oopsjohn

July 9, 2022July 10, 2022

Every 2 Seconds

In a world crumbling beneath our feet it is all-too-easy to overlook a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions.

One person every 2 seconds – over 92 million as of early 2022, before the current Ukraine crisis – is forced to flee their home to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights, or natural disasters.

Lest we forget that every number has a face, here is a brief visualization of the displaced scrabbled together from stock video and news footage.

best viewed on large screen

😦 😦 😦

July 1, 2022July 1, 2022

People Are Not Good To Each Other

The philosopher Bertrand Russell lived into his late 90s. On his deathbed he was asked if after a lifetime of reflection he had any wisdom he would like to pass on. “Try to be a little kinder,” he said.

Nobody remembers that. Philosophers don’t go viral. Poets usually don’t, either. But at least they try a different approach. Instead of whispering, they shout. They get up in your face and demand not that you listen, but that you participate.

Charles Bukowski is not known for sugarcoating. The narrator, Tom O’Bedlam, took out two lines he judged “too offensive for most people” from this poem cataloguing the ills of society and lamenting the lonely. If I could match his marvelous voice I would sneak them back in.

Nevertheless, in this poem Bukowski, paradoxically, both amps up and understates Russell’s sentiment. I have added some visuals mostly to piss off purists.