of my human nature). Part of this was talking to other people with more experience but also different perspectives.

I find that having a conversation with others allows me to take a breath, say it out loud and understand my own emotional instincts, while also giving myself the time to feel more comfortable about the things I am discussing, and more capable of making a decision.

This is the premise of the poem, and my own experiences. I hope this makes sense.

Thank you for reading, as always.

Red 🫶