I was pretty burned up about a lot of things when I wrote that, and it just came out that way…I’m not great at poetry, had I wanted this to be even faintly poetic and TRIED to write it as a poem I’d have never been able to do it.
Maybe I’ll see if I can do the flip side. :-)
Non-fiction / WhatEVER
...
Thinking…
...
Should I??
...
yeah…
I think so…
In 4 years or so, history has seen many things…
bombings…
wars…
9-11…
Challenger…
tsunami…
July 7th…
new Pope…
hurricanes…
Mars Rover…
deaths of many of the artists I loved to see and hear…
Johnny Cash…
John Ritter…
Luther Vandross…
We’ve seen Michael Jackson change from a talented superstar, to…
well…whatever he is…still talented…but…
...
strange
...
I’ve watched as history happened right in front of us all,
and have watched as people responded globally…
locally…
and not at all.
I’ve watched as the world mourned with us after 9-11…
and as a few twisted ones used that day, and others, as an excuse to be ‘cute’ or ‘funny’ or to gain…
whatever they gain…
attention…
PrOpZ…
more readers who TyPe lIk dIs and bitch about their lives and how bad it is to live in upper middle class America from their own personal broadband connections that are paid for by their parents…
whatever…
And I’ve seen adults who are more childish than any child…
high school is over when you’re 40+ and married…
at least for most people.
I’ve seen graphic things posted here…
in words…
in images…
personal body parts in close up that were difficult to recognize at first.
Posted…
in technicolor Photoshopped nude images with poetry…
in pictures so pornographic that they made me ill…
not just naked bodies normal type porn…
but child abusive…gender abusive…humanity abusive…racial…cultural…sexual…
slurs and abuses on every subject one can imagine…
twisted logic, twisted idealogy, twisted thoughts.
...
I’ve seen images and words and ideas taken from sites right online and from books…
taken from the ‘net at large…
from sources that had copyrights already in place to ‘protect’ those things.
Blatently taken…
proudly presented…
and some who think they can post those things and then claim them as thiers,
by adding words…changing a color…taking away parts…adding to it…
and copyright THAT too…and DARE others to ‘steal’ what was stolen to start with.
Stealing bandwidth, and copyrighted images…and posts…and banners…and graphics…
yet, a few seem to feel above that ‘law’ that most of us know…
the one that says, that’s not mine…
it’s not for me to use without asking…
it’s not mine to copyright.
I’ve seen many who think that rules don’t apply to them at all…
above the reach of anything that could stop them…
so far above us all that it would seem they alone have a pipeline to God…
and I have wondered how they got there.
And then it occurs to me…
WE put them there.
By allowing it to happen…
by encouraging them…
by supporting the things they do.
...
I’ve seen people die…
from accidents…
leaving as a last post haunting words that could be seen in hindsight as a premonition…
from chronic conditions…
things they learned of only months in advance…
of conditions that had been ‘cured’...
and reoccurred…
of conditions and illnesses they suffered from for most of their days…
I’ve watched as they died with grace…
dignity…
and wished I could do something other than watch.
Watch…and read…and worry…and pray.
Watch…
and as others pretended to die.
Staged their online deaths…
and posted suicide notes…threats…insinuations…
and were discovered to be well…
or at least alive…not well at all…
Cries for help that can’t be given in a comment…
again…
and again…
and again…
and again…and again…and again…
ignoring the words left for them…
get help…please.
...
I’ve read words about love…
about hate…
about intensely personal things.
Words meant to help…
hurt…
inflame…
support…
and for no reason at all…
empty words…
empty promises…
wasted time.
Words that were not written by the ones that got the credit for them…
but by posers…
pretenders…
and thieves.
Sex, drugs, rock and roll…
words about the world…
politics…
religion…
about totally trivial things…
and I’ve smiled, laughed, cried, been hurt, angry, amused…
every emotion that can be felt.
I’ve seen myself in more words than you’d imagine…
in words I’ve read…
and in words I’ve shared…
and in words we could not share, but knew were there.
I’ve watched top notch writing sites go from a place we all aspired to be…
to a place that the REAL quality…
the REAL writers…
run from in droves…
From the pRoPz and the rude remarks about how we’re too OLD, fat, ugly, stupid, uninformed, and ignorant to be online…
the hip, happening, teen site.
From the cliques who form simply to keep the garbage in place…
to those who pretend to care about what is written, and yet promote more of what is ON featured content.
I’ve watched marriages happen…
and not happen…
online and offline affairs be cheered and supported…
romance and heartbreak…
babies be born…
and friends/marriages/families split because of interferences from others.
I’ve watched as lives have gone on…
as lives have stopped…
as new lives were created…
fantasies acted out…
and hopeful dreams were shared…
and were torn to shreds before they could ever happen beyond the promises.
While brilliant voices were stilled…
by words…
by actions…
threats…
harassment…
terrorism…
indifference…
obsession…
burned out…
burned up…
just burned…
period.
As sites shut down forever…
just to reopen…
new sites showed up…
reappeared…
disappeared…
were taken over by others in secret…
and in public view…
writers come, and writers go…
simply vanished into the atmosphere.
Stalkers…
terrorists…
cloak and dagger…
hiding…
blocked…
unwanted.
Obsessed…
or jealous…
or vicariously living though another’s words…
through thier pictures…
through the tiny glimpses into the lives that they’ll never have…
that they covet…
no time to reply…
no time to write…
no time to live offline…
because they’re too busy chasing others though the wires and wonders of cyberspace…
or e-mailing…
or using chats to have connection to people that will never be more than words on a screen…
or heavy breathing on the phone…
or pictures shared…
and lies and promises made that are not intended to be taken as real.
For this is the internet…
the great unreal…
the electronic age…
the web…
the place where nothing matters.
Not rules…
rules are made to be broken, right?
Not laws…
laws are only for criminals…right?
Not feelings…
feelings?
Who cares about anyone else’s feelings?
Who cares if somebody is hurt…
angry…
afraid…
begging to be understood?
Does it matter to you?
The only feelings that matter are the ones we care to acknowledge…
and what are feelings anyway?
Electrons…
neurons…
just electrical pulses…
sent here and there…
Just like the information superhighway…
not human…
not real…
not flesh and blood…
who cares how anyone else feels?
What’s real to you?
What does it take to BE real?
Feelings?
Words?
Voices?
Sharing ideas?
Sharing thoughts?
Sharing chats or mails?
What matters enough to make somebody a real person?
Nothing…except what YOU allow to matter…
what I allow to matter…
what we choose to make important.
Whatever…
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dark_angel_826 reviewed Version 1 -
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NeverComeDown reviewed Version 1 -
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the_engaged_few reviewed Version 1 -
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An excellent critique of the modern world, and its cybernetic disconnection. You draw no conclusions, but the title says it all, really. This almost reads like a prose poem. My only suggestion would be to put the related ideas together, instead of bouncing back and forth, like you do in a couple places. Other than that, I really liked this.
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Temptress reviewed Version 1 -
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I thought this was very well thought out and very well worded. It hit home on so many levels. Spectacular!
April 23, 2006
Deleted User
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I can help you with the broadband stealing. You need a firewall. Of course, until it slows you down, who cares?
Your observations are clever and true, a sad commentary. And fantastically written. You not only cover them, but you had a poetic meter to their disclosure. I have seen them all. How did you remember them? I would get one tenth of the way into a list like this and decide I had earned a bowl of ice cream. Is that what I allow to matter?
You are verbal, intelligent, understanding and introspective. I could hope to hear the other side, the good things in the last year. And I would like to see how you do on that list.
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