Wake Up Call

Ford Madox Brown, The Death of Sir Tristram (1864). Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England

"Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."—Tom Lehrer

O once and future King,

Arthur, asleep at Avalon,

. . . rex quondam rexque futurus . . .

The liberal delights of which we once were fond

Have been tossed under the bus,

Done in by algorithms

That someday soon a mighty solar flare

In smithereens will sweep away,

Or so we hope!

Most likely fate will do us in, instead,

Reduce us to AI's poor zombie dead.

Yet we would live, whom life was thrust upon—

We're fucked if we'll that way be gone!

With liberal democracy now no more the rage,

What better than to restore the Feudal Age?

Tuesday, July 29, 2025