they implanted
this nebulous fear
an insidious mistrust
through misinformation
a flurry of fiction
obscuring all fact

we have to defend
ourselves from “them”
an ill defined wave
of boogeymen who
are coming to take
what is allegedly ours

“they” will rape
all of our women as
“they” steal our jobs
“they” are a threat
to our livelihoods
to our democracy
to our way of life

i have lost track
of who “they” are
is it the communists
or was it the muslims
the satanists or maybe
it is just anyone who
is a vaguely brown shade

it was the cartels
running cia cocaine into
the predominantly black
urban areas to blame
or possibly the desert
tribes we trained to fight
the evil red army who
turned their righteous fury
on the hand which fed them

maybe it is our allies
who never seem to do enough
to enrich our leaders
leeches latched tightly
to our benevolent crusade
as we police the globe
ensuring no tyrants can
be passive aggressively
tyrannical quite like us

perhaps it is your own
neighbor or family member
who doesn’t see things
through the same divine
prism bending all of the
colors into perfect white
which is killing off this
land which belonged to you

obediently we bark wherever
those indisputable fingers
lit by divine providence point
ignoring the increasing panic
in each new declaration of war
while the ones who are supposed
to expose corruption feed
at the teat of toxicity
more eager to be praised than
to do their fucking jobs

we plead ignorance when
confronted by the facts
but we always knew “they”
were the ones killing us
“them” in their dark suits
standing before the capitol
decrying we need to be afraid
as the armored trucks drop
off corporate donations to
their hidden bunkers far
from the filth and poor

where are all of the warriors
the sheep pretending to be wolves
waving yellow flags while
the government treads on thee
those keyboard patriots who
ignored school shootings
to keep their guns to defend
against the very tyrannical
government they seem consumed
with licking the italian boots of

they are afraid
raised on a nebulous fear
conditioned into mistrust
shaped into unrestrained
hatred for whoever
their masters dislike

we are all afraid
as all the things we were
taught to rebel against
becomes reality around us
and everyone seems to be
waiting for someone else
to do anything about it
and all we do is watch
the flames spread faster