Politics and nursery rhymes. What to make of
them? What to make of the Guy Fawkes rhyme on this #Election2012 day?
This week...just the
Monday and Tuesday of it have been the observant dilettante's dream. Guy Fawkes
Day brought about the defacement of a few websites, but idle Twitter threats by
various #anonymous account holders did not
materialise. I shared drinks with a few friends at The Queen Vic on H Street NE
in DC last night while the +New Orleans Saints
made chutney out of the +Philadelphia Eagles. No masked crusaders burst
in with ideas that would bring us back to our senses.
Today...well, if you
don't know what America's been doing today, then please move on to another
Plusser's post.
I have been struck by the rhyme scheme and internal pattern
of repetition in the Guy Fawkes rhyme:
Remember, remember (A)
The fifth of November (A)
The gunpowder treason and plot (B)
I know no reason (C)
Why gunpowder treason (C)
Should ever be forgot (B)
The internal rhyme of 'treason-reason-treason', along with the repetition of the word 'treason', were aptly expanded in Alan Moore's V for Vendetta.
But what is it we're not to forget?
Can we remember something if we've not done it?
How much political action is mere spectacle?
How do we define participatory politics?
How much social media is bread and circuses?
Remember, remember (A)
The fifth of November (A)
The gunpowder treason and plot (B)
I know no reason (C)
Why gunpowder treason (C)
Should ever be forgot (B)
The internal rhyme of 'treason-reason-treason', along with the repetition of the word 'treason', were aptly expanded in Alan Moore's V for Vendetta.
But what is it we're not to forget?
Can we remember something if we've not done it?
How much political action is mere spectacle?
How do we define participatory politics?
How much social media is bread and circuses?
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