THAT WAS THEN

by M.C. Newberry

Friday 6th August 2021 12:44 pm

In modern times, again and again,

Different days and different men

Are brought to life to answer crimes

That were not crimes in other times;

Egregious though they're seen today,

Back then that view did not hold sway.

Widely practiced, this evil knavery

Now justly reviled worldwide as slavery

Was commerce created in human form....

Trafficking humanity was the "norm"

That had been around for centuries past -

In ancient times, the die was cast..

So when the revisionist finger accuses again

We know now is now - and that was then!

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Comments

jennifer Malden

Sat 14th Aug 2021 16:45

Agree with John Coopey, Compensation from the Romans for building walls, the Victorian criminal justice system for obliging people to be born in Australia, and the Germans for helping to produce some of their royal UK descendants. What did the Vikings do to us?

Jennifer

Stephen Gospage

Sun 8th Aug 2021 17:43

I think the fancy cooking took far too long to make an impact (until about 2010 in fact). A statute of limitations may be needed.

John Coopey

Sat 7th Aug 2021 21:00

Personally, I think that if the present is accountable for the past we should claim apology and compensation from France for the Norman Invasion, the imposition of a royal lineage and associated class system, the prostitution of the Old English language and culture and fancy cooking.
Why not?

M.C. Newberry

Sat 7th Aug 2021 14:04

Thanks for the comments.
Each era has to confront injustice on its own terms and via its
own definitions. Any fixation on "a person of colour" - with its assertion that these occupy some solo place in somehow
being singled out for ill-treatment needs careful dispassionate
consideration. It is too easy to manipulate to arouse personally
held prejudice that cares not to admit its own presence for a variety of reasons. and purposes. Perception is not reality, it is
as much the creation of an artificial reality to suit an agenda
which in itself is a distortion that is dangerous to the well-
being of society. We must be on our guard to ensure a rational
response at all levels...irrespective of race, colour, creed or
social position.

kJ Walker

Sat 7th Aug 2021 09:08

M.C
I think that this poem makes a valid point. Laws change, and what was acceptable and the norm in days gone by, are not so now.
It doesn't mean that things were right back in the day, just that they were legal.
There are calls for pay-back, and some kind of retribution. I don't think that that is possible after so many generations. But somehow it seems wrong that there are still people benefiting from the dealings of their ancestors.

Greg Freeman

Sat 7th Aug 2021 09:08

But maybe not so much, if you are a person of colour. And if that was then, this is now - US police officers are perceived as operating their own kind of 'lynch law' against black people, in this day and age, provoking demonstrations and sometimes riots. And UK police still harass black people unjustly, on a regular basis, despite riots in the past.

John Coopey

Fri 6th Aug 2021 22:16

Perhaps every age is guilty of presentism, MC. It's a kind of historical self-flagellation which, in my view, is quite silly.

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THAT WAS THEN

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