INTRODUCTORY NOTE:
British politics is lurching along a depressing and repressive path, stirring up a witches’ brew of neo-liberalism and neo-fascism: but on the much more hopeful side, there’s also a new critical-dignitarian, edgy, and thoroughly push-backarian philosophical, social, and political ferment on the rise in London, recalling the heady days of politicized punk and The Clash.
So that’s what this series, by Emre Kazim, a London-based philosopher, is all about.
And since we’re committed to philosophizing with a hammer and a blue guitar, it seemed just right to kick off the series with a poem.
“Human Nature”
A disease spread, microscopic beasts insatiable
into the veins of all in contact, they bred
robust and irresistible–a bacterium
to which it seemed no cure could be conjured.
It began in small islands, from which it was
carried by the sailors who set forth
in to the new worlds of gold and silk and silver
which they took while exchanging
the death that coursed through their Beings
and through this the disease spread further
from mother to child, through the seed of fathers
it was a disease that could strike dead in a moment
or lay dormant from generation to generation
activating a hundred years from inception
like a fire in woodlands a thousand years dry
consuming in moments natures charms.
Initially it begets delirium, madness
then a calmness ensues
and then the killing begins.
All affected would murder–kill and kill
with no mercy or respite to these awful acts
until the uninfected clumped together
to defend themselves against the killers
they fought–by killing the killers
but as soon as there were no more killers
they began to kill one another
for some had yet to activate the dormant bacteria.
No one was safe and once more the killing began
this time no one knew the cause of the killing: the bacterium
or as a consequence of the madness that had descended
the wise refused to give birth into the world
fearful that their child would be a killer or be killed
they died; a generation of genetics lost.
Those that remained could kill no more
for they were scattered–though there were some,
a kernel of people from the East, who held a natural immunity
none of them killed; neither one another nor the killers
for they inhabited lands with air and water and fruit
which resisted and fought by a natural grace
these people were aware of the killing
staying away, as long as they could sustain the distance
and yet the screams reached them
they attempted to stuff cotton in their ears
but the buds were stained red by the rivers which
flowed from the land of the killers
the sages from this Eastern land took no rest
for the savagery churned their souls
and acid coursed through their souls
eventually the lay people became aware of the pain
in the eyes of the wise and learned
they asked what could cause this suffering
the Sages spoke of ancient prophecies speaking of their present day
they spoke of the nightmares which consumed them
warning the Eastern peoples that a darkness has enveloped.
The people listened and panic ensued
although they were immune they knew it not
…. with time they grew suspicious of the Sages
thinking that they were tricked into submission
caged in the paradise of the East
and so some, the enlightened and disenchanted
sought to prove the Sages false, setting forth
Westward in to the fantasyland of the killers
with each step they took, the Sages that existed
died a thousand deaths, one by one they all died
the expedition continued unaware of these Eastern deaths
they explored, continuing Westward into empty lands
finding no one, finding no bodies, finding no life
walking as nomads; the emancipated found nothing
taking this as evidence that the Sages were false
they returned to their forgotten homes
back to the East, to a dominion with few remaining Sages
they told the people of the East that all taught to them
was but myth and lore–a means of control by the Sages
and so the people who had remained in the East grew angry
at how had they existed in such servitude, at the whim of madmen
nefarious men who had kept them in serfdom
and then the killing began–the Sages were attacked
those who defended them were killed also
the people killed one another–all faces the same
no one knew friend from foe, for the garments were the same
and the language was the identical
the killers refused to believe the words of their brethren
people were randomly accused of being covert Sages
or working for the non-existent Sages
they too were killed
until no Sages remained, and no thought of Sages remained.
Unbeknown to these killers, those who had explored the West
had caught the bacterium
in their blood it had mutated taking a more subtle form
causing killing but at a much reduced rate
enough to allow the infected to go unnoticed
the Eastern people that remained after the bloodshed
began once more to breed, eventually repopulating
to a number equal to before the killing
after some generations they began to explore Westward once-more
with time they occupied the entire world
forming civilizations, with languages and cultures
dissimilar to their Eastern origins
origins which became but esoteric memories
all along the people advanced to the frontiers of the world
reaching the depths of the Earth’s core
reaching the farthest stars in the galaxy
and all along within them they possessed
a bacterium, which perplexed their science men
(the gods, the true sages of this new world)
not knowing the origin it had come from
or what role it played in their organism
and so they ignored it
–the bacterium’s greatest success
the people killed and it was normal
“human nature” they called it
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