.

Knock, Knock!

—free speech in the UK is dead

Three more children stabbed—a country mourning
The murdering of minors by the score.
Opine online—ignore the hate-speech warning—
And fascist fuzz will knock upon your door
With fists of iron balled in churlish horror.
What gall the masses have to retweet memes
That fuel the dread and spread the threat of terror—
Such unwoke posts may stoke the riot scenes.
As bloody puddles flow into an ocean
Of memories of the kids the cops let down
With citizens-are-secondary notions,
These truncheon-wielding thugs prowl round each town.
They’re sniffing out a Facebook post to blame
For lap-dog bobbies’ yellow-bellied shame.

.

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Susan Jarvis Bryant is a poet originally from the U.K., now living on the Gulf Coast of Texas.

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34 Responses

  1. Russel Winick

    Aptly put Susan, and so sad, and scary, because we’re next if the Left prevails here.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you very much for reading and commenting, Russel. It’s always good to hear from a fellow poet whose work highlights the horrors of this insane world. You make a great point on the “we’re next” front, although in some states we’re already there. A man serving prison time for refusing to call his confused daughter by her preferred pronouns springs to mind.

      Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    Susan, God bless you. If you were still in England today, you would be dragged out of your house in handcuffs. The entire British establishment is now controlled by the Left.

    Rightist memes are now the most effective way to express one’s outrage against and contempt for the Deep-State tyranny that controls most of the West. Naturally, the more powerful that the left gets, the more strongly it enforces savage penalties against anyone who dares to spread those memes on the internet.

    The U.K. police are now ruthless enforcers of tyranny against any actual English persons in the country who dare to speak out against their own marginalization and degradation. This is exactly what will happen in the United States if that sick bitch Harris and her chickenhawk VP Walz are elected.

    Those so-called “rioters” in the streets of the U.K. are true patriots, who are demanding that the Deep State give them some straight answers about why the country is being flooded with alien scum who rape and murder little girls.

    And please, readers — don’t give me any crap that the murderer was “a legally born U.K. subject.” He was Rwandan. Start using your damned eyes.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Joe, I thoroughly appreciate your comments and thank you for standing with me in highlighting the plight of all the bold British citizens who are standing up for free speech in the face of all the tyrannical government is throwing at them. Would you believe Americans have been threatened too? Below is an excerpt from Aol.

      London’s Metropolitan Police chief warned that officials will not only be cracking down on British citizens for commentary on the riots in the U.K., but on American citizens as well. “We will throw the full force of the law at people. And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told Sky News.

      I’ve heard the threats, and I’ve watched the videos of home arrests. One elderly, disabled man being escorted from his home for by over-zealous police officers, was asking if he could bring his medication to the police station. This iron-fisted bullying of citizens for simply airing their views online (whatever those views happen to be) is unconscionable.

      When free speech is dead so is civilization. The next stage is that anything anyone does or says will be against new “legislation”, innumerable, ridiculous acts that will condemn them to the modern-day equivalent of hard labor in the gulag. It’s written in blood in the history books the tyrants are eagerly rewriting. I cannot help but speak out against this – the future of free speech depends upon us exercising it – the answer to misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies is more speech NOT less.

      Joe, thank you!

      Reply
      • Joshua C. Frank

        So does that mean you could be arrested by the British government for poems like this?

      • Susan Jarvis Bryant

        As they say in Texas, I guess I’m fixin’ to find out. I wouldn’t be much of a mother or grandmother if I didn’t stand up and speak up for free speech in my homeland while I still can.

  3. Phil S. Rogers

    Good poem Susan. This mess must be especially difficult if you have friends or family back in the UK, and to see places you are familiar with in chaos. I find it all just unbelievable.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Phil, thank you for reading and for commenting on this unpalatable poem. You are right, it is so sad for me to witness this. It is also sad to see how many people are buying the idea that “hate-speech” (a term used to eradicate all speech not in line with the mainstream view) is the cause of all chaos. This distracts from the real problem, which is the tyrannical government’s eagerness to shut down all free speech.

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you, biggest fan. I have come to the conclusion that many have no idea of the value or the side effects of free speech. All those who do know will be aware that there is no such thing as “hate speech” – it’s either freedom or suppression. There is no in between. Shutting down half of the people’s opinions means we only ever get the tyrants’ side of the story… and that never ends well.

      Reply
  5. David Whippman

    Susan, as usual, you deliver a well-written poem. It’s a worrying time to be in the UK; the misinformation about the Southport tragedy (ie that the murderer was an asylum seeker – he wasn’t) has masked the fact that a lot of people are concerned about migration levels. Like you, I fear for the future of free speech.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you very much for reading and for commenting, David. Concentrating on the “misinformation” aspect of this entire tragedy allows the overlords causing the chaos to shift the blame to those complaining about it. “Misinformation” is a byproduct of free speech and should get ironed out in the forum of ideas, not by an iron-fisted government. We had a gutful of “misinformation” from the powers that be during Covid – outright lies that resulted in many deaths, and not one single “expert” has been held responsible. It seems the consequences of “misinformation” only apply to those without power.

      Reply
      • David Whippman

        You’re not missing much being out of the UK at the moment. The honeymoon period between Labour and the electorate looks like being of Hollywood brevity!

  6. Roy E. Peterson

    The sadness that pervades true English people has been foisted on them by the same woke-related scum that we have here in the states. We share in their sadness and must realize the dangers that illegal aliens and the nefarious woke in particular pose here.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Thank you for this, Roy. You make some excellent points. I would also like to stress that open borders hurt everyone. Many migrants (encouraged by our lawless government to travel to a new life with streets paved with gold) hand over their life savings to coyotes who rip them off into the bargain. Many end up dead. Children are kidnapped and sex trafficked, drugs are rife, and those who benefit most are those in power… corrupt governments buy the migrants’ votes, and many innocent children pay with their lives.

      Reply
  7. Warren Bonham

    The UK and Canada descended incredibly quickly into Orwellian madness with the regimes in power defending their harmful policies by charging dissenters with undefined “thought crimes”. There is a chance the US may yet escape this lunacy thanks to poems like yours!

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Warren, thank you very much indeed. I am always grateful to receive a comment from a poet whose poems reveal the truth behind the facade of this duplicitous age we live in. I think America is on the brink of totalitarianism and believe it’s our duty to all future generations to stand up and speak up until we can’t.

      Reply
  8. Brian A. Yapko

    Susan, thank you for this incredible poem which documents the horror that is now sweeping over the U.K. and which threatens to spill over even to the U.S. First and foremost is searing grief for the little children who became the victims of murder. It’s heartbreaking… and eminently foreseeable. As I’ve said more than once on this site (and elsewhere), an open border policy does not spread civilization nor is it compassionate. It NEVER results in the spreading of civilization — it ALWAYS results in the barbarism of those brought in infusing the society that invited them in. Wolves and sheep should not be forced to coexist because ideologues can’t live in the real world. And when wolves and sheep are brought together despite all common sense, it is invariably the sheep who will suffer. It is such simple truth as this that the U.K. and the liberal left keeps trying to suppress. What in God’s name is wrong with them?

    As for the secondary theme of your poem, I also saw the news indicating that the UK pooh bahs would rather torch free speech than end the madness, even to the point of extraditing U.S. citizens in the privacy of their homes sharing non-libelous materials on the internet. Well, it’s a shame we can’t share Facebook memes on the SCP because I saw a good one — a young lady with a “don’t even try it” expression on her face browsing the rifles in an American gunshop. The caption reads “Americans reading about how the British want to charge and extradite them for offensive speech online.”

    Amazing how Britain’s own government has managed to achieve by self-sabotage what Hitler (with a little help from Wernher von Braun) failed to to. Britain is lost.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Brian, thank you so much for commenting on the elephant in the room – “an open border policy does not spread civilization nor is it compassionate.” says it all. If only all those bleeding hearts backing the open borders policies that enable a global government to pay for the votes of those coming across, realized what harm this is doing to ALL the innocents swept up in this horror, they might not be as keen to aid and abet this global crime against humanity.

      The British citizens are upset with the two-tier policing system and are calling the Prime Minister (Kier Starmer) “Two-Tier Kier” – how deplorable of them to dare suggest this. As we know, Antifa and BLM (those peaceful Marxist protesters who vandalized the London cenotaph) and the elderly and infirm keyboard warriors get exactly the same treatment. To say anything else is “misinformation”. It’s obvious to all that retweeting offensive memes is the cause of the unrest on British streets… isn’t it?

      This reminds me of the censorship of Winnie the Pooh in China because the Chinese government considered Pooh a disrespectful mockery of Xi Jinping due to him being compared to dear, tubby Winnie in internet memes. That is where my beloved homeland is at, and my heart breaks for all those who remember what their forefathers fought for and are trying to hang on to. Brian your closing paragraph is spot on, to my horror.

      Reply
  9. Cynthia Erlandson

    Thank you, Susan. Blaming violence on memes, and “citizens-are-secondary notions”, won’t get anything accomplished except more sickening violence.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Cynthia, sadly you are right, and I fear for the future of the Western world. Many who have enjoyed the freedoms we have here have no idea what the alternative looks like… we are at the edge of a deep, dark chasm of terror. Ignorance may well be bliss until we all begin to fall. Let’s hope we can pull back from the brink for our children.

      Reply
  10. B. D. Benson

    Glad my ancestors fought against these limey fascists nearly 250 years ago. Sad to say my great uncle gave his life to protect them over a 100 years ago. Sadder still that my grandfather fought to protect their way of life 80 years ago. I’m nearly despondent that I spent my youth defending western civilization so jack wagons like these politicians could surrender it all for votes. Your poem is spot on and I pray that it is read by the masses. May God Bless You

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      B.D. Benson, thank you very much for reading and for commenting on my poem. My grandfather fought in WWII, and it chills my blood to think what he would think of the situation in my homeland today. I know exactly where you’re coming from and appreciate you telling it like it is. May God bless you too.

      Reply
    • Joshua C. Frank

      B. D., I agree with you. I find myself wondering more and more whether they would have bothered fighting if they could have seen the future. People complain about what the military is like these days, but maybe if we had a country worth fighting for, men would instinctively feel protective enough toward it to protect its interests.

      The biggest threat is not other countries wanting to destroy the United States, but the culture having already destroyed it from within.

      Reply
  11. Daniel Kemper

    Spot on with instant commentary as usual. I heard that some chieftain over there even threatened to use international treaties to get Americans who blasted them over social media!

    Glad you’re here in the USA. Britain, having been a good partner for a long time, might to be taught another lesson. OTOH, Europe, Britain included, never has been very freedom friendly–what’s the difference between “Lords” and Oligarchs?

    Anyway, back to the poem. I liked that this line, “These truncheon-wielding thugs prowl round each town,” didn’t distinguish the corrupted police from the grooming gangs with whom they work hand in glove.

    Weirdly reminded of “California Uber Alles” (Dead Kennedy’s), as well.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Daniel, thank you very much for reading and for commenting on this grim and quickly written sonnet. Sadly, you’re right. The draconian arm of the British “law” has stretched out to slap Americans in the face with a threat. As the British people are set to find out, any ruling body is open to corruption. The governments in the Western world are working together in the name of Globalism. In spite of Brexit, the British are still answerable to the EU and whoever else has their dirty paws on the fat-cat pie. Villains by any other name will smell as vile.

      Reply
  12. Joshua C. Frank

    Susan, thank you so much for calling our attention to this, which the poem does well. From what I hear, England is a Muslim country pretending it isn’t, but not doing a very good job at the pretense.

    Of course, as I’ve been saying for years, why should a people happy to murder its own children before they’re born give the slightest damn about the lives of children after they’re born? “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.” Or, in the case of liberals, strain out an electron and swallow a galaxy.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Josh, thank you for reading and for commenting. My heart aches at the state of the world today. In 2020 the world was given a huge insight into the harsh turn of events on the horizon, and although I knew (and warned) this would happen, nothing prepared me for how I would feel about the situation in my homeland today. I am devastated.

      Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      … also, please know there are many good guys out there trying their best to do something about this sick mess – brave souls like Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, arrested for simply praying silently outside an abortion clinic. Although charges were dropped and the courts ruled in her favor, the police are hounding her yet again as seen in this clip:
      https://rumble.com/v5alzz5-british-police-are-now-interrogating-women-for-the-crime-of-silently-prayin.html
      Josh, please don’t lose faith in in the world as a whole – the good guys don’t have a voice when they’re gagged by tyrants.

      Reply
  13. Mia

    Once upon a present time, there lived a ruler of a certain country who came down very hard on those that opposed the disintegration of his kingdom. He threw them in prison. Instead he made friends with those whose allegiance was to another king believing that by being good to them they would see him as their ruler. Or at least not attack him or say bad things about him .
    Sadly after a few years he found that he had alienated his supporters and there was no one left to defend him.
    Eventually he grew weaker and weaker until he lost his kingdom.
    The End.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      You have summed up this sorry state of affairs in a nutshell, Mia, and I thank you wholeheartedly for reading and for commenting.

      Reply
  14. Lannie David Brockstein

    Susan, anybody who wants to feel even more revolted about the state of our beloved Britain, should read the exceedingly hypocritical “tweet” that two-tier Keir the Dalek posted yesterday about “Victory over Japan Day”.

    Likewise, anybody who wants to feel there is hope for the UK, should also read the comments that thousands of British patriots have posted in direct reply to that nitwit idiot.

    https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/1824043569184702891

    From Lannie.

    Reply
    • Susan Jarvis Bryant

      Lannie, thank you very much for this. Two-tier Kier’s tweet is indeed “exceedingly hypocritical”, and I am heartened by the response of the Brits who know it and are bold enough to say it… in spite of the iron-fisted warnings from those in power. As for “Kier the Dalek” – I’ve just visited YouTube for an education that has fired my muse… hilarious. Starmer’s Dalek has just exterminated Jinping’s Pooh!

      Reply

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