The Sounds of Progress

I used to believe politics was important. Each election, I wrote something & emailed it for humans to read. Turns out, humans don’t like reading.

This time, I recorded a spoken-word poem & set it to music. It was very popular. It won awards & was featured in New York Times & Oprah. Just kidding. Nobody listened to it.

This was written & recorded before 2012 election

 

progress:


progress certainly seems like a simple thing

and by all rational means, change is progression

the past preserves its lesson

and then repeats itself in so many ways

if change is simply day by day,

then on a massive scale it should move both ways

from the beginning to the end, 

and that's all the mind can comprehend

as the illustrious "they" say, a ripple may become a wave

and on the same scale mentioned previously, 

infinitely, potentially every day is a new wave

progress has no ownership, no worth, 

and no value to the apathetic mind

and, in kind, no one has reason to have empathy, 

except instinctually for the benefit of life

guilty by association not by proclamation

not by reiteration of the same feigned lameness

that grazed the mind's foul senses 

and contrived one absurd consensus

this being the assumption that somehow there is some true morality

and for some god awful reason you think you've found it

you've grounded all these unsound judgments

with the sounds of a world so far beyond it

in a world of infinitely stagnant politics

these thoughts are detrimental

the political beast is stuck in the middle

of impartial bliss and such partial biases

that seemingly deny the wills inside us

to carry on without the pseudo-apocalyptic dramas

and fear-based fury -corruption that taunt us

logically, our crimes will come back to haunt us

but why proclaim to know why, if knowing never solves the problems

ultimately, rationality will solve this

but only temporarily, for every generation must re-make the cure

and the cure, historically, is abrupt, not subtle movement

evolution is not fluid, through and through

if anything can be trusted, history must be trusted

historically, youth must make every progressive change 

the only change that lasts

time and time again, the youth fail us, apathy prevails

and the youth become the masses

the miscommunication must be a concept brought on by man

this awkward place where life began

it's a strain on the human mind

but surely brings about some truth

seems to bring about all lies

but why an awkward subject? 

why look above us, why not look all around?

these sounds are sounds of sound judgment

take this factually biased subject and make an example of it

although these laws of science can change, 

and may change again -from it

we've gathered where life began

the same way a chemist prepares his lunch

the universe throws earth a punch

unicellular organisms in a crunch -multiply

before our eyes

long before eyes, we multiplied

again, we multiply

and again, we are blind

and those who don't understand it

demand to revolve our world around the demise of progress

and those who may remain lost in the process

intend to keep the world the same

in the information age, nothing stays the same

conservatism by definition is the 

tendency to prefer an existing or traditional situation to change

in the information age, nothing stays the same

conservatives fought to keep the blacks enslaved

fought to keep woman caged

and now conservatives fight against the gays

the civil rights movement will never end

gays will have equal rights

social conservatism will bend again

the corrupt and unjust may pretend

in the long run, we all know who always wins

there's a train wreck on the move, from sea to shining sea

I’m not whistling dixie as these people speak for me

middle class slats sippin' coffee instead of tea

well I ain't on your holster, my heart's not on your sleeve

taxation without representation surpasses and defies 

the fury that flaws your filtered cause

the means don't meet their mode 

in the reprimands of human law

name your party after an historic revolution 

and you think you're clever

you're still a yankee on a pony 

now you're richer and redder

tip your ivy league hat that you wear like a feather

hold on to your wealth, and bury all your treasure

you're outnumbered, no bigger and no better

our lust for a god we trust, in god you must not be allowed

to fly so high and stoop so low, yet you can smile and take a bow

perch atop your treetops, and pretend you trickle down

pretend you trickle down

there was a time when a man could say

if you're a young republican you have no soul

if you're an old democrat you have no brains

well times have changed

but why proclaim to know why, 

if knowing never solves the problems

ultimately, rationality will solve them

the founding fathers were deists and agnostics 

who believed in progress

in the process of amending the constitution, congress

was sworn to the separation of church and state 

that must never be lost

the tea party and evangelicals are synonymous

if you believe in fairy tales, keep them out of politics

evangelical red, force-fed

feed me christ and you can clean up the mess

every year the church apologizes for denying 

and often persecuting men of science

although conservatives are always years behind us

social conservatism is never right

right.

you can say tomaaato and I’ll say it the right way

an apple and an orange both digest in the same way

we have progressed to the point in history

to know that old literature doesn't dictate our future

we are the products of genetic defects

every day our genes mutate

every day can effect the future of the human race

good and evil may be defined, for reference 

what no human mind can attempt to define in one sentence

what can never truly be spoken, what can never be written

the concept of good, whether innate or god-given

will be defined as assisting in the survival, 

progress and evolution of life

this ideal surpasses race, gender, 

sexual preference, religion, and social status

because progress in an expanding universe 

is universal

when deciphering our universal problems

listen to the sounds of progress

when electing your officials into office

listen to the sounds of progress

listen to the sounds of progress