Confucius Confusion

Dedicated to the late satirist comedian George Carlin...rest well, homies.

Confucius Confusion

(Religious...right?)

By 

Carlos Lorenzo Estrada 

Don't kill the unborn 

A subtle hypocrisy 

No mask just die free!

Author's Note

Pryor or Carlin? Yeah right, like I would ever choose the greatest social satirist in comedy history. Can't we all just get along and agree they are both great. I mean really why so much hate between both sides. Huh? What? You mean people aren't arguing because of the state of political satire? What are they mad about then? Actual social issues? Gee....what a joke! Feel free to write, or if you are suffering from a case of idiocracy, phil freee 2 rite. Or comment, or troll.

Reviews

[Soren]

A great Haiku and true. I got the play on words "die free" Diying is free living is what costs, also dying can be freeing or liberating, literally from the body but also from strife. Good thing you didn't introduce dieing or things would be a whoe different color. This topic needs humor, we are too serious about it and this type of serious thinking polarizes and solidifies the peoples thinking. There are two sides to the issue but both are based on beliefs. The hypocracy comes in the side that is for right to life being the side for capital punishment. How does that work?

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

It works for me, my wise friend. I recently watched a great movie called The Banshees of Innersherin. Its message was as profound as it was humorous. I highly recommend that movie. In a time of covid I couldn't help but write this poem after the insanity taking place of masks and shots. I hope someday the world will go back to normal again, but I highly suspect it may not.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I appreciate the satire. Animals have human activists demanding rights for them. There were 630,000 abortions in the United States in 2019. There were a little over 16,000 "murders" in the same year. That's forty abortions per year for every murder. I hear the "my body, my choice" mantra all the time but since the WHO defines human life at conception, then it's no longer, "their" body. It's someone else's by scientific definition. Nobody here wears masks anymore because they have not been recommended under the current endemic climate by our health departments or the CDC. But there hasn't been a spike in cases and the number of reported cases keeps dropping. I'm a firm believer in choice, though. But the choice should be whether it is wise to have unprotected sex or to use abortion as a means of birth control when there are so many other options available. I'd venture, not.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I respect your opinion Fabian but it is not my choice to tell any woman what she can and can't do in a free society when it comes to her body, as well as life choices. I have made bad choices in my life and have lived with them. So have others who may have taken a life by choice. If we are to regulate a woman's choice then the same should be done with men. Freedom can not be unbalanced. One can argue life starts at a man's reproduction organs. His choice. In the choices of freedom religion and ethics must not enter the equation. One must live and die by their choices, whether wrong or right. That is true equity. Thank you again for your honest assessment on this subject, which I respect though different to my own.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I agree with "her" body. But not with the life living inside her. That is not her body. So, not her choice. If it "were" her body we would not have laws that charge the murder of a pregnant woman with the additional murder of the unborn. Also, as I said, The World Health Organization defines that life begins at conception. And they have the scientific authority to do so. This is neither a religious nor a political view. It is one vastly supported by medical science, however. And I would hope "ethics" enter into all our choices unless we, as humans, have become void of all moral direction and justice. There can be no justice without ethical consideration or mercy at all for that matter.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I respect your perspective I just have a different belief on this subject. WHO isn't America, as we have seen these past few years. And their views medically do not define the views of all societies and their laws or social views. But again I respect your opinion, we simply differ on these ideas on rights, equity, and freedoms. And that is fine.

[Richard Knox]

Humorous and sad and maddening all at the same time. Nice little commentary, elegantly stated, Carlos.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

Thank you Richard for stopping by and leaving your thoughts on this senryu. It is a struggle to keep away from social commentary within my art, but alas it is a failed one. I just find it impossible to remain silent for doing so shows acceptance to such vile ideologies that run counter to civility, empathy, and my own ethics. To remain silent and indifferent towards hate is to be culpable to the evil fruit that it breeds and destruction it eventually will wrought. There are times history will ask us to take a stand and say no more. Art provides me that voice. Thank you so much again for your comment.

[Richard Knox]

How true, Carlos.

[andrew mitchell]

Yes don’t kill the unborn but here have a gun to shoot people. The world has gone mad.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I agree with your words. We here in the US are struggling with the idea of civility. The recent shooting is just another match thrown into an already burning inferno. We may be witnessing the remnants of a dying society. We are eroding into a hybrid theocracy oligarchy. All because we are too ignorant to believe in anything but hate. I am literally witnessing the parable of Animal Farm playing out here in America. Thank you my friend for your comment.

[Richard Knox]

Sad, sad, sad, but true.

[Toni.S]

Ambiguous Laws at best...

[Lydia Shutter]

Pryor and Carlin would be thrown off the stage today. Everything is way too PC for my tastes. There is so much hypocrisy coming from both sides of the aisle these days. Taking a step back and watching is sometimes quite entertaining. I liked this one, Carlos. Lydi***

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

That is so true. A hypocrisy upon both houses. Haha. We need to know truth but one side wants to ban or deny it, while the other seeks to edit it in a more favorable light. Truth isn't always beautiful, it can be ugly as hell. I miss the art of both Pryor and Carlin. Two very different men from diverse backgrounds finding common sense and truth in a shared belief. This is why I feel so strongly about the idea and importance of art in these times. Its existence is essential for a society to exist. Thank you Lydi for sharing your thoughts with me.

[Aura]

This is hilarious! With the abortion rights thing going on in the U.S, this poem is kind of ironic. You shouldnt kill an unborn baby, BUT you should definately go maskless when there is a deadly virus on the loose, what a great idea!( no... its not). If a pregnant lady dies of covid, they still technically kill their unborn baby. Thats my interpretation of this poem at least. I loved the irony of it

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

And I love the way you think because that is exactly the message of this senryu. It is absolutely ironic. Thank you Aura for your most enlightened review of this piece of poetry.

[Aura]

My pleasure

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Carlin would appreciate this...such a contradiction displayed by those who
want to Kill the Abortion Doctors.
j.

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

As a Carlin fan I so appreciate this comment. Both he and Pryor are my heroes when it comes to comedy. I feel so grateful to have lived in the age of those two monumental figures of political satire. Thank you J for your kind comment. I appreciate it.

[William Michael Reeves]

Mixing religion and Senryu? How could you!
Politics and syllables? Seventeen lashes for you!
Japanese form and western social storm.
It's all too much to chew!

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I accept my lashes proudly hehehe. Sometimes art just writes itself. Especially when indulging in the current political affairs of our governance in News media interviews. Where every day people say some of the most incredibly hypocritical things such as this senryu depicts. On a side note I have come to love the senryu art form. At first I was flustered by its requirements, but in essence have come to realize that is its beauty. With that being said I still detest sonnets haha. They just read weird at times. A bit controversial to say but I'll own it. After all art is subjective. Thank you so much my friend for sharing your thoughts with me on this piece. I really appreciate it.

[William Michael Reeves]

Your welcome Carlos. I have three sonnets sitting here cooling off waiting to post. So detestable of me! It's that frustration in writing that presents the challege, then followed by the satisfaction of the finished product. Not to mention the pleasure of then reading you!