Some say,

Some say,

“What good

Has come of progress”

Apart from an end to Polio and TB

An increase in

Infant survival rates

Longer lives

And a slew of other health benefits

If you can afford them

Or stay alive long enough to

Stagger to the front of the queue

Without losing a leg from an IED

Your senses

Or the will to live.

I guess we can argue about equality

And Discrimination

When the truth is, people

Will hide what they think

Half the time.

I get fed up trying to defend

Difference

When shutters come down

In suburban streets

Blinkers go up to protect

A narrow view

Of history,

I have all but given up

On being a dissenter

A leveller

Having stood in the firing line

Far too long

Waiting to be shot at.

What is the point?

It makes no odds to the redneck

The little Englander

The rightwing insurrectionist

The religious bigot

What I think.

Intellectualism is dead

Opinion is truth

But there I go kowtowing

To ignorance

Is what you would say

From the comfort

Of a recliner

A nimble-fingered

Keyboard warrior

A silver surfer

Fomenting anarchy

From a beach in Waikiki.

Even an ass-hole takes a holiday.

So here I go again

Taking a pitchfork to the shit

I hope one day will stick

And standing up for the right

To be different

In a world of Opposition

To science

And challenge to expertise

It is the least we can

Expect to be.