Conspiracy: a poetic tribute to the workers who help us to heal

I am smouldering inside as I witness media events that twist a good thing (like people in health care who patiently help us heal) into a misdirected attack on an ambulance entering a hospital with a patient trapped inside.

So I know in my own heart that this is not a protest against government regulations regarding vaccine passports forcing people to have vaccines even if those who participated thought it was.

I suspect there were hopes that this issue would divide people. Like racism, abortion bans, anti-semitism and homophobia, people are labelled, placed in an "identity group" then battered by populist arguments that claim to know and understand them. These groups encouraged to hate and express rage then hurl endless assaults on "manufactured" enemies. 

I have watched and heard how unknown interests through corporate and social media have destroyed new movements that struggle to address injustice by presenting formed two dimensional personalities. Stereotypes of Africans, First Nations, Feminists, Peaceniks, Antivaxxers, Conspiracists, Socialists, Capitalists, Conservatives, and others.

Consequently people are diminished in their attempt to address the wrongs in their worlds as media offers them puppet reflections of themselves. Public 'intellectuals' are asked for their opinions on phenomena which are then reduced to easily identifiable types. Humanity becomes little more than battling idiots in this game.

Cui Bono? Not the people who struggle to do the best work they can in difficult situations. Not the parents who want to raise healthy happy children. Not the teachers who want to show us how to learn.

Not the people who want to protest government policies they feel are harmful. And not the people who believe the government is trying its best to help.

So using what limited power I have while maintaining integrity ~ I propose that a book of poems be published as a thank you to the Health care workers who have been abused during this pandemic.

Send your short poems thanking our health care workers, to janetvickers@gmail.com. I will select a few of the best and publish them for sale to raise money for PHC. The poems must accompany a written statement identifying you as the writer and that you give me permission to publish in a booklet. Poems previously published must include a full citation of where and when they were published.