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Greta’s Smorgasbord of Hate

I love the pretty trees, the trees love me!
They make me dance and sing, they make me shout
And sulk and give loud speeches: blah, blah, blah
How dare you feed on cow meat and foie gras?!
Let Nature live in peace and harmony—
Except for all of you! Get the hell out!

Stop flying planes, stop all this need for oil!
Let’s save the Earth for future generations
And turn each city into Shangri La.
You must meet my demands or blah, blah, blah!
But you won’t listen! Look how hard I toil!
I think deep thoughts for rich ungrateful nations!

My name—ja, mine!—has three times been proposed
For queen—I mean—to win the Nobel Prize!
To those who love our planet, I’m the shah
With weighty words of wisdom: blah, blah, blah.
Who else can leave our leaders’ lies exposed
While saving human beings I despise?

It’s time for lunch. Some lutefisk perhaps.
Then I’ll save Earth because I’m transcendental.
The nicest people speak my name with awe!
Let all the children join my blah, blah, blah
As I arrange societal collapse
And put the mental in environmental.

.

.

Social Justice Warrior

I want you to respect the fact that I
(Compassionate and empathetic me)
Detest all forms of privilege. That’s why
I want laws passed which dictate equity.

Because it’s so unfair that Democrats
Are not the only voters in the land,
It’s time we reconfigure rules and stats
To make sure all conservatives get banned.

Now what of those who still use carbon fuel
And shun our climate crisis seminars?
Their views on global warming are just cruel.
Let’s force them all to buy electric cars.

Implying that a person has a gender
By mentioning the pronouns “him” or “her”
Is hateful and leaves feelings bruised and tender.
Replace those words at once with “zim” or “”zer.”

And those who mention faith, the smallest smidgen,
Are guilty of encouraging derangement.
Detain them! Force them to renounce religion
So atheists don’t have to feel estrangement.

And last, we must protect those misanthropes
Who hate free speech. It makes them feel distraught!
Let’s separate dissenters with thick ropes,
Then ban debate, dispute and private thought.

We must be loving! If you don’t agree
Then you’re the problem, you Cro-Magnon hick!
The law will bend you till you think like me.
A summons and complaint should do the trick.

.

.

Brian Yapko is a lawyer who also writes poetry. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.


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61 Responses

  1. Russel Winick

    Both good reads, Brian. I like the flow, the humor, and most of all – the truth!

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you, Laura! Brainwashed, indulged, given a bizarre sense of entitlement and then lionized. I’m not sure how someone like Greta is even possible.

      Reply
  2. Norma Pain

    She has her opinions and she is allowed to shout them, vs Jordon Peterson, who has his opinions, is being threatened by the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO), with losing his license to practice psychology, if he doesn’t follow their absurd “mandatory social-media communication training”, aka brainwashing.
    Thank you for these two poems Brian.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      Yeah, Norma, what the hell is going on in Canada, and where did this disease start?

      Reply
      • Brian A Yapko

        C.B., after reading Susan’s recent poetry regarding the Medical Assistance in Dying expansion of law I realized for the first time that Justin Trudeau is evil and that there is something atheistically wrong taking place in Canada. A nation that is so woke that it will gleefully assist the mentally ill in killing themselves has a long way to go to find redemption. I’ve never forgotten Trudeau’s response to the truckdriver protest and his decision to invoke emergency powers to quash the right of truckdrivers who objected to draconian Covid restrictions. And, like most social justice warriors, I’m sure Trudeau thinks he’s the nicest man in the world advancing the causes of enlightenment and justice when in reality he acts like an adolescent potentate.

        I’m sorry, Norma, if this is disrespectful to your country. I’ve always loved Canada, spent much time in Toronto in my youth, and pray that it will find its way back.

    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Norma. Thank you for pointing out the plight of Jordan Peterson who, as far as I can tell, is being threatened for harboring beliefs which do not line up with the current Cancel Culture Manifesto. That a person cannot speak his conscience and his opinions in the 21st Century in a supposedly free and advanced first world country is proof that Western Civilization is on a fast track to return to the Dark Ages.

      Reply
      • Norma Pain

        No need to apologize Brian, I am praying with you that Canada will indeed find it’s way back to a semblance of normal, under an intelligent leader. Trudeau is definitely not on my list of intelligent people.

  3. Mike Bryant

    Brian, first of all, I’m proud to learn that I’m the inspiration for the Greta poem because of a comment I made on Susan’s COP27 poem. You have nailed the poetry and the characterization of Greta and the SJWs. I have already embraced the name “Boomer Dinosaur” so now I will add “Cro-Magnon Hick” to my favorite descriptive appellations! Brittanica has this little blurb on our much-maligned ancestor, “Cro-Magnons were the first humans (genus Homo) to have a prominent chin. The brain capacity was about 1,600 cc (100 cubic inches), somewhat larger than the average for modern humans.” Hmmm… I suppose this factoid supports devolution. Cro-Magnon Hick is actually quite a compliment. Perhaps modern humanity’s shortcomings can ALL be traced back to our loss of brain capacity…

    Great Stuff!

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Yes, Mike, you did indeed inspire me to write this poem, for which I thank you! I could not imagine that Greta Thunberg actually went before world leaders and dismissively chastised them by trivializing all of their work and leadership as nothing but a bunch of “blah, blah, blah.” It wasn’t until I actually watched her speech on YouTube (with my jaw on the floor) that I believed it. I’ve had a long career of impatience with bureaucracy and, though tempting, I’ve managed to never show disrespect to those in positions of leadership. So Greta’s arrogance and rudeness strikes me as breathtaking. That she is lionized instead of being court-ordered into therapy baffles me.

      I’m glad you like my Cro-Magnon hick line! I suppose Cro-Magnon should be capitalized so… would you mind making that correction for me? Thank you for explaining the devolution process! I was wondering what had happened! An interesting aside on that subject: Neanderthal brains were actually bigger than either Cro-Magnon or modern humans. So if anyone calls me a Neanderthal — especially after writing anti-woke poems — I intend to wear that as a badge of honor!

      Thank again, Mike!

      Reply
  4. Joshua C. Frank

    Brian, these are both great! These show how internally inconsistent liberalism is, especially given that I knew a lot of people like that when I lived in California; these are hardly satire, as these poems articulate very well how they think!

    I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t even stomach listening to liberals lecture us all on right and wrong, because their position on abortion shows exactly in what body part their heads are when it comes to the concept of morality. It’s like hearing Boris Johnson make a show of defending Salman Rushdie and free speech (when Rushdie was attacked last year) after his government arrested people for tweets!

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Josh! You just hit the nail on the head! Liberalism is internally inconsistent — the ideas of universal brotherhood and love and justice are all well and good in the abstract but liberals attempt to impose these on the world with legislation, cancellation, lawsuits, ostracism, a hundred forms of hate which make every claim for justice reek with hypocrisy. It’s like some leftist jihad compelling those who don’t think like them to submit. This no longer has anything whatsoever to do with justice — it has to do with ideology enforced on the unwilling. It is no longer “education.” It is social engineering. Where is the love and brotherhood in that?

      I was a card-carrying liberal for most of my adult life. I only voted Democratic, applauded the rainbow and assumed without question that my fellow liberals and I had a personal pipeline to God Himself. Then I read history and recognized who we have been throughout it. All my life I had believed us to be freedom fighters on the right side of history. But I also started recognizing us just as clearly as jihadists and bolsheviks. I could no longer stand the hypocrisy or the attempt to compel liberal values on those who don’t agree. Compelling public opinion is not how freedom works. If you’re sure you are right on issues, it’s your task to convince me. Not compel me.

      Reply
  5. C.B. Anderson

    You put that little twit in her place, Brian. The only reason she has a platform is that she will say things even a hard-core progressive would be embarrassed to say, for who would want to excoriate a witless child? It’s obvious that her education has suffered, and not due only to Covid. She needs a good spanking. And perhaps a big bacon cheeseburger.

    The second poem, also, was well-constructed, concise and telling, but how long will it be before we poets can go back to writing poems that are not advertently political? That question was rhetorical, because I know the answer to it.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, C.B. I must assure you that getting into Greta’s head was a painful experience! How is it even possible that she is in any way considered a respectable lobbyist? I agree with your solution. A spanking and a cheeseburger. And maybe a couple of years in charm school (does charm school still even exist?)

      Thanks as well for the comment on Social Justice Warrior. How long until we can put aside the poet’s trade in the service of politics? We both know the answer to that one! It’s interesting to ponder the fact that so much of the world’s fine poetry was written during troubled times and yet did not directly comment on current events. Much of Paradise Lost was written during the Plague. Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote poetic classics that have nothing to do with current events during the Napoleonic Wars. And yet you also have Tennyson writing The Charge of the Light Brigade and multiple poets who addressed World War I in real time. But even these were poetically treated subjects (Flanders Field is about death rather than criticizing the government.) rather than poetry that could be published in the newspaper opinion section (guilty as charged.) Something does indeed seem to have shifted concerning the proper subject of poetry.

      Reply
    • Cynthia Erlandson

      Thank you, C.B., for bringing up the subject of getting back to writing non-political poems. I’ve written some political poems myself; but I admit it bothers me to spend very much time on it. I recall Susan J. Bryant’s poem about wanting to go back to just writing about the moon. And yet she writes such spot-on political poems (and many others here do, as well.) And it’s justified; yet it has become a real frustration to me that it has to be this way. Anyway, I do find myself really longing for a time when we will no longer feel compelled to write about politics very often.

      Reply
      • Brian A Yapko

        Thank you for this view, Cynthia. In the end, I too hope everything returns to normal so we can focus on art rather than politics. I don’t enjoy writing political satire. I do it because I often feel like we are at war and this is the only contribution I can really make. But my first love is to write poetry about subjects like Bible stories, saints or the beauty that is in the world.

      • Joshua C. Frank

        Cynthia, I agree with you. I’ve written a few political poems, even though I mostly like to write things that point to the assumptions behind the political issues (much like Brian’s example of “In Flanders Fields”). I’ve found a quote from Richard Price particularly useful: “The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road.”

        Writing in protest of the evil that is modern culture is something I’m called to do. I would love to just be able to write about the beauty of God, family, and country, plus the joys of simple living… but some topics just won’t go away until I write about them and submit the poems here for publication. As you’ll see in a poem of mine to be published soon, some of these poems have already changed people’s lives for the better… which encourages me to keep on writing!

  6. Joseph S. Salemi

    These are two excellent pieces of political-polemical satire. “Social Justice Warrior” is perfect in its depiction of the inner rage that motivates left-liberals, wokesters, LGBT fanatics, deep environmentalists, and the entire retinue of ideologized vermin who now infest the world.

    As for the Little Swedish Meatball, she’s a textbook example of how raising a stink for trendy leftist causes will make you rich, famous and honored. Just like being a half-educated barista (A. Ocasio Cortez) will get you into Congress, so also can a demented teenage truant (Greta Thunberg) become a heroine and idol. Just say the right magic words into the microphone, and mainstream media will fall down on its knees.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Joseph. I continue to hope — naively, I’m sure — that someone on the left will recognize that they have unpleasant truths to face: that they can’t compel people to think like them. They are not “educating.” The truth, whether they see it or not, is that when they try to compel a certain way of thinking and then use employment termination, culture cancellation, ostracism and social or financial ruination as their tools of enforcement, they become monsters.

      Your observations regarding both Greta Thunberg and A. Occasional Cortex are spot-on and frustrating as hell. To see the lionization of mediocrity and unschooled loudness simply because it serves our woke overlords is galling. That someone like Amanda Gorman could be designated poet laureate also typifies this insanity.

      Lastly, I used to like IKEA’s swedish meatballs. I think they would now give me indigestion.

      Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you, Anna! The muse was good to me. That line made me howl when I wrote it!

      Reply
  7. James Sale

    Especially like Greta’s Smorgasbord of Hate and the refrain blah, blah, blah and some of its imaginative rhymes: eg shah! Simple, but I haven’t seen it before! Also, I detect real passion – venom even – in the writing: you are about as fed-up as a well-adjusted and normal human being could be short of joining something extremist. Yea!!! We are all that fed-up. Writing is an antidote and therapy however; keep going Brian – excellent stuff.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, James! I knew I wanted “blah blah blah” to be the centerpiece of the poem and I wasn’t sure if it would be annoying or appropriately in character. I’m gratified that I appear to have gotten it right. Coming up with rhymes was a challenge so I appreciate your appreciation of “shah”, “Shangri La,” etc.

      As for that venom, you’re spot-on! I confess that I don’t suffer fools comfortably and I am alarmed by the extent to which we so willingly hand over the reins of power to them. But what can I do? As I see it, I’m an obscure poet in an obscure state writing out my frustrations and passions. And yet… if I can use my voice for good, I intend to do so for as long as Heaven allows!

      Reply
  8. Jeff Eardley

    Brian, I love the blah, blah, blah lines interspersed with your witty observations. I noticed she was under arrest by the German police the other day. I wonder if she got there by bicycle, or did she float there under a dirigible, inflated by the hot air of her own self importance. You certainly got a lot off your chest with, “Social Justice Warrior.” I have visions of you taking a strong drink and lying down in a darkened room after writing it. As ever, blah,blah, bloody brilliant.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much indeed, Jeff! She certainly didn’t fly there on her own wings. I like your dirigible theory since she is indeed full of hot air! As for the pseudo-words “blah, blah, blah” — having crawled into Greta’s character to be able to write this poem (a most unpleasant experience, I assure you) I’m having trouble getting “blah, blah, blah” out of my head. Alas, one of the potential hazards of writing poetry.

      Reply
  9. Paul Freeman

    Younger people do seem to be more aware of the consequences of pollution.

    Of course older people will debate this with their own blah, blah, blah, since who wants to countenance leaving their kids and grandkids with a poisoned planet.

    Anyhow, just a thought.

    Reply
      • Brian A Yapko

        Paul, I appreciate your reading my work and commenting here even if we don’t see eye to eye on either the problems or the solutions.

    • Joshua C. Frank

      Well, I’m younger (39), and while it’s important to keep our living space clean, I’m far more concerned about the pollution of our souls and minds from today’s culture.

      The whole environmentalist movement is disingenuous. Why should the liberals give a damn about future generations when they freely slaughter their own children by abortion and have contracepted most of the next generation out of existence to begin with? This is not the behavior of people who care about future generations. No, that whole movement is merely a tool to control the people. The phrase “population control” has a double meaning.

      I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as long as the liberals are in favor of abortion, they don’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to morality, any more than the Nazis did.

      Reply
      • Brian A Yapko

        Josh, thank you for these additional thoughts. I think we are in agreement concerning clean living space and taking sensible measures to not abuse the environment. I think you are quite right about disingenuous aspects of the environmental movement but I think there is more here to observe: Much of the environmental movement so deifies unspoiled nature that it has become a fantasy for humanity to disappear, to end its corrupting influence on the planet. “Life After People” which was on either National Geographic or the Science Channel typified this type of attitude. But it goes beyond a mere attitude. The idea that human life is sacred has taken a back seat to the sanctity of nature. As a result, all kinds of things now happen like the idea, mentioned in a comment thread on Susan’s recent poem on medically assisted suicide, that human bodies can and should now be used for compost. Such a position is, of course, anathema to Judaism and most Christian denominations. That the life of a person can be so disrespected — and in the supposed service of environmentalism — speaks volumes about how far the West has descended into a culture of barely suppressed misanthropy. Nature= good. Humans = bad. It’s that simple. So it’s hardly surprising that with such an ideology things like abortion or the sterilization of children would be not just accepted but celebrated.

    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you, Paul for your thoughts on this. I hope there is no misunderstanding — I do not have issues with environmentalism per se. In fact, I’ve long been a supporter of the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund, both of which do magnificent environmental work sensibly. I lived in Los Angeles for 40 years and strongly supported its sensible methods of eliminating smog and cleaning up the river. There is sensible and sane environmentalism and then there is insane environmentalism. For me, insane environmentalism is typified by Greta, who I see as a disrespectful, uneducated, unhinged, entitled, bratty young lady who has been manipulated into having delusions of grandeur and is now lionized as a spokesperson for environmental extremism. Her “blah, blah, blah” speech in all of its “how-dare-you” condescension of world leaders is not praiseworthy. It is bonkers.

      Of course I don’t want to see us leave future generations with a poisoned planet. But I can’t see panicking over climate change which is happening no matter how much money we throw at it. I can’t see downgrading human need for things like transportation and food. And I can’t shake the feeling that without China — the elephant in the living room — making drastic changes, anything the rest of do is merely spitting off the bow of the Titanic and thinking that it’s going to make a difference. And at great expense to boot.

      In a recent poetry thread, Dr. Salemi described the fact that New York City’s mayor has stopped sweeping the streets because of leftist ideology which insists on making the lanes safe for bicycles. This “considerate” ideology has resulted in an explosion of litter and vermin. I described Portland sidewalks which are filled with human waste and used intravenous needles because of left ideology concerning the homeless. Sensible environmental policies would address making the neighborhoods where people actually live environmentally livable. Refusing to fix potholes because local government wants to discourage automobile use does not result in fewer cars on the road — it only results in a lot of broken axles and punctured tires and angry commuters. Sensible solutions which are not slavishly beholden to ideology would be a good place to find common ground here.

      Reply
  10. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Great poem on Greta! I was shocked when she was even given media attention and now am even more shocked anyone would consider a fool for a Nobel Prize! There is hope for all of us to be so nominated, not once, but thrice! Your satirical bashing of what now is considered as “social justice” is a great expose and masterful poem delving into the mush and miscarriage of the term.

    Reply
    • Joseph S. Salemi

      Don’t forget that in 2016 the Nobel Prize for Literature was given to a caterwauling hipster musician.

      Reply
      • Brian A Yapko

        Oh yes, Bob Dylan. I’m still trying to figure out that Nobel Peace Prize going to Barack Obama in 2009 for ideological reasons which seem to have had nothing whatsoever to do with advancing the cause for peace.

    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Roy. My mind still reels at the attention and respect Greta receives when all that she has done is to act with a level of disrespect normal people with manners would never even attempt.

      Reply
  11. Margaret Coats

    Brian, good work on both poems. Some of our commentors above don’t realize you took the blah, blah, blah refrain from the brat herself, speaking of the climate plans of Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, and others. Fine touch. Uneducated children do not understand that carbon dioxide is necessary for green plants to produce food of every kind. They are taught only to display violent emotion while reading index cards prepared for them, full of terms they barely comprehend. Greta is to be pitied for being denied schooling. That’s where her passionate acting strikes a chord. She is very useful to adults and deserves fame for excellent performances, but not for thinking. What about Biden’s recent statement that we need to block the sun to stop global warming? We have been doing that by dumping megatons of aluminum and strontium into the atmosphere (confirmed at the 2017 AAAS convention in San Diego–geoengineering panel–a year before Greta started anti-carbon tirades). This poison in the air makes landfall fairly soon, and then the application needs to be repeated. This is what the next generation should worry about. Instead, they want to stop Swedish girls from wearing lighted candle crowns on Saint Lucia’s day. Do you realize that Swedish households may burn as many as 50 candles every December 13? It expresses hope in the midst of darkness, while Greta and cohorts live in perpetual fear of the future. That fear is what builds up interminable reserves of hate. Let anyone watch Greta declaring she will never forgive! Don’t trust her with a slingshot, much less the death-dealing weapons she probably wants to unleash. And I don’t mean the typical Swedish Yule Board of lutfisk, salmon, eel, reindeer venison, and ham. Or even meatballs in lingonberry sauce and creamed kale.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you for this rich comment, Margaret, which touches on so many things — serious and culinary! I appreciate what you say about Greta being raised without proper schooling, having a role thrust upon her, etc. I’m not sure she deserves fame, however, other than in the cynical fashion you describe — for her excellent performance which I suppose is effective for her base of supporters. But, in the end, I do not see her as an environmental activist (whether authentic or fabricated.) I see a useful idiot who has been taught to triage certain environmental issues as crucial (usually ones that invite societal collapse) as opposed to the ones that actually poison the largest number of people here and now. I had no idea about the aluminum and strontium being released into the atmosphere and this sounds like one more environmental nightmare. But where is the human race now if the President of the U.S. talks seriously about blotting out the sun? The political discourse of our leaders is starting to take on the megalomaniacal tone of Bond villains.

      I have heard nothing before your comment concerning the end of traditional St. Lucia celebrations in Sweden. I’m saddened to hear this. Cultures start to tear so many holes into the fabric of who they are that in the end they are left with nothing. The “hope in the darkness” that you mention is key to the whole discussion. Christians know that, ultimately, God is in charge. If I feel pity for Greta, it’s because of this. Non-believers of Greta’s ilk who believe in nothing but bare Science will always think that they have the illusion of control by changing the chemistry or building the satellite to put out the sun or by releasing something or other into the air. Don’t get me wrong — I believe strongly in the validity of Science. But I also believe it has a finite domain of validity. For Greta and crew to think that Science arms them with absolute control over things ranging from Climate to Life & Death to Gender Choice is not only illusory — it’s delusional and will lead to much unhappiness, lost sleep and a whole lot of tyrannical attempts to control what people with more nuanced views understand cannot be controlled.

      No, I wouldn’t trust Greta with a slingshot either. Which means she’ll probably end up elected to public office some day. But I will say this: I still like ABBA and lingonberry jam is delicious.

      Reply
  12. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Brian, I applaud both poems which are admirably crafted, engaging, witty, wise and above all, true!

    My favorite, “Greta’s Smorgasbord of Hate,” is (on face value) hilarious, with some highly creative observations… I especially like the Shangri La/blah, blah, blah pairing, and the closing line is a thigh-slapping hoot. Dig beneath the surface and the ugly truth beneath the humor rolls its hate-filled eyes and flaps its fear-mongering mouth to reveal just how horrific the propagandist plot of exploiting a mentally impaired, poorly educated, indoctrinated angry brat is. This multilayered masterpiece is a must read.

    Both poems put today’s political lunacy in perspective by showing not telling – they’re very well done, indeed! I believe fine works like these are pivotal in keeping the immutable truth alive by exposing the ridiculous lengths those who want to gain control go to. The timing of the Greta poem is perfect. Al Gore has just made a speech at the WEF shaming those who don’t live in sprawling mansions and fly jets for causing the oceans to boil… and he has no excuse for these lies. He is a compos mentis adult… the only reason he’s doing this is to line his ever-bulging pockets while the masses live in poverty… all in the name of “care” for the planet and future generations. When these greedy fat cats have finished earning money from abortions, transgender operations, net zero carbon policies, and a million other government-funded programs to punish us for breathing, there will be no future generations to worry about.

    Brian, thank you – the truth matters!

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Susan. First, I’m grateful for your kind words about the poems — especially Greta’s Smorgasbord. I’m glad you found it funny and I’m equally glad that you understood the darkness and cynicism that underlies Greta’s sing-song words, her delusions of grandeur, the hatred of humans that is directly proportional to her supposed love of nature, and the deep menace in a blah-blah-blah refrain which doesn’t require her to ever actually articulate meaning in what she promotes. Something is rotten in the state of Sweden.

      Thank you even more for your continuing advocacy for truth — something which does indeed matter deeply. We now live in a society where we are being directed to despise industry, religion, established history and excellence. Instead, we are asked to fully embrace “loving” horrors like state-sanctioned suicide for the mentally ill, the state-promoted killing of viable babies in the womb, state-promoted sterilization for confused young prepubescents, state-promoted encouragement of drug addiction with legalization and free needles, state-sanctioned encouragement of lawless homelessness at the expense of law-abiding citizens… The list goes on and on. We are watching Western civilization commit slow suicide like a chronic addict even as it congratulates itself on an enlightenment which is, in fact, nothing more than smug and unjustified chronocentrism — a term which means “the egotism that one’s own generation is poised on the very cusp of history.”

      Susan, advocating for truth is not a choice, nor is it done for the pursuit of comfort, power or accolades. Speaking for myself, I do it so I can face myself in the mirror. I try to act as if the very soul of humanity is on the line — because it is. And I know you do and feel the same. Thank you for that.

      Reply
  13. Adam Wasem

    The poems are very good, Brian, they are a spirited response to the climate insanity for which Greta Thunberg is just the latest–and most cunningly manufactured–propaganda mouthpiece. The saddest aspect of the Saint Greta phenomenon is that apparently she has Asperger’s Syndrome, and was indoctrinated as a young teenager into climate catastrophism by her school and, especially, by her parents–her Asperger’s predictably magnifying her worries into a full-blown terrified mania. I won’t get into the speculation about her having fetal alcohol syndrome as well, but there is abundant evidence to suggest that in her teenage career she was extensively “handled” by her climate extremist parents, and used very skilfully by them as a convenient (and unassailable, due to her actual age, 16 years, at the time, and apparent age, which due to her apparently stunted puberty, appeared to be about 12) mouthpiece for their radical views.

    The whole episode is a deeply sad example of the exploitation of a mentally ill teenager with a host of other problems by a cynical combination of her parents, leftist media, global warming fanatics, and globalists. It is a case writ large of the leftist indoctrination happening all over the West to all children in state schools, and should be a very loud warning bell to all Western societies about the radicalization of their children.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, Adam. Your analysis regarding the grooming of Greta Thunberg into her role as a woke leftist mouthpiece is absolutely chilling. That her parents could indoctrinate and torment their own child this way, and under such cynical circumstances is the stuff of nightmares. Thank you for the warning call regarding the indoctrination of our children. This is clearly happening on a number of subjects, including religion, gender, environment, critical race theory, you name it. The lunatics are in charge. It’s not going to get better until parents really take charge of the education of their children. And, yes. It is deeply sad.

      Reply
    • Paul Freeman

      From what I know, Greta Thunberg was bullied and maginalised at school, largely for having Asperger’s Syndrome. She was aware of the climate change emergency and took on an awareness campaign all by herself, setting up camp outside the Swedish Parliament until the campaign took off.

      Her mother, especially has changed her lifestyle on realisation of the climate crisis. ‘Speculation’ about fetal alcohol syndrome is just the M-TUM (Make Things Up Media) conspiracists.

      Reply
      • Brian A Yapko

        Interesting additional detail about this young person, Paul. I’m sorry for any child who is bullied. I also respect her desire to be an advocate. But there’s advocacy and then there’s advocacy. There’s a world of difference between William Wilberforce and Angela Davis. Neither Greta’s sad childhood nor her passionate views excuse her exceptionally bratty, anarchy-promoting level of disrespect for elders let alone world leaders. Young truant that she is, she is what I would call a “chaos-meister.” Greta Thunberg is a mediocrity and a useful idiot who has been cynically groomed to serve as a commodity for leftist extremism. She does not deserve to be lionized. Rather than indulged, she should be given the treatment she obviously needs.

      • Joseph S. Salemi

        Yaawwwnnn…….. here he goes again. The “climate change emergency,” the “climate crisis,” an “awareness campaign,” and the “conspiracists.” All the usual mantras of the sentimental left.

      • Mike Bryant

        A child with Asperger’s “ …was aware of the climate change emergency and took on an awareness campaign all by herself, setting up camp outside the Swedish Parliament until the campaign took off.”

        All by herself?
        First, her teachers had to inform this sick child about this “emergency.” Do you really think our kids need to be involved in government decisions? Do you frighten the kids you teach?
        Second, wouldn’t her parents have had to be involved? Would you just let your kid leave school, travel away from you, make signs and march on a government building all by herself? Isn’t that an insurrection?
        Third, have you ever heard of Kabuki theater?

        https://www.cf.org/news/watch-new-video-of-greta-thunbergs-detention-sparks-allegations-of-a-staged-incident/

        Fourth, Al Gore just informed the WEF that the “oceans are boiling.”
        If you believe that, I’ve got some cheap oceanfront property in Arizona for sale.
        I hope you aren’t teaching that lie to vulnerable, gullible, mentally handicapped schoolchildren.

      • Mike Bryant

        Speaking of Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth is filled with lies:
        https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/truth-is-gore-film-has-9-errors-british-judge-rules/

        Al Gore said that you can make a lot of money with “Global Warming” now “Climate Change.” That’s because he has helped turn concern for a couple of degrees over a hundred years into the largest money laundering and money making machine ever:
        https://wattsupwiththat.com/?s=Al%20gore%20money

        Don’t think that Greta and her folks haven’t cleaned up on the theatrics.

      • Paul Freeman

        Of course, the real debate should be about climate change, not about cancelling or dismissing someone because they are bratty, or rhetorically said the seas were boiling, or is accused of being, yaaaaawwwn, a leftist.

      • Joshua C. Frank

        What do her childhood difficulties have to do with anything? Why are we bringing them into this?

        Also, your language on the subject is biased. You call climate change an emergency and a crisis, which shows you’ve bought into the liberal media rhetoric. You’re right that the media are run by make-things-up conspiracists… but they claim that we conservatives have some kind of conspiracy going. (As a conservative, I can assure you that there is no conspiracy among us!) The rumors about her having fetal alcohol syndrome may very well be speculation, but if you want to go down that rabbit hole, climate change “science” is itself speculation. Records don’t go back very far, giving us too small a sample size to draw meaningful conclusions.

  14. Brian A Yapko

    I didn’t write a poem about climate change. I wrote two poems: the first is rather specifically about Greta Thunberg and does not opine on the validity of climate change. It opines on the character of this international celebrity and those who idolize her. The second poem is about social justice warriors on the left and my observations concerning their hypocrisy, authoritarian tendencies and condescension. These poems are character studies — one specific, one more general. They are not documentaries nor an invitation to consider the relative utility of electric cars or the sociological effects of using “zim” and “zer” as pronouns.

    Reply
    • Paul Freeman

      Yep, sorry for the divergence.

      I was actually asked yesterday to fill in a submissions form asking for my pronouns, as well as a lot of other intrusive stuff. ‘Zim’ and ‘Zer’ were not among them, but there was an option for ‘Other’.

      Next time, maybe…

      Reply
  15. David Whippman

    Thanks for these poems, Brian. “Greta’s Smorgasbord of Hate” is inspired! The adulation given to this clearly disturbed young woman is a symptom of the madness that seems to have taken hold of the West. And you debunked it in a masterful way.

    Reply
    • Brian A Yapko

      Thank you very much, David! I agree — she is a symptom of something much more toxic that is poisoning the West.

      Reply

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