I saw these signs in my yard today. I don't know why we didn't take them in. But it felt like a metaphor for democracy itself. So I wrote the haiku, trying to capture how disorienting it is to try to look back at that time, which isn't that long ago in days, but seems a lifetime away in traumas.
A haiku often captures a seasonal element or a change of seasons, and a senryu a human issue, sometimes comedic. If there is anything comedic here, it is tragicomedy. But certainly we are in a new season, where only Climate Change itself can be an apt metaphor for a too-hot political summer to come, one for which spring has given us only the barest hints of how bad it could be.
We need to start tending our gardens better. There are limits to what we can withstand in the climate, and the political climate. These are not just words.
My mind goes once again to a favorite quote from the excellent Asimov & Silverberg novel Nightfall (not the short story), when, after a complete disruption of society due to a global cataclysm, a psychologist named Sheerin who'd predicted social chaos reflects on his earlier predictions and how he feels about the way they played out:
«"It's one thing to predict it. It's something else to be right in the middle of it. It's a very humbling thing, … for an academic like me to find his abstract theories turning into concrete reality. I was so glib, so blithely unconcerned. 'Tomorrow there won't be a city standing unharmed in all [the world]' I said, and it was all just so many words to me, really, just a philosophical exercise, completely abstract. 'The end of the world you used to live in.' Yes. Yes." Sheerin shivered. "And it all happened, just like I said. But I suppose I didn't really believe my own dire predictions, until everything came crashing down around me.»
There’s a kind of loneliness that comes from being unable to live in denial
When you know that Covid isn’t over, you have to watch as others risk their lives & the lives of others
When you’re disabled, you have to live with knowing the medical system can’t help you
The comfortable lies are gone, and the knowledge can be isolating.
I’ve just signed the petition, sponsored by former Labour MP Chris Williamson, to “repeal the 2000 and 2006 Terrorism Acts and review other legislation” to prevent police-state abuse and enable real safeguards”.
We need 100k signatures to get this debated in Parliament!
Please won’t you sign using this link ?
Those of us who refused to adopt the “back to normal” Covid denial narrative are used to witnessing mental gymnastics by folks who need to believe the pandemic is over.
The new US Covid website is peak denial and conspiracy theory misinformation.
It reminds me of the AIDS denialism websites of the late 90s and early 2000s. They spread the lie that HIV doesn’t cause AIDS … that the real culprit was the medications to treat HIV.
You know who’s repeated that lie over the years? RFK Jr.
Lastly, how can they reconcile believing it’s a bioweapon yet also “mild” and “no big deal”? Surely if you believe a virus was weaponized to cause harm, you should take steps to avoid getting it repeatedly?
Mental gymnastics. When a person has no substance or facts to back up their position, logic goes out the window.
Mention anything about how Trumpistan is turning into #Apartheid #Israel on blue #MAGA platform #BlueSky and the American #liberals get ao angry and block you.
They still can't admit that the fascist #Netanyahu is the role model of the orange #Hitler and both #republicans and #democrats worship him (or terrified of him).
…climate change deniers…may be seen as denying the very real possibility of the planet’s destruction… Denial, whether at the individual or group level, is the most primitive defense the mind employs to protect itself from psychic pain.
—Bandy X. Lee et al., The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump
#climatechange #denial
incompetent king
impotent to fix problems
can't but deny them
bankruptcy's oft his next tool
but grace won't likely follow
#tanka #haiku #senryu #poem #ShortPoem #SmallPoem #SmallPoems #economy #climate #denial #ClimateDenial #censorship #bankruptcy #oligarchy #incompetence #incompetent #forgiveness #grace #rebellion #collapse
I've attached some notes as a comment.
In a PhD exam about atmospheric chemistry three weeks ago ,I asked the candidate what would happen if the US stopped collecting the data of the kind she had used in her thesis. A good discussion followed. Now here it is.
As expected from the Project 2025, the Trump administration prepares to completely gut NOAA and eliminate its climate monitoring and research. #climatescience #denial #vandalism
https://www.eenews.net/articles/white-house-outlines-plan-to-gut-noaa-smother-climate-research/
@dazo Couldn't agree more Compensation and projection seem to be hallmark traits for #MAGATs They are a natural and expected logical development of a #USCulture of #Fantasy #Escapism and #Denial It's #USPolitics #USReligion it's a sick culture Why else would most in the US chose to travel to stand in line and pay for overpriced food and tickets to see a #FantasyMouse and #FantasyPrincess when they could travel to see #Art #History #Music #Theatre: the #Foundation of the World and #Reality
#israel #palestine : #warcrimes / #murder / #idf / #denial / #civilianvictims / #narrative / #impunity
(Chapeau, "Guardian"!)
„After 15 Palestinian medics and civil defence workers were killed by Israeli forces late last month, Israel began a familiar pattern of denial.“
@gwynnion The US has ALWAYS been a culture of #ReligiousFanstasy and #Denial. Why else, when the entire world full of History, Art, Music and Culture, is yours for the taking would most choose to spend the day, paying over priced fees, waiting, standing in line to watch a fantasy cartoon mouse or princess?
The US has a culture of #Escapism and #Denial. Like all addicts in a dysfunctional relationship there comes a #Reckoning #EscapistFantasy is in our #Religion and in our #Tech, and we will pay for it.
Prof. #ChristinaPagel
Eight things scientists can do right now to stand up to the Trump administration’s attacks on research, public health, and the environment
A guest post by Dr Anne Toomey, author of the book "Science with Impact: How to Engage People, Change Practice, and Influence Policy".
https://christinapagel.substack.com/p/eight-things-scientists-can-do-right
#us #usa #science #denial #antiscience
#trump #musk #kleptofascist #billionaire #sectarian #esoteric #racist #swamp
I had a hard time with this one. There wasn’t anything remotely denyish in my liked or random playlists which are my first go tos for these prompt challenges. I finally found this, just now, through the songlink search:
I Break Horses ~ Denial
https://song.link/i/739709529
#AqiIsNowPlaying
#DracoTreasures
#Music
#AlternateFridayMusic
#Denial
@bborn @alfvaen @Bishopjoey @dgar https://mindly.social/@bborn/113999542743630994
#AlternateFridayMusic
Feb 14 2025
The prompt is #Denial
10cc, “I’m Not in Love” from The Original Soundtrack, 1975
This is THE classic denial song; the speaker’s denials of feeling for the presumptive object of his affection growing progressively weaker, hinting at the real truth.
The melody is simple, the sonics gentle, but as with the lyrics, if you listen closely, much more is going on. This track is a sonic splendor, using multiple layers of vocals to create an otherworldly effect, and weaving elements together into and out of the whispered break, without any of the digital effects and tools available today.
Drummer #KevinGodley and guitarist #LolCreme would break away from #10cc a couple years later and record as a duo, but their most noted breakthroughs were in video: Their video for “Cry” simulated face morphing (again before computer technology could do this for us) and they’d go on to create the celebrated video for #HerbieHancock's "Rockit.”
https://youtu.be/cgJckGsR-T0
Hey! It's _still_ #AlternateFridayMusic
Hosted By: @MarkIngs @bborn
Subject: #Denial
Submission: Smells Like Teen Spirit
By: Nirvana
Song Link: https://youtu.be/hTWKbfoikeg
Time for me to go a little more obvious:
Hello, hello, hello
With the lights out, it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial, a denial
A denial
Hey! It's #AlternateFridayMusic
Hosted By: @MarkIngs @bborn
Subject: #Denial
Submission: Denial Works for Me
By: #TISM
Song Link: https://tism-this-is-serious-mum.bandcamp.com/track/denial-works-for-me
(Trippy, fun fan video: https://youtu.be/zPsygsZvtj0)
Life is full of problems and here's the remedy
Denial works for me
There's a freight train coming loaded with anxiety
You're tied to the tracks, don't worry (Denial works for me)
Why put off till tomorrow, responsibilities
They'll just come back to haunt you (Ignore them totally)
“NHS doctor punished for speaking out on Israel’s genocide is taking legal action”
by Ed Sykes in The Canary @thecanaryuk
“The Canary has spoken to a doctor who is crowdfunding a legal challenge after his NHS bosses sought to punish him for speaking out on Israel’s genocide in Gaza”
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/02/11/dr-nadeem-crowe/?__s=pw3ygmyxve9etudpqdrh