Game of Drones

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did you know that in ancient Rome
a man named Commodus had amputees gathered from the city
brought to the Coliseum
and had them tied together so that he could beat them to death
and that this was entertainment
in the next episode some desperate souls were tied to boxes
wheeled out on dollies and nailed to crosses
animals were flogged into a frenzy to feast on flesh
and in the crowd they made bets
about which of the helpless men these beasts would feast on next

those barbarians
who would ever get together to watch people get slaughtered

anyway
who’s excited for the game of thrones finale?
8 seasons, 38 emmy awards
over 30 million viewers in 170 countries
uncountable thousands of deaths
50 meticulously orchestrated rapes
murdering pregnant women
burning little girls at the stake

well, the costumes are nice
and it’s got a really good gore- I mean story
a story that apparently couldn’t have been forged
without a woman’s brother forcing himself on her as she mourns over her dead son’s corpse
are we sure we need to adorn our cortexes with severed heads
and gorge on orgies and torture porn
what portion of the human psyche are we satisfying here?
men can’t have an opinion on abortion
but they can sure have an opinion on how to film rape scenes
can we get another 4k in here please these breasts aren’t lit well enough

are we sure we need to eroticize assault
how can we hashtag me too and hashtag sexualized savagery too
as if women don’t have it hard enough
without more hoards of men wondering how they would taste
with some fake braids and as much persuasion as it takes

many will say its just fiction, it doesn’t affect me
but these freshly cemented neural pathways would beg to differ
no matter how good the cinematography
the special effects the narration
it was intentionally engineered for titillation
to arouse our animal appetites
get our senses dulled in it
we already know about our sadistic
impulses to pillage and plunder across the annals of history
instead of trying to break that chain we indulge in it
maybe barbarism is not behind us
but within us

and they know they can manipulate us like a game of drones
in this game they’re not alone

I mean they took the Karate Kid and turned it into Cobra Kai
and by the fourth episode genitalia was hanging off of billboards
so that “parents that loved the original as a kid
can watch this new one with their kids”
thanks for that

and does every movie remake have to get darker, more salacious, more jaded?
what are we remaking ourselves into?
why do we exonerate misogyny as long as it slays on iTunes
any if anyone honors any kind of sovereignty and tries to put aside all these carnal conjurings it just makes them a prude
and fodder for mockery

heaven forbid we hang something beautiful on the walls of these ravaged temples

it’s a game they know

and a gift that keeps on giving
even if that rapist eventually gets his due and is consumed by a dragon
that rape will drag on in the minds of 30 million people forever
they say that violence and nudity is just “part of the characters’ journeys“
well rape culture is a part of a lot of characters journeys too
my daughter deserves better

I am not immune
I’ve had a few trojan horses ride into my brain
and unleash carnage that I’m still trying to clean up
there’s a reason we want to turn away from all the “ewww” parts
and there’s a reason we want to keep watching
the line between good and evil passes not between tribes or empires but right through every human heart
which side are we pumping blood into
which fruits are we consuming
with whom are we communing
obliging our vices is not the same thing as freedom

look, I just think we have enough demons without feeding them
the real greatest story ever told
is how we rise up and defeat them
how we assimilate the armies of our ascension
and take to the battlefield
with a ferocity that no feudal civilization has ever known
because what’s better than conquering all the kingdoms of the world
is conquering the beast within
that’s the only way that we will ever truly
take the throne