longer.blue

~ Opinions are bot By wealthy flights of fancy And parrot people ~ The opening line, "Opinions are bot," immediately pulls double duty with its wordplay. On one hand, it nods to the very real phenomenon of automated bots flooding social media platforms with manufactured viewpoints, artificially amplifying certain narratives until they feel like mainstream consensus. On the other hand, "bot" as a stand-in for "bought" suggests that opinions aren't just mechanically generated — they're purchased, shaped, and distributed by those with deep enough pockets to influence the information ecosystem at scale. The two meanings collapse into each other perfectly, because in the modern media landscape, bought and bot are practically the same thing anyway. The second line floats in with a kind of ironic elegance — "wealthy flights of fancy" conjures images of people so insulated by privilege that their ideas about the world are essentially decorative. These aren't people grappling with rent, healthcare, or job insecurity. Their opinions are formed in boardrooms, on yachts, at galas — spaces where real consequences are always someone else's problem. They fund think tanks, back media outlets, and bankroll social campaigns not out of lived understanding but out of ideology that's never been stress-tested by actual hardship. Their fancies become policy. Their whims become trending topics. Then the third line delivers the gut punch — "parrot people." This is where the poet's frustration with a failing education system comes through clearly. A population that hasn't been equipped with critical thinking tools becomes the perfect distribution network for whatever narratives the wealthy care to release. Not out of malice necessarily, but out of habit — repeating, sharing, performing outrage or enthusiasm on cue without interrogating the source. Parrots don't fact-check. They echo. 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺, 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘦.𝘢𝘪 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 "𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘴" 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 "𝘱𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦" 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 "𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺", 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. Together, the three lines sketch a feedback loop that feels painfully familiar: manufactured opinion, elite funding, and an undereducated public that carries the message the rest of the way. ~ This observation was made with the assistance of claude.ai. ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To express your gratitude, visit: https://tinyurl.com/andy-rukes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~