- Welcome To Kindergarten large

←'Welcome To Kindergarten' & Freedom Of Speech (Universal Declaration Of Human Rights)

'There is no swifter route to the corruption of thought than through the corruption of language'
George Orwell

Welcome To Kindergarten
Let's call it like it is: I feel kinda stupid, for I didn't even know
how ignorant and offensive I've supposedly been.

His goodbye, a soft echo at the time of my hello: my grandfather,
who just lost his title to 'legacy', a wise man ––uneducated, but a
source of wisdom: hungry for knowledge with a desire to teach.

Lost in translation, put in the naughty-corner, we are no longer
to be trusted, allowed to use language freely or the abilities of our own mind.
Safeguards put in place in excess, there's no room left to be. Like a knife
––to some a weapon, while most pick it up to create a meal
feeding our bodies and senses ––banned for safety,
for the difference only the very young may not understand.
While those deliberately using it to hurt, or worse, not sensitive
to rules anyway; or making them: to always be the ones in control.

To be só unspecific no one feels left out, leaves everyone overlooked
in a blob of nothingness while being treated like children. Trying to be inclusive
by cancelling distinction is missing the point; not by a landslide but an entire galaxy.
It becomes the boring sound of the same tone, while music is the art of unifying notes
of varying height and length: a fusion of opposites in a creation of captivating harmony.

It's not the words, it's meaning and context ––we never needed to go
to Stanford for that, everyone with basic education or just common sense knows.
But the intellectuals would now be telling us that's all wrong: I don't buy it.

But just in case: confined to a wheelchair, I'm fine with that term, or disabled person;
not defined by it while focused on my talents and strengths, as always. And is a 'person
with disabilities' such an improvement when it comes to acknowledging my competence?
I just want to be treated with respect and for things to be called by their name, instead
of blending them into a rainbow of definitions and meaningless diplomacy. That's not inclusion,
that's insane ––pardon my French, as it's one of the many words on the naughty list.

A cunning tactic to increase division, the decline of intelligence, or a divine wake-up call?
To what has been crashing under the radar for ages, now made só obvious we'd all look
foolish if we continue to ignore it. Common sense has become an endangered species:
forced off-planet, alienated by those who fear it may upset the imbalance of the status quo.

And where does it end? In a world dominated by black and white, will we soon
no longer be allowed to use any color? When I marvel over a cerulean sky,
have I offended the birds and trees? Or even the oceans, for they may be blue
yet watered down; not in the elevated range the heavens are known for.

A janitor in the marines ––kind and soft-spoken, not one to be noticed;
still, brave in his own right: a voice of calmness in the chaos of loud minds
––my grandfather someone I wish I could have met. Yet his legacy lives on in me:
practically as uneducated, I too, am thirsty for knowledge and truth.

A royal warrior in freedom, a lion is unlikely to fight unprovoked;
it's when forced inside a cage, it becomes unpredictable and demonstrates
behavior never seen in the wild. Only a beast will lock up that which is meant
to be free: unable to handle the responsibility that comes
with the wielding of a sword, whether in language or power.

Much more harmful than any vocabulary, is an unused mind. For it is bound
to follow, blindly, anyone who guides: into fields of heaven, or the vast canyons
of fear and restriction. Damn, I never thought higher education could mean
this much bullshit to be fed; to fuck with our minds in surrender to ideology. And yes,
I've allowed myself some profanities in a streak of rebellion ––strike me if you must,
but it won't take me down or make the value of my words any less.

What's next? Will certain birth names be cancelled for not being inclusive enough,
or 'harmful' in some way? Call me crazy, but that no longer seems too far-fetched.

No twist of truth will ever make me a grandfather, but I hope to leave a legacy: the
words I use to create a variety of linguistic meals; trusting those who matter to know
the difference between a healthy spicy snack and a fluffy cake, laced with poison.

A bit lame at times, not a basket case, an addict or Karen: just a random person
who has a wholesome sense of humor. Like you do, because this insult to our intelligence
has to be some kind of joke ––like a hazing prank gone public, right?

I may not always speak like a lady, but I certainly am a woman: a ballsy feminine,
who proudly stands in her right to think for herself, and to make up her own caring
and peaceful mind about the insanity thrown at our feet, sold as reality.
––Monique de Koning, December 25, 2022

'We have sunk so low it has become the obligation of every decent, thinking individual to re-state the obvious'
George Orwell

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This poem is my response to the 'Index of Forbidden Words' Stanford University released in May 2022 as part of what they call the 'Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative'. It made the news late December '22 and this, as well as the list itself, was made public. For example by the Wall Street Journal | Opinion on December 20, 2022 (published online December 19th) in the article 'The Stanford Guide to Acceptable Words. Behold the school’s Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative.'

The words in bold in my poem are on this index.

←'Welcome To Kindergarten' & Freedom Of Speech (Universal Declaration Of Human Rights)