250. Remember Ashli Babbitt (An AntiWar Poem)
Sexist and Racist Liberals
Celebrate suicide,
And lionize male soldiers,
Protesters,
While knowing nothing
about their backgrounds.
Just as long as their protest,
Falls within convenient partisan lines;
Protesting the president and administration,
That they, themselves, voted for.
Mindless Fools
Who are too stupid, and dumb, and blind;
And racist, and sexist,
And prejudiced and brainwashed;
To see that smart protesters
Good, brave, and actually
Intelligent people;
Protest war and terror,
And stolen elections,
And evil regimes,
And needless and senseless wars
Before they happen;
while followers,
Who can’t think for themselves,
Are reactionary protesters;
Who only follow what’s approved of
And popular,
Pretending to stand up for something;
After so much time is lost,
And blood is shed.
Is that considered heroism?
A dozen
“Johnny come latelys” who burn
Their uniforms…
Have finally joined Ashli Babbitt,
The brave Air Force veteran in her
protest.
I guess it was about time;
Trump never started any new wars
in his tenure
(Babbitt voted for Obama,
because he promised to close Gitmo)
And the sheep will vote for Biden,
while they (simultaneously) protest him;
And a burning bush that says nothing new,
Is welcomed later
to the noble history of
Ashli Babbitt;
And Vietnam soldiers, and protesters, and self-immolators;
Who gave their lives for the country
By saying, “No”
Not just, “No more.”
I guess later,
Months and years,
And tens of thousands of dead bodies, later;
(Literally millions in Iraq and Afghanistan)
Is better
(So much slightly better than…)
Rather better, than never at all.
— A.M. McGee
[Notes & Commentary: I’m not a fan of either major political party, or their presidents/candidates… Often saying, “the only real difference between voting Democrat or Republican, is whether you want an old war with Russia, in Ukraine, or a new war with China, in MyanMar.” (A cause they, they meaning the military industrial complex, already workshopped trying to get liberal democrats to support.) However, I’ve definitely noticed the sexist double standard in which Ashli Babbitt, who died for her country protesting a stolen election, is defamed and criticized; while the suicidal protest and self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell is celebrated and lionized as an act of outstanding heroism. This makes zero sense to me, and to anyone who has both the courage and common sense to think for themselves. It goes without saying, that Aaron Bushnell has much more in common with Ashli Babbitt, than any of the people celebrating his “sacrifice” to their “cause.” — Both were Air Force veterans, both came from conservative Christian backgrounds, both died protesting the Biden Administration, etc. — And while self-immolation has a long history in AntiWar Protest, I think it’s smarter not to intentionally hurt yourself for people who don’t care how many hundreds or thousands of people they kill, every hour on the hour, with guns and bombs and chemical accelerants. This poem, in a way, is also about my grandmother and grandfather who became AntiWar Activists after serving in the Air Fore. I called the people who criticized Ashli Babbitt both racist and sexist, because of both the obvious sexism of this case (aka the implication that a woman can’t be a hero; or the even more sexist implication that her final act of heroism, as a patriot and as a soldier serving her country, was a sign of female hysteria) but also because of the more subtlety racist things that have been said about her after her murder, such as the suggestion that she “should have complied” while being shot, unarmed, by a Black cop.]
