Such is the wit and insight of fellow anarchist author Darren Allen that I can imagine a parallel universe in which he is a household name in our native UK, a national treasure of the “love-him-or-loathe-him” variety.
Wotnogging!! 🤣 I am doing that all the time whilst learning Spanish (I have run away to Argentina), and was just yesterday bemoaning the lack of a verb to express it. Synchronicity! 🙂
Anything in any way related to the Devil's Dictionary is good fun!
Your sentence "Furthermore, Darren would not be expressing what he expresses – would not be able to do so – if his talent had been recognised and rewarded by the society in which he lives." is just too in line with a poem I once wrote ("Rewards') for me to resist dropping it in here. Please forgive my indugence. [Note: it appears as a crude (unformatted) version but the gist of it comes through.]
He's also on substack.
https://expressiveegg.substack.com/
Thank you! Some good stuff here
Darren has been an absolutely crushing my ego for a decade now, thanks to the both of you for all the love!
Wotnogging!! 🤣 I am doing that all the time whilst learning Spanish (I have run away to Argentina), and was just yesterday bemoaning the lack of a verb to express it. Synchronicity! 🙂
Nice write-up.
Anything in any way related to the Devil's Dictionary is good fun!
Your sentence "Furthermore, Darren would not be expressing what he expresses – would not be able to do so – if his talent had been recognised and rewarded by the society in which he lives." is just too in line with a poem I once wrote ("Rewards') for me to resist dropping it in here. Please forgive my indugence. [Note: it appears as a crude (unformatted) version but the gist of it comes through.]
Ensuring wrongthink remains
confined in its travels
to rutted country lanes
the Overton window
— with a view to dissuading
any straying from its frame —
has its limits firmly reinforced
by the thought-funneling power
inherent in the awarding of awards
trophies promotions positions
honours laurels distinctions
instruments all of subliminal control;
circumscribing icons
of ego-stroking gold
grown-up versions
of those glistening stars
teachers stuck in notebooks of old;
grown-up diversions
supplied by the powers that are
but should never be or have been;
widely-publicized highly-prized ribbons
issued in all too shrewd recognition
of obedient behaviour
by servants of the so-called elites
like so many fetchingly flavoured
hypnotically-Pavlovian treats
prestige-wielding tools
whose principal use
is the nudging and sculpting of culture;
exalted symbols bestowed to induce
an implicit ideological submissiveness
bestowed as tacit rewards
for both vocal support for
and the mere refraining
from taking any pokes
at prevailing status quos
symbols whose very acceptance
lays bare their thrilled recipients'
servility-signaling deafness
to the not-insignificant dissonance
of such ostensibly high-minded baubles'
dissent-censoring influence.
Thanks for sharing that. There's an awful lot of "servility-signaling deafness" around us, for sure!