It’s A Boy

Aylan Kurdi will be forgotton by the media, in time, as their only intrest is making money. Their mood switches with the popular take of the day, and they will sell using whatever headlines that will make money. Peoples horror is real, but the medias is fake.

The cynical switching of the media on the refugee crisis from keep them out to let them in after the photogenic image of the dead boy changed the public mood shows how mercenary the media is. As with Neda Soltani, he will be forgotten in time, and the issue of immigrants will fade from the news…

Flotsam in the waters washed to shore
This is not rubbish or a toy
Or a fish or fishing net
Its a body �" its a boy!

Its not a whale to be buried there
By well meaning volunteers
Its a photograph, an image, an icon
To bring to the worlds eyes tears.

One face, to give a face to thousands
To speak for thousands, and thousands of lips one name
For a while the mood will last
Then all will forget who and why came.

There once were protesters on Irans streets
One girl, photogenic, shot in the head
Today, the protesters still jailed, and the dead forgotten
We laud the nuclear deal instead.

His name is Aylan, her name was Neda
He who is described as is will soon be was
For he is news, and news is money
Money is the reason because

The headlines scream to keep them out
Oh, the money made from the papers that sell
The mood changes to “Let them in”
The papers sell well with that slogan as well.

Its all headlines, its all news
For state nor victims the media do not care
He is a human, as was she, where dead they lay
They may as well have been whales or kittens there!

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Arvagh

Reviews

[TL Boehm]

I absolutely loathe the use of children to "promote" a political position. I am a mother - it is in my DNA to RAGE at the sight of a small life lost and it is an emotional debriding to know there is NOTHING I can do for that tiny one. This little boy is not the first - as you eloquently conveyed. Nor will he be the last. Humans are so callous - so casual with life - we don't register until something gruesome and gripping is presented on a plate before us. Then we ogle.
Its a fine poem. My heart though screams and rattles its bone cage at the horror that poor father will suffer for the rest of his life.

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

He was trying to get to Canada. He lost his wife and his two sons. He had relations in Canada who tried to sponsor him and were refused.

In a face saving about face the Canadians offered him citizenship - he refused and is heading back to Syria to fight ISIS as he has nothing left to come west to keep safe or build better life for...

Tragic is beyond the words...

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222135/Syrian-boys-Aylan-Galip-Kurdi-s-father-returns-Kobane-bury-sons-wife.html

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

Copy and paste link to address bar...

[TL Boehm]

truly wrenching. To lose your whole life in such a manner.

[Im His Daughter]

All I will say is Rest in Peace in God's Hands Sweet Aylan.. Jesus has you in his ever loving arms.

[maricoona91]

This is a great issue to bring up. Thanks for sharing the poem it speaks to our times =)

[Roland Petrov]

Nothing to be offended about here as it's the honest truth. People can say that it's cynical, but that won't change the fact that this is not only how the press operates, it is also how human nature operates. At least you've done your part to capture the horror and broadcast it.

[emmajoy]

'One face, to give a face to thousands
To speak for thousands, and thousands of lips one name
For a while the mood will last
Then all will forget who and why came.'

Cafe members really should read this post. In a swerve of thought, it clarifies what's happening in society - the building up and the knocking down by the Media; how the reading/listening public is used, especially when tragedies occur. Selling tears is a form of manipulation.. a lesser tragedy but one nonetheless. But, we must NOT forget.

[emmajoy]

This poem is true to the bone, but, I find it dilutes and dirties the human spirit. I already know people in my rural UK county who are doing what they can to send items here and there via the ever vigilant Red Cross etc.

The Media yes, has its disgusting methods of making money for owners etc., but it does serve a purpose, it tells news. Tis up to the readership to strain the good from the mediocre from the manipulative.

Does the Media equate in evil to the murderers who stole money from the migrants and profited through their deaths. I wonder?

Back to your grand poem, and, believe me it is, your writing is powerful and explicit. I applaud so much of it.

Shouldn't we dilute if not erase what seems like sound analysis by doing something more than pressing keys? I've just posted similar BUT WILL do something more. . Shouldn't we all?

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

We should. A lot of us you and I included will. But most will forget... its called 'war fatigue ' in media circles...

[emmajoy]

Re.reading yourpost and response to my thoughts: so many of your words show an enormous heart but a mind that analyses the failings of society. Maybe tis yet another job for us all: to ensure the general buying/listening u we're not, public is not, NOT, manipulated by that selfish, cash-grabbing thing called open media. We're given what we deserve.. but, for goodness sake.. we deserve better.. a conscience not a blotted copy. book.

Thank you for swerving my thoughts into a more realistic path - even tho cynicism really upsets me.. guess it's needed.

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

It is a cynical piece all right... its how I felt at the time... be it right or wrong...

[Samuel Dickens]

Powerful, gut-wrenching, and very true. While the media can serve a useful purpose, it has abandoned the high ground for the sake of ratings. (Profit) Phil Ochs sang "There, but for fortune, go you or I." This world is going off it's tracks.

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

All in the service of Mammon...