08 August 2002 - 10:45 a.m. So I paid $10 to see a bunch of poets perform poems I have seen a hundred times for free along with a bunch of performers that I wouldn't pay to see. For my $10, I didn't get a seat, and I had to pay $3.50 for a budweiser. The only people who were there were performers. This is another example of charging artists to display their work. It's like these juried painting shows where a gallery charges artists an entry fee to display their work. Then they give out prizes. Whatever happened to agents, salesmen, and promoters? I mean, creating art for artists, and skirting any kind of real audience is like, as a friend of mine likes to say, "jerking off into a condom." Poetry needs to be sold to an audience. Otherwise, what's the point? Without an audience it's just a cluster-fuck. And another thing: if I hear one more "oppressed" poet, standing on an open stage in front of hundreds of people, speaking with no fear of reprisal, in a venue with government-sponsored grants and funding, railing about how they are stifled by America and the American government, I'm going to throw up. Try criticising the government in Rwanda or Argentina and see what happens. Now, if they actually criticized the U.S. government in some specific or concrete way, then that would be fine. That would be good. But, they just rant and piss and moan about the government and the culture without saying a damn thing, except "racism is bad." No shit. And if I have to listen to one more "poem" where the performer is more angry because 5% of Americans said something derogatory about Arabs after September 11th, than they are about the 2,800 people who were burned alive, shredded and then crushed when the Twin Towers were destroyed, my head's gonna explode. I mean, I'm pretty liberal, but come on people, get your fuckin' priorities in order. I see way too many poets treating the attacks on 9/11 like it was some kind of non-violent protest, and calling the U.S. response racist. You want to talk about racism? How about a group of twenty people who hate non-muslims so much that they would dedicate their lives in a concerted effort to destroy the Western world? Don't kid yourself--that was the intention. You want to know what the worst part is? The audience cheered. They loved it. They absolutely loved it. Now, I know that it's just the most liberal idiots who I'm complaining about. Just like the most conservative people are idiots. Unfortunately, they both have the biggest mouths. Now, if you believe that the U.S. deserved the 9/11 attack or we brought it upon ourselves, that's fine, but back it up. I'm still waiting for some concrete accusation against the U.S. Still, all I hear is "deeds," "actions," "foreign policy," other vague terminology which can neither be backed up or disproven. No one ever says, "because of this: " If you have an accusation, bring it. I mean what more can we do? We redistribute half our income to create a more stable and benificial society. For instance, I live in Providence which is the most liberal city in the world. We have more grants, public assistance, health care, job training, and education programs that anywhere in the world. People come from all over to sap this city, yet every word uttered by anyone in government is racist, or derogatory, or insensitive or something else according to the poets around here. And that doesn't even count the billions of dollars we distribute in foreign aid. Did you know that the only reason that Afghanistan's people ate under the Taliban was because the West fed them? The Taliban was so wrapped up in enforcing their brand of Islamic law that they had no agriculture or industry and had to rely on the U.N. to feed it's peopel. You know where most of the money came from? That's right: The U.S., but somehow, we're the enemy. I don't get it. Man, I thought I was a liberal, but I've got at least a little common sense. I'd give my left nut to hear a poem. I'm sick to death of political speeches. (0) Comments?