I’ve written before about my distaste for a life lived online or even in front of a TV screen. Of course, I do both, but only when my friends and family are not around. I much prefer genuine conversation. Except sometimes, it has to be said, the more interesting and honest conversation does take place online, when we dare not voice our real thoughts or interests to those around us. The emphasis, however, is on the term conversation, rather than shouting over each other, jeering, trolling. I lived long enough in my childhood in a place where I was told what to think and saw the darker side of herd mentality. I now want to listen to all points of view and engage in informed, considerate debate, like proper grown-ups, instead of a media circus.
Bojangles hums but brazen sky
Listens to others and shuts him down
Next, please, next!
Rainbow juggling, brilliant flash,
Tongue-twisted fire-eaters swallow their words
A pack of blood trolls swoop and snarl
Dribble slogans like so much stray mud
Follow the leader
Lost in the crush
Chirping and tumbling
Booked for daring to face life
Raw, unrevised, with no updates
How you snap those fingers,
Bojangles the merry,
And the lighter side of like
Turns to toasty concern,
So easy to warm on demand.
I love this. So much happening in this piece! Well done.
Oh, you capture that media frenzy so well here, Marina Sofia! And it’s sobering to think of that ‘herd mentality’ that you do sometimes see online, and the consequences that it has. Beautifully done!
Great commentary on conversation/media circus and need for “considerate debate, like proper grown-ups”…excellent thoughts, Marina.
You nailed that Marina. The media is indeed a circus. It is also a bit like a shark feeding frenzy…