The following was written by M.A. Littler, as an attempt to compress the experience of his new movie, Kingdom of Survival, into verse.
Of course, Mr. Littler is the maverick filmmaker behind Slowboat Films, which made The Folk Singer, one of my favorite films. I haven’t seen Kingdom of Survival yet, but I have a copy, and am chomping at the bit to do so.
Maybe All It Takes Is Patience
The government, the state, the law, Jack it ain’t no building you can wreck
It’s an idea
A stubborn sonumabitch of an idea, that metastases through our organisms like the Big Bad C
The rulers and the ruled alike are high on that sacred phallic trinity – authority, hierarchy & power.
Well Jack, they claim I am a prophet of chaos
Comparisons to the plundering hoards of the Mongol empire
Roll of the tip of their purple tongues like black honey
They’ve breastfed their children two myths:
The fear of death & the fear of anarchy
They are helpless containing the first
The latter they’ve built gulags for, concentration camps, hospitals, asylums, prison systems and schools
They’ve raised their spawn in fear of their neighbor – the neighbor, Jack is the enemy
Without organization orchestrated by the selected few, chaos will befall our world like a rampant wild fire
Repeat the lie and it becomes the truth
The bestial masses must be governed, not by themselves, Jack but by others – government by the few over the many
Rape, murder, plundering, insanity
Let’s take a look at it, shall we Jack?
Let’s take a look at Nicaragua ‘round about 1981
Only a dead Sandinista is a good Sandinista!
Or how about Bergen Belsen, My Lai, mass bombings in Laos and Cambodia that never happened…
Now you tell me Jack, who did the raping?
Who did the murdering?
Who did the plundering?
Who’s insanity made Bosch’s depiction of hell look like a Norman Rockwell painting?
The bestial masses?
Yes and no, Jack
The masses pay for the wars
The masses fight those wars but they do not wage those wars
They merely pay their blood tax on the battle field for imaginary nation states
Sacrificing themselves and theirs as if executing an ancient prophecy
Why do the bestial masses consent to be governed, Jack?
Slaves embrace their slavery, since they know nothing else
The concentration camps of the future will be voluntary
Pop a pill, listen to your teacher, every man needs a trade, connect your brain to the cybernetic spider web and nod off into oblivion
Forget the physical world – the physical world is pregnant with pain
Follow the direction, follow the feedback
Make sure to share the values of your kings, even though you’ll never touch a sliver of it
Why work for yourself if you can work for others?
Why not build the prison walls that will hold you captive?
Why not accept crime and punishment inflicted upon you, imposed by others?
Why not enjoy the complete lack of control until they place you in a pine box 6 feet underground at Potter’s Field?
Maybe man shall be merry on the other side, Jack
Maybe all it takes is patience.
Here’s the trailer for Kingdom of Survival. I’m buried in writing projects, but I can’t wait until I can carve out two hours to sit down and watch the damn thing.
(Cross-posted on www.benjaminwhitmer.com)
