Scorn - the original programmable weapon
For my Wise and Generous Parents, to creatures
of the Blue Planet:
our
rich cultures are full of ineffable ironies and perennial paradox,
produce of a pulchritudinous planet.
Words in jest or not,
Teasing carves greater meaning -
Dialogue rebirths.
Teased are all by language, a self-inflicted weapon used
every minute of the day in every corner of your globe.
When ferments first fired fellowship around a charred carcass
the playful mock was born. Whenever since life rested upon prior
efforts you poured scorn on the weak - playful if friend or with,
if enemy, enmity.
As tribe tasted township, ventured village, coveted city, sought
shire or statehood, knew nationhood - cravings for community consciousness
contrived Coliseums of caricature, contempt, derision, farce, mockery.
Whatever it took to annoy your fellows or antagonize enemies.
It is in your nature to needle.
Savor these synonyms: aggravate, annoy, badger, bother, dump on,
goad, harass, jive, kibitz, pester, put down, rag on, razz, rib,
ride, ridicule, roast, flame, send up, spoof, swipe, taunt, torment
- and I left most of them out!
This hectoring habit was foreplay to society's formation, fundamental
to factory, faith and formulae. You made language and now cannot
escape its power that sends humans hurtling to happenstance.
Language is your software. It carried you through the millennia,
stored your knowledge, carries the collective consciousness and
now programs machines made in your image.
Human effort fully recast - from dirt crops to data cores.
With Respect and Love
Your Beloved Son
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