11/23 A Thanksgiving prayer by WSB:
Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to
be shit out through wholesome American guts.
Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.
Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.
Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the
carcasses to rot.
Thanks for the American dream, To vulgarize and to falsify until
the bare lies shine through.
Thanks for the KKK.
For nigger-killin' lawmen, feelin' their notches.
For decent church-goin' women, with their mean, pinched, bitter,
evil faces.
Thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers.
Thanks for laboratory AIDS.
Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.
Thanks for a country where nobody's allowed to mind the own business.
Thanks for a nation of finks.
Yes, thanks for all the memories-- all right let's see your arms!
You always were a headache and you always were a bore.
Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and
greatest of human dreams.
\_ Yes there have been and still are a lot of problems in
this country, but there are also a lot of things to be
thankful for. I am thankful to be in America. If you
dislike it so much, you are free to leave, or work
to make it better. Whining about it on Thanksgiving is
just stupid, though. -immigrant
\_ I'm thinking that maybe we have the immigration concept all wrong in
this country.
We should throw open the borders to people like the immigrant above
and _kick out_ those who have no clue how good it is here.
I've been to third world countries (most of Western Europe) and I
swear one of the best days in my life was coming back here and
setting foot on American soil again. Love it, leave it, or change
it, but don't whine about it.
\_ you are missing the point of the poem. Burroughs wrote this
at a time when most americans didn't realize that there were
problems with our "Perfect Society". Note how we're headed into
quite possibly a republican era - where the little guy can be
stomped on - it's really easy to categorize people into "the
lazy" and "the hard working" and to believe in self-righteouness.
\_ Really? Burroughs wrote that AIDS came out of a lab? Also,
you really think the Democrats are out there "fight fight
fighting!" for the little guy? Where can I buy some?
I'm not a blind pro-anything psycho. Please recognise that
politics is about power, not people. Don't ever let some
politico from _any_ party fool you into thinking he gives
a crap about you. They only care about the next election
and pork. And none of this has anything to do with the
poem. I repeat: love it, leave it, change it, but don't
just whine about it. Lucky for you this is a country where
you can say such a thing and not worry about getting shot,
run over by a tank in a public square or hauled off to an
icy Siberian slave labor camp. This isn't a utopia and
whining about it won't make it one. I got the point. |