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fight disinformation

Clik The Mouse

Monday, February 13th, 2023

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 We pray to every God
For all the people lost and impacted in Turkey and Syria

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Back in my early days
at almost every game
you’d surely hear the chant
“Chopper’s gonna getcha, la, la, la, la!”
and there was no disguising
the clear, cold, calculated clatter
that would soon follow.
No disinformation there!

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 In today’s social media glare
it is both unbelievable and un-nerving
what can be stated – so far from any meaningful truth –
without recrimination or sanction.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Strange then, or even chillingly so
that a government shuts down Twitter
in a bitter retort
to “fight disinformation” –
at exactly the same point in time
that hundreds of its own citizens
are desperately pleading and pinpointing on said platform,
exactly where they are located – under tons and tons of earthquaked rubble.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 They weren’t causing trouble
but pleading desperately to be rescued….
with bulldozers and diggers and equipment, slow
to arrive, or located at the next conurbation
where laws will be flouted
and kickbacks touted
to get the next high-rise, gunning to the skies
where the high-cost quake-resistant “ductibility” plans
are just a disguise
to the reality erected.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Many are elected
either knowing or aware
of such scandalous affair

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 There are many of us
who will proffer condolences and empathy
knowing that so many lost their lives
for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Some of us might chime
as relatives, friends or acquaintances, of the bereaved.
Some of us will resonate
with the fact the deceased were fellow humans,
fellow fans, fellow keen amateur players
some of us will gasp, and clasp at the memory
of having watched a pro play
in the flesh
who is no longer living today….

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 As time, and mobile batteries, and life…. wanes….

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 All of us
Will offer up our hearts
As yet another soul departs

Notes

Written 13/02/2023, one week after the disastrous earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Death toll is currently 25,000 plus

Including 2 current professional footballers.
Malatyaspor goalkeeper Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan
And Christian Atsu
His club (Hatayspor) had tweeted that he had been rescued and been transferred to hospital, but many days later that was still unconfirmed.
(His body was found on February 18th 2023).
I presume they meant well, but that “disinformation” raised too many hopes for Christian’s family.
I watched him play in our famous royal blue, my heart goes out to his loved ones.

As for shutting Twitter down when trapped survivors were trying to use it to send pinpointed locations………. beggars belief.

This poem formed and informed after reading a piece in the Sunday Times, by Kaya Genç, Sunday February 12 2023

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/fight-disinformation/