Original Feature Image by Martin Anton Smith 2016 Zeppelin over London’s Big Ben
Welcome to The Baby Wants Its Bottle Poetry Podcast – A creative project by Martin Anton Smith, a New Zealand Based creative. In This Special Edition Podcast, I bring a poem with deep analysis. The Poem from late2019/Early 2020, before “Covi.d Times” had truly hit. The analysis is current from me, right now. At the time of writing the poem, I had been musing about how unique the Western cornerstones of our beliefs are. I was particularly annoyed ay some of the worst ones, and although there are good ones as well (such as a legal system with a right to defense, good sanitation, compulsory schooling to age 16 and mostly free/decent health care, to name but a few).
The basis for this Poem was from a draft file I found, and had put aside (it was hiding in cyberspace), and I found again on April 18th 2021. I polished it, a little bit, but it is essentially “written on the spot”, from the original form. You might call it a “Rough Diamond”, and it is half poem half philosophy, which is a format I find excellent for discussion potential. So in this podcast the discussion is the feature, rather than the poem itself. As this seriousness, will not be to everyone’s taste, I have marked it as a “special Edition Podcast” When I wrote this, I admit, I must have been in a black mood, as I chose to concentrate on the worst features of the West in the 21st century, without mentioning the good parts..
This is why I like to add discussion to my poems, it allows me to reappraise the poem, discuss, and add new and balanced material, that is not strictly part of the Poem itself. Poets and philosophers are a strange lot, I am sure we kind revel in the “miserable”. This is why when someone accuses me of being “downbeat”, I kind of feel somewhat aggrieved and surprised. As a poet/philosopher I feel its good to raise uncomfortable points, even if they are in theory “negative”. But to that I say this: is it negative to shout to a person crossing the road in the direct path an oncoming bus, so they can jump out if the way and so save themselves from death or injury? In saying that, its always wise to also offer positivity in terms of resolving bad problems – you could call this the “Floor Managers Dictum”.
I think we need to be honest with the negative in society, but then we also need to also recognize the “Devil You Know” dictum (This is the conservative dictum of what you have will usually be better than some untried new thing). Failing to recognize the “Devil You Know Dictum” means you can fall into the progressive trap – whereby after an appraisal of an aspect of the “failing status quo system” a new replacement system is thought up, and if tried out to its full extent, usually fails terribly to live up to theoretical expectations, and a disaster is experienced. After the dust settles (and this can often take many decades via the slow process of creating written accounts in History books, of what actually occurred ) of the Progressive/radical change, it is plainly seen for what it is it is then realized the “Prior bad system”, or “status quo” in place, wasn’t nearly as bad as the progressives had thought. There’s reasons for everything. The abrupt change from Post ww2 social and economic policy to neoliberal policy could is an example of fail to heed to “devil you know” dictum. We live in that myopic reality from the pasts leadership, half of us were born into it, not recognizing how truly bad much of its results are, but its fair to say the under 40’s are now waking up, as they age. Unfortunately the under 30’s seem to favour heavy socialism and communism, we see this in the “woke movement” – it doesn’t end well.
Of course my Poem/Thought Trail from last year, no doubt will suffer from the problem of “its easier to find problems that find solutions” dictum – I expect much of the seemingly “bad things of the west” I point out, are better than some progressive alternative replacement. However, analyzing whether something is “status Quo” or “Progressive Change” is complex – as it depends on the time scales evaluated. what is it place now is “status quo” on a 40 year time line, yet was a radical departure from the 40 years before that, the Post ww2 era which seemed to be an equal part mix of socialism/capitalism. What is “status quo” now is actually a now deeply embedded, radical doctrine compared to 1945-80 economic/politico/social policy. Is it really a “conservative policy” to stay with a radical era of policy – that of the current neoliberal era? Or is it more accurate to say that favoring the current Neoliberal era is a position to “continue to be radical” vs the earlier more balanced post ww2 era?
Original Art by Martin Anton Smith (detail) – our economy and society often needs a time machine to remind us of the past.
I think a policy man of 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s would baulk at someone describing the current state of the politico/economic system as “conservative”, and thus something “not to be fiddled with”. The post ww2 era Politician or Business Leader, would say its a radical doctrine that shouldn’t have ever started, and if it had been started, indeed continued for decades, it should then always be cancelled and rolled back. I argue, and have for some time, that much of Wests Post 1980 economic/politico changes* have been problematic, as the ills of those “progressive”/radical changes from the 80s forward, seems to have been willingly camouflaged by our World, National and Community Leaders.
*In a Nutshell the Neoliberal era 1980 to present is the era of ideological cry of “market forces/free trade”, which of course was pro structural unemployment, pro inequality and pro anti-competitiveness, given the rise and rise of the powerful corporations during this era, and the “Financializing” of the economy. It is that which continues to this day, the creator of such dysfunction of mass homelessness and the widening housing crisis, the working poor, a intractable ruling technocracy. Perhaps the most obvious shocking feature of the modern era is to choose not to punish the unthinking speculator, but to aid and abet in his embodiment – this is most obviously seen in the practice of speculators flipping existing housing stock back and forth to each other, gaining capital, while the renters – common workers and families face poor conditions much as rampart mold, sudden evictions, large rises in rent. These rises in rent are now making it questionable whether their is an incentive to work, as the percentage of wages spent on rent has ballooned so high. So such a situation is a threat to production in the real economy – the engine-house of our society, our social fabric. Under the current system, rather than trying to cure this by building more housing stock, the reverse is done, the red tape is utilized, and their is only gated access to new land – for those in familial positions of privilege. They say to find out who controls something, look to see who benefits – this in the west has been the much older speculators and rent barons, with a pandering, in on it, red tape creating political class. Yes this sounds a bit Trotsky like – but its true – we have workers and families sleeping in cars, tents, living in dilapidated unhealthy housing, with no discretionary funds to build the real economy of value creation.
in 2021 we look to the hotspots of USA – California, Portland , New York to see that this camouflaged elitist system is finally failing to uphold its smoke and mirror tactics – its not working, and everyone knows it. We should return to the good policy of the post ww2 era, and not use the bad policy (i.e rigid gender roles, heavy unionization, too casual work safety rules).
Thus the questions my poem raises is a great way to discuss failures and victories of current western culture vs older western culture vs entirely other cultures. The West we are told (by those in ivory towers at least) is largely a product of the Enlightenment, a period starting around the early middle ages, where we moved from superstitious thought and religious law, to one of scientific and technical rationality, with Church as State separated. Its also worth mentioning that the west in the last 60 years, has not only had Church and State separated (and I believe that’s a good idea), but religious affiliation and practice has dwindled. The dwindling of the Church as a mode of social cohesion, I strongly believe, has created a cavernous void – a void that has been attempted to be filled by careerism and material goods and dinner party-ism, but this has failed as a suitable replacement.
I personally believe the social ills of the West can be largely solved by a system whereby people outside a religious belief system, at least believe in an Einsteinian God. Belief in a cosmic creator of some sort seems to allow people to follow the Christian “Golden Rule” (Do Unto Others As They Would Have Do Unto You). Without the “Golden Rule”, Society fails, and results in a society which becomes to parasitic, and ultimately if there are too many parasites, the host dies. I believe this is what we have been seeing in the west – a growth in parasitic behavior, this is most evidenced in economic behavior. The economy has become warped. What they call “the real economy” (Creating value and so Jobs and so wider prosperity) has been shrinking, and the world of Big Finance has skyrocketed (Making Money of existing assets, but adding no real value to the economy). thus wealth has been transferred upwards and inequality has become unsustainable for a stable society, as I eluded to and described earlier discussing Neoliberalism.
You only need to look at the USA and its problems to see the effects of 40+ years bad Western policy. On a positive note – I do believe we see in many people a desire for a return to a society which practices the “Golden Rule, and perhaps a bit of destruction will allow the people displaying parasitic behavior to amend there ways. After all History is full of cycles of all kinds, both periods of greed and generosity. So in reading this poem, I hope the audience sees the wider context, and engages in talk about how to return to a more “Real Economy”, and less Parasitic one. At least Western Society seems to be past the denial phase it was in until roughly 2010 (when the world economy shuddered with the GFC, which was caused by the sub prime mortgage crisis which was, of course rooted in the toxic “Parasitic economy” mentality).
This Poem is really about those negative behaviors that seem to have accelerated from the 60s 70s and 80s but flourished particularly so, in the post GFC western world. A World of “property ladders”, where building a new house, or buying an existing one has become a gated community, and is increasingly aristocratic and familial. So take this intentionally one sided essay, as a discussion point on how we can improve society, but also recognize the “Devil You Know” factor – for we should always avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater, as our leaders did in the 1980s and continue to do today. The “Real Economy” and real people continue to get the raw deal. For those of you with large reserves of mental energy and patience who are still with me, that’s more than enough of an introduction, so without further ado, let me begin the poem, and remember the one sidedness is to illustrate a point, I remind you we can change to a better world, much quicker than you might realize, given the fighting abilities of the human spirit.
“The Most important Unwritten History of the West Or Dictums to Live By”. Poem by Martin Anton Smith 2020.
The West is Masses of people interacting superficially, and this results in the giving very of little, (especially when you have something) and also so receiving very little (when you have nothing and need a lot).
Masses of people feeling really really annoyed about not being received properly (they wanted a lot for the little they gave).
Masses of People who lionise the ‘down and out’ as of weak character – but only have self pity for themselves when they become an ‘unfortunate’.
Masses and Masses of people not realizing they are totally un-empathetic mean, Calvinistic, walking contradictions (because they have no basic understanding of karma).
A tiny few people who give a lot when they have little (and in return they get a lot when they have little).
Western people have no collective loyalty to their wider society.
Western people are frightened of living life as to that which their passions dictate.
Western people prefer to live vicariously through other untouchable, plastic, unworldly richer total strangers, will even feel they know them, may even ‘love’ them…but hate to see their friends and neighbours succeed.
Western people are so repressed they must get drunk to meet a (sexual) partner.
Western People can’t make enough babies to sustain their economy (and must so import more collective and sexual cultures).
Western People go to a funeral for their best friend or family member, it lasts an hour, is usually managed by a weird stranger (a priest) and then they go back to work as if nothing happened.
Western People get married to someone they don’t love, and is unsuitable, and then have kids with them (because they are deeply worried what strangers will think if they stay single beyond 35-40).
Western People act like children when the marriage dissolves dramatically (though this time instead of throwing toys from a cot, they throw lawyers their (or their ex partners money) hard earned money and bits of paper with threats on them).
Western People pretend that the world is not dangerous, that people’s skin is not as soft as a watermelon, and then act really surprised when someone is injured, or dies early or is in a bad accident. (Sometimes groups of people design a system of shitty easily crushed tin cans with soft people inside them, set them going up to 100- 200km/hr., put them on a collision course, paint a little line a foot between them, and then set them in a giant game of chicken, whereby they pretend this is not a game of chicken, and then chide them or punish them or fine them when inevitably something goes wrong in this game of chicken).
Western People love it when one or two people own all the newspapers and media or all the electricity or all diamonds steel or food, (but yet they hate dictators and denounce them as evil).
Western People keep voting for the same dickheads who encourage all the above, and then act surprised that their lives never improve within the system (even though they voted for the same dickheads who help create and sustain said shitty system).
Western People sell their land to the highest bidder, which means a foreigner, and then talk of how bad, and feign surprise when they see all these foreigners around the place.
Western People have University’s where people are labelled as ‘the smartest guys we have’ in areas of business, the arts, medicine and science…(yet 80% of their income comes from poor and naïve 18 -25 year old’s mortgaging their futures all for these ‘smart people’ their comfortable seat in the ivory tower. These “smartest people” can’t somehow earn their own money via legitimate trade – they must live of loan-sharked overgrown teens).
Western People put the poor in jail and/ or convict them so also ruining their employment chance, for acts that are often tiny misdemeanors based on desperation (But are happy to give taxpayer funding through grants to business owners who create fake jobs schemes in order to steal millions).
Western People are now in decline so much it is at a total all encompassing DNA level (Western people are unaware that they are in Decline, and also how much they are in decline).
Western People who marry into other cultures, and have kids with these, are actually being the smartest western people (But they are often maligned as ‘Sleazy’ for doing so, for ‘how dare they marry those people from those irrational undeveloped countries?’)
Western People start to feel so terrible and depressed, after about age 15 because of the accumulated psychological stress from years of the delusion of denying they are living in a madhouse (then a Doctor who is a legal pathological drug dealer, gives them a pill to make them more manic so to cover the depression, and tells them to go back to the madhouse and come see them for more (a higher dosage) later when this doesn’t work very well.
For Western People, The proof of your true sanity is to realize you live in the long derived Western Madhouse (But if you tell people you realize this fact, you will be thrown in an asylum ,or a halfway house these days as asylums are no longer PC. In an insane world, you are only deemed practically sane if you prove your actual insanity sufficiently well).
All the above has lead me to design a new Western motto to live (or not live by) by it is this:
Cognito Nix Ergo Sum, insaniam convertunt
( The new western motto is ‘I don’t think, therefore I am insane).
End of Poem.
As a final part of post poem discussion, I would like to add a point of hope, to further combat the poems artistic one sidedness – the terrible pandemic crisis we are now more than a year into, may be the catalyst for a better operating western world, socially and economically. After the destruction of ww2, the world had a 30-40 year period of cohesiveness, and perhaps we will see a version of history repeat with the pandemic. Often a crash in life, ultimately brings out the best in all of us as all prior delusions are vanquished and we can see clearly once more. While I often suffer from cynicism, even I know that we can choose a better path, if we simply read history well and remember our historically well served meaningful dictums.
Thankyou for listening to the Baby wants It’s Bottle Podcast, A creative project by Martin Anton Smith, a NZ based creative. This podcast is available on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts from.
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