Hoods And Sashes

When you are being supported by the hood or sash brigade

You should know you are in trouble, on wrong tracks

The torches and the batons that the hate league like to carry

Are legacies of nations out of whack

Spouting vitriolic slogans, cultivating fear

Joyous in their robes and ordered rules

Beating up a fervour and marching blind to facts

Dangerous to just dismiss as fools

Tolerating troublemakers hidden from our sight

Or marching on the streets in drunken glee

Grandiose of gesture in dress and chosen stripes

Obedient to chants that laud supremacy

‘Fenians’, ‘papes’ or Jews are used, minorities, Muslims, blacks

To justify existence of their bands

Do we really want or need the hood and sash mentality

Influencing decisions in our lands

Aprons, lodges, flutes and drums, grand masters and their crew

Promoting blinkered, biased, one-track song

What we should be, what we should do, follow, follow fools

March and beat, don’t think, just follow on

If you are being supported by the likes of all above

And encouraging division for your case

You’re no more representative of me in whole or part

Nor others who support one human race

Remove the hoods, the sashes, societies and sects

Disband the teams that thrive on hate’s divide

The future of all people and the hope of justice, truth

Depends on more than stupid taking sides

13 thoughts on “Hoods And Sashes”

    1. I had to look that one up, Mike, but, oh my gawd, yes. That mentality drives me up the pole. That bigotry/racism/sectarianism should be allowed to determine, in any way, the future of our children is abhorrent to me. That there seems to be no way of reaching these – shall I call them people? – fills me with dismay.

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      1. We form tribes. You poem captures the thoughts/moods of the tribe that objectively seeks a better world. Then there is the ‘other’ tribe, the one your words are aimed at; the tribe who are without moral reason. Dismay is the right word for the ‘others’!

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  4. That’s the part that worries me momus. After years of being treated like sheep from the powers that be, we are now ‘reacting’ to that treatment…but not knowing how to express it we are just grabbing something ‘else’ to give that frustration a voice. But into the void a danger comes!
    This is where ‘Hitler’s’ are built. Have we learned our lesson…or is a lesson we must repeat until it becomes ‘known’.
    A great but worrying post my friend, it is indeed a sign of the times.

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    1. The divide that exists here, Mark, has done for generations. An awful divide that has been tolerated and, at times, cultivated, by some, for political gain. It is yet being used to undermine the case for self-determination. Stupid, insular, bigoted, sectarian nonsense that will not look at facts. I despair, at times, at the capacity some have for embracing delusion. And then marching to it. Weekly.
      I wouldn’t mind quite so much if there was a modicum of rational argument in what is spouted but it’s all just feeling. A sort of tribal groupthink that brooks no reasoning.
      I worry too, Mark, that, instead of genuine debate on the pros and cons of any and all decisions, what we are seeing is reaction on a purely visceral level. How do you argue with that? I fear that what has to become ‘known’ has to actually be experienced, that history will not teach those unwilling to be taught. That is definitely something to worry about.

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    1. Sashes have their own connotations here, JGi. Rather unpleasant ones when all’s said and done. Marches are something of a regular occurrence in these parts with the patrons ‘celebrating’ some dubious causes for celebration. Eejits, mostly, but it can be unpleasant, shall we say.

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