LIVING IN THE FOURTH REICH

Um poema de Gary Steven Corseri

In the Third Reich we said
We were just following orders.
Today we say,
We’re just doing our job.

In the Third Reich
We were anti-Semitic.
(We hated the Jews.)
In the Fourth Reich
We are anti-Semitic.
(We hate the Arabs.)

In the Third Reich
We had our Minister of Information.
Goebbels said
If you tell a lie big enough
And often enough
People believe it.

In the Fourth Reich
We have Corporate Media.
We get 24-7 lies
Interspersed with commercials.

In the Third Reich
We had sturm und drang. *
In the Fourth Reich
We have shock and awe.

In the Third Reich
We said Poland was a threat
And we made an alliance
with that Communist Stalin.

In the Fourth Reich
We say Iran is a threat
And we make an alliance
With that terrorist in Uzbekistan.

In the Third Reich
We had “democracy,”
We elected our national leader.

In the Fourth Reich
We have “democracy,”
We elect our national leader.

In the Third Reich
We despised the French.
In the Fourth Reich
We eat Freedom Fries.

In the Third Reich
Good Germans didn’t know
What was going on
In the concentration camp down the road.

In the Fourth Reich
Good Americans don’t care
About torture at Guantanamo.
The Third Reich wrapped itself
In a dark kind of religious symbolism.
We put Gott mit uns on our SS buckles.
In the Fourth Reich we wrap ourselves
In dark religious symbolism.
Our generals say, Kill one for Jesus.

In the Third Reich
We incinerated the body of der Fuhrer.
In the Fourth Reich
He has risen from the ashes.

* sturm und drang foi um movimento literário dos fins do século XVIII e significa Tempestade e Ímpeto.Mas Sturm também pode significar Assalto (sturmabteilung - SA- secção de assalto), ou Sturmbahnführer (chefe de equipa de assalto) que era uma das graduações dos oficiais SS.