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Excusing Evil

A peaceful protest just took place,
and some unlucky people died.
Hamas just wanted more air space
where at-risk kids could paraglide.

As their kids soared, they saw a crowd,
and they were frightened to their core.
The pulsing music was so loud,
it brought past trauma to the fore.

Their lives at stake, or so they thought,
they landed with their weapons drawn.
In all the panic, they forgot
that no one had their safety on.

Somehow, each trigger finger slipped,
because each kid was terrified.
So, bullets flew and then blood dripped,
in what some called a genocide.

But that’s a xenophobic lie,
since clearly each kid felt quite glum.
They helped each girl who didn’t die
by bringing them back to their slum.

***

Excusing evil just brings more
when evil has no consequence.
At some point there is always war
Against those lacking common sense.

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Warren Bonham is a private equity investor who lives in Southlake, Texas.

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21 Responses

  1. Brian A. Yapko

    This is a well-crafted and hard-hitting satirical poem, Warren, which effectively paints Hamas as a vile terrorist group which now happens to have vile support from vile leftists who are willfully ignorant and vilely intent on ignoring any evidence and morality that doesn’t fit their vile ideological narrative.

    But somehow you call-out this overwhelming vileness with a solid (if sardonic) sense of humor. “Somehow each trigger finger slipped…” Yeah, right. I’m reminded of one of the merry murderesses from the musical “Chicago”: “Then he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife 10 times.”

    The theme of your poem must be shared far and wide. “Excusing evil just brings more…” Yes, evil must have consequences. Thank you for the emphatic reminder.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      That scene from Chicago is very comparable. Some people really seem to believe it when people on their side offer up farcical explanations like that.

      Reply
      • k. muralikrishna

        i am muralikrishna, editor of a web magazine http://www.sanchika.com, published in telugu language from telangana, India..I am much taken up by the poem and wish to get it translated into telugu and publish in my magazine… i request you to grant me permission to do so ..thank you

  2. Philip L Flott

    “when evil has no consequence” – I think that’s what so many of us want to say. Thanks for saying it.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      Consequences seem to have gone by the wayside which can’t do anything other than stimulate more bad behavior.

      Reply
  3. Joseph S. Salemi

    The thing about left-liberals is that they worship “The Other” — most especially if that Other is an ideologically certified victim of white Western “oppression.” This is why Hamas terrorists and murderers are now being celebrated as heroes who are fighting against their colonialist masters, and who therefore can do no wrong, no matter what atrocities they perpetrate.

    This has always been the standard narrative of left-liberals when faced with revolution. No matter what revolutionists do, they will have apologists among the intelligentsia. I remember how print and mass media journalists fawned like love-stricken schoolgirls in 1959, when Fidel Castro came to power. And when he finally revealed his Marxist loyalties, they just shrugged and talked about “Fair Play for Cuba.”

    Remember that when the next moron starts screalming about a “Ceasefire!” in Gaza.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      I definitely agree that the pressure for a Ceasefire will continually escalate until Israel has no choice but to comply and then the cycle will start all over again (if they survive).

      Reply
    • Paul Martin Freeman

      I would say, Joe, that what the left worships is purity. Purity, as conceived by the left, manifests in uncompromising hostility to the established order. I saw this twenty years ago in a conversation between a couple of middle-aged British lefties when Hamas was killing the other lot in Gaza. What they admired about Hamas was that it refused to hold discussions with the Israelis, whereas the other lot were prepared to, albeit in bad faith. This is the same quality they saw in Che Guevara and why they wear his teeshirt. The violence, of course, is proof of this purity, thus it’s admired.

      Leftism seems to represent some kind of stunted human development: an unwillingness to grow up or engage with the world in a responsible way, ie as an adult. In other words, it’s a form of infantilism.

      Reply
  4. Margaret Coats

    Warren, this is a sorrowfully clever translation, into media-bias “excusing” language, of news about the unprovoked attack on a music festival on October 7. Murderous individuals approached in numerous ways including paragliders, intentionally killed many, and picked out hostages including injured girls to take back to Gaza. The language becomes a way in which media speakers can participate in the attack by encouraging more, and especially by guaranteeing that the unusually large number of hostages will suffer as much as possible for as long as possible. Hostages have been held for years, or ultimately killed as reprisals for Israeli reprisals, or killed simply to prevent their rescue. God save them!

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      Events like this would be universally shunned if the media would report on them objectively but I don’t hold out much hope for that.

      Reply
  5. C.B. Anderson

    I really liked this poem, Warren, both for the technical mastery and the message. Excuses & rationalizations are the soup of the day for all leftists, because they have nothing else in the cupboard.

    Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      It’s amazing how excuses continue to be made for events like this which are inexcusable.

      Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      It may not accomplish much, but satire is the healthiest way I can think of to process events like this.

      Reply
  7. Joshua C. Frank

    Great poem! You’ve captured the thought process well. You’ve seen my other comments on the subject, plus my recent poem… I’m so angry with the left over this exact issue, it’s probably best if I don’t repeat it all here,

    Reply
  8. Cheryl Corey

    It’s easy for the ignorant and self-righteous to march in favor of Palestinians from the comfort and (relative) safety of their own country. I’m paraphrasing here, but I heard someone quote Dennis Prager, who said that if the Palestinians laid down their arms, there would be peace. If the Israelis did the same, they would be annihilated.

    Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      Why do you think the left is screaming at the Israelis, but not the Palestinians, to lay down their arms?

      The good thing is, by showing their anti-Semitism so openly, they’ve lost their bargaining chip of accusations against us of racism.

      Reply
    • Warren Bonham

      I’m a big Prager fan. I haven’t heard that quote before but it sure rings true.

      Reply
      • Cynthia Erlandson

        I listen to Prager, too. My favorite saying of his is “Truth is not a left-wing value.”

  9. David Whippman

    Warren, thank you for this poem. You employ a very dark humour that does not in the least minimise the horror of what happened. It’s depressing to see the far left, the Islamists, and the other usual suspects justifying, even glorifying, the atrocities. But people like you – and your poetry – give me hope.

    Reply

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