Targets

by Korvus Korax / January 9th, 2022

Obsessed with all things frivolous
              trivial   superficial   dispensable
all the mesmerized while  oblivious
              to anything approaching essential;

cajoled into pledging
brand allegiance   and accepting
              and promoting remotely-implanted
                            portrayed-as-home-grown
hopes and goals they're trained to suppose
                     they conjured up on their own;

unknowingly devoted to self-enslavement
their panopticon-monitored data-traced lives
              imbibed   by the all-absorbing matrix
                                                 of online hypnosis

their eagerly-offered wants and thoughts
reduced   to an infinitude of digital drops
that mass into innumerable
                                          individual trickles

       that are channeled in turn
       into zillions  of invisible rivulets
                                   that when merged
       form Surveillanceworld's  almost-biblical
                            algorithmically filtered flows


reflexively-unquestioning
dependably-slobbering Pavlovian proles
              are open  twenty-four seven
              to any and all indebting suggestion

being as they are
perpetually receptive
to advertising's beguiling message;

being as they are
victims   of common sense amnesia
       suckled as it were  on the toxic teat
              of mind-warping corporate media
with its caustic soul-corroding culture
                            of nonstop commodification;

being as they are
victims   of marketing's ever-darkening march
       of its ceaseless conscience-free thrust
              to exploit   and if need be construct

the types of behavioural patterns and trends
conducive   to the smooth application
of proven techniques to manipulate humans
              for unfettered commercialized ends;

being as they are
victims   of that thrust
              that does what it must
                            to reduce us to targets
in a game played to harness
                            the science of persuasion

       — a raging  full-on Bernaysian game
       the aim of which  is to both concoct
       and ingrain  ever-newer consumer habits

in the dutifully-pliant robotic flocks
that graze in a daze  on this Mad Ave planet.
From his lofty perch near the top of the earth, Korvus observes the whirling world of humans, with equal parts wonder, disgust, and amusement. Korvus is the author of the unpublished book "RED PILL POEMS: The Poetry of Empire, Politics and Power" and may be reached at ravenzroost@protonmail.com Read other articles by Korvus.

This article was posted on Sunday, January 9th, 2022 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.