Even bad poetry beats activism

Debbie, you are too right on this one.

Part of the problem is that we do not believe we can make a difference: we are "just one person" among many, and never give ourselves the chance to realize that perhaps "the many" are all moving to the other side of the see-saw and "one more" is all they need.

I've done the same thing -- posted something serious, that really mattered to me, but lacked the belief that I could do anything more than that.

Though I see your point my thoughts fall differently. I have been an activist for many years and know if I reach the ear and get responses from a handful of people I am doing well. We must consider we should not be preaching to the choir because they already know. Those who need to hear and do listen now have the info but most wil not act. They will nod in agreement and move on. Then there are those who seem to beat you over the head with their ideas and info about what they are passionate about. They are the ones who give activism a bad name. Its like being hungry but can only eat the same meal daily for a week. You get tired of it and get turned off. They do more harm to their cause than good and often if you are not on their badnwagon you become disdainful to them. Passions run at different levels for different people for different causes and if I don't pick up some of their causes I am labeled as unAmerican or worse. That atmosphere has been the prevailing one the past few years. The feverishness stokes a mixed bag of responses which nromally would not be as rabid had we not drifted to this strange atmosphere. I was called every negative name in the book when I loudly apposed the invasion. It made little sense to me then and even less now but as a protestor we were relegated to a bull pen away from the limelight abd of course the president. "That" is as unAmerican as one can get." When did we lose the right to protest what we believe to be wrong? I thought that was one reason I and my ancestors fought in wars. Yet, many people forget or is it they felt the guilt and couldn't face it?
Don't you dare allow your passion for your cause to die just don't beat me over the head with it. :) And there is nothing wrong with reading poetry good or bad.

As long as we are putting our drop into the collective conscious I think we are still doing the right thing. So I'll continue to try to put a drop here and there to add with all the others other people are doing.

Spencer, you said "we should not be preaching to the choir"

I disagree. This is a concept that silences all of us. A choir requires a choir director and a preacher to give them something to sing about; without them, the choir sits silent, and in the silence we lose the solidarity we need to bring about change.

I make a point of including sing-along songs in every program or performance, for that very reason: don't wait for me to sing for you, join me and we'll all sing together. That's how we get a bigger choir. Preach on!

It's simple, Debbie, bad poetry just happens (nobody sets out to purposely write a bad poem; I've noticed bad poetry occurs to the reader most often when they're reading poetry instead of getting on with their "serious work".) Give the poem another chance when the activism has worn you out and you're ready for the salve the poem applies to the soul. I loved your article, and particularly, I loved your imbedded rictameter, Bogie in Poetry. Good job all around.

I can't remember which of my articles got the most comments but I know it was a game parody with mildly smutty overtones.

If anyone thinks reading bad poetry beats activism, they have not read the poems of William McGonagall who is so bad he makes toothache seem preferable to reading bad poetry. Ridiculed in his own lifetime, McGonagall is now celebrated as an icon of post modern irony for his very badness. Learn more of his extraordinary talent in my artilce
A Tribute to McGonagall, the worst ever poet
and if that does not drve people to get active, I will just have to introduce Gatherers to the poetry of Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, the alien from Hitch-hikers Guide To The Galaxy whose poetry is so bad people would rather eject themselves from the spaceship into deep space than hear him read it.

I'm always surprised medieval turturers and the guys at Guantanamo Bay nevr caught on to the possibilities of bad poetry.

Great point, Debbie. The Internet makes it easier for people to be active in a wide variety of ways. I do most of my activism through the Care 2 site and the connections it gives me. I get into the site at http://rainforest.care2.com/ because it allows me to make a quick click to save an ecosystem or other worthy causes. But the general site is at http://www.care2.com/.

"I disagree. This is a concept that silences all of us. A choir requires a choir director and a preacher to give them something to sing about; without them, the choir sits silent, and in the silence we lose the solidarity we need to bring about change."

So sweet and ideallic a response. I guess by your concept no one is allowed to get tired of the same beating drums with no change of title. The point I am trying to get over is that we have a right to respond to which wrongs we wish to deal. While you are drumming on one topic I am fighting another battle which takes my energy and efforts. Battle must be selected and delt with. If not we only have loud chaos. While a huge part of my efforts have been placed in securing more balanced justice treatment for all and domestic abuse efforts I don't have much left to deal with animal rights
or maybe the ecology. Thats for others to deal with. If you flood me with your efforts you accomplish nothing more than antagonism. The choir might need a director but in the midst of uncontrolled noise the songs will not be heard by anyone thus everyone loses. It reminds me years ago when the lottery and riverboat gambling came up as an issue. The voters defeated it more than once but those who saw it as a real benefit for the whole community called us against it or uncommited fools and uncaring because the money was earmarked for the schools. It finally came to fruition thru executive order. Now years later those of us who fought against it hear nothing but silence from those who pushed it so hard. They refuse to answer the questioins as to why they are not helping us to decipher why there has been no increase in school funds. The legislature simply removed whatever the amount came from gambling from the fiscal budget and placed it elsewhere. Yes, the money went to the schools but hasn't helped them gain a damn thing. Like I said do not sing to the choir. Once you know who is aware move on to those who might be accepting and can be helpful to the cause. Don't beat me over the head for not joining you when I am busy dealing with other issues.

Smutty game? Where? Comment there so I can follow you John.

Hmmm... I guess I can bask in the righteous glow of the fact that I commented on the activism article but not on the poetry. But seriously, there's room for both. And as lynn pointed out, the act of putting the drop into the collective consciousness is more important than the surface response it gets. Who know what difference it made to those who read but chose not to comment?

Bad poems can only please the masses
Until alphabet games come and kick their backsides.

I agree with Spencer (no surprise there): I have been an activist for many years and know if I reach the ear and get responses from a handful of people I am doing well.

Even if few respond, we never know how many have seen or heard. Sometimes, no response is necessary, except for running off to take action.

That is an amazing truth put succintly. Activism is hard to do but easy to talk about

I often think it is a good thing that I am an old maid. No husband, no kids, no obligation to teach what is best, rather than what is true.
As the favorite aunt, I've always told my nieces and nephews the truth about human nature, with a careful warning that humans should strive to be better than merely human.
But it must be so exhausting for parents and preachers and principals to constantly expect perfection from their charges when, in fact, we always will be merely human.
And humans will always play video games before being forced to do homework.

Debbie - You surely evoked some deepand interesting comments! Only my tongue is active for causes and not even that because what I think goes right into an article. The part of your article that spoke to me is about that bad poetry. Every once in a while I wake up in the wee hours before dawn with a topic I feel compelled to put into a poem, and they are always bad. This morning I had a phrase in my mind - "Oh yes you do, MY Dear", and I just had to build a poem story around it. I was trying to write about a kidnapped college student, but the one verse I finished was more like something from an Amber Alert. I stashed it on a virtual shelf to look at another day.

Debbie, I think even 'bad' poetry can be activism ... it depends upon how it goes about it. There is a place for everything in balanced living. At least, that's what I think.

Sometimes there's just no one around. That's all.