The Atomic Mage

Six Sentence Stories – Judgement and the Narcissist

Six Sentence Stories is a weekly writers’ challenge hosted by Denise at Girlie on the Edge blog.

This week’s cue word is: Pawn

Judgement and the Narcissist

Let the bodies pile high in their thousands; whether he said this or not, the fact remains it happened.

Narcissist, butcher with blood on the soles of his feet, gore dripping down his apron in raining sheets from a sky thunderous with herd immunity, a false idol weaving untruths at his flag-shadowed lectern, the striking-off of pawns at the lower ends of his wicked spectrum.  

Papering over the cracks in his ivory tower, greasing the palms of his cronies in power, contracts massaged, deals lubricated, promises Hoovered up and all transparency swept under the rug, dreaming up slogans to stir the blood.     

Prosper Mightily Austerity and Sovereignty – a slogan for cruelty in a modern-day economy shovelling favours into furnace-hot pockets of friends and donors and predators on the periphery, fuck business fuck families fuck child poverty – narcissist hang your head in shame along with the rest of your foul company and propensity (it would seem) to wish for bodies to pile high in their thousands, to let it rip.

Let it rip, while the fires start up again in Belfast, and milk and fish perish at the docks – so long as the deportees pass over and no immigrants cross this septic-isle of criminals and racists and liars; this giant fatberg-land of oozing sleaze clogging up the arteries of a pustuled Britannia.

Ah, I could weep with pity for the fools who voted for all this (if you believe a single word I say, that is, and that which I deny), and please… do buy my upcoming memoirs in which I aim to present myself as being charitable to the ordinary person, yet never naïve to the condition of human nature, as Orwell said: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” – and this I judge, as Judgement, to be correct.

Editor’s note: Truth and lies and false quotes.

In searching for a George Orwell quote to accompany the poem Judgement and the Narcissist I came across a pair which were almost too good to be true (no pun intended). However, when I fact-checked both quotes I found them to be misattributed to Orwell. One of the false quotes has been doing the rounds on social media lately and has duped a good many people. Glad I checked it now. My third choice Orwell quote is true, and one which many will know. A short quote, and in all its simplicity and the years we have had to become cosy with it, it still retains its truth and power; and damningly, it is a reminder that nothing much has changed.

Did Orwell say:

“A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims… but accomplices.”

FALSE – Fact check: Reuters

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

FALSE – FACT CHECK: The National Interest

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” 

TRUE – read Animal Farm

Poem and Orwell Animals art composition by The Atomic Mage, 28 April 2021.

Animal Farm 1991 Longman edition cover art by Richard Parent. Graphic by The Atomic Mage.

Edit 29/04/21: corrected ‘fat-burger’ to ‘fatberg’ in stanza 5.

26 comments

  1. Tan Cymreig,
    I see you unseathed your sword today…it was about fkn time!
    And mate, you did Let it rip!!

    In a classic Ford fashion, you welcome us gently into your story only to flip it around on its head towards the end.
    But…

    …The Mage just blew the door to smithereens on the first knock!! Hell yeah!!

    I could dissect this excellent sledgehammer of SSS but I think I wouldn’t do it justice.
    Instead, I had the loudspeakers spit fire from RATM’s XX album and kept re-reading.

    And the Orwellian art…now they know why I call you Welsh Fire!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks my friend. I was in a gloomy place for a few days, so when all *that* news broke it roused me and had me knocking loudly on the door like you said 😎

      Sad thing is, even if most of the sh*t turns out true they will still vote for more of the same… conclusion = they are the same.

      RATM a good choice as background!!

      Love and light and creativity!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. I especially like the first sentence and this description: “this giant fat-burger-land of oozing sleaze clogging up the arteries of a pustuled Britannia”

    I have come to appreciate Orwell more recently.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, Frank. I absolutely love that line “Giant fat-burger-land.” But will go back today and edit as I meant to say ‘fatberg’ rather than ‘fat-burger’ Oops. 😀

      Yes, I wonder what Orwell would think of these times?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. Volcanic indeed (although I think the butcher analogy is a tad over the top in relation to BoJo) and splendidly angry. Amongst all the portentously gloomy quotes from Orwell, I cling to this one.
    ‘If you can feel that staying human is worthwhile, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them.’
    But then again, as Abraham Lincoln once said ‘Don’t believe everything you read on the internet’. 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thanks, Doug. I saw that quote too and it’s a good one. Yes, the ‘butcher’ visuals are gloriously OTT, and I almost edited them into something more sober but left them in the end. The Con ideas about herd immunity last year (pre-vaccine availability) are shocking, contrast that to say Jacinda Ardern of NZ who has a heart and soul and explicitly said she would never entertain such a strategy.
      Lol yes, Mr Lincoln is absolutely correct 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. I doff my hat to you, Ford, with this outstanding and biting commentary on our times! I watch in a mixture of horror and disbelief at the antics of the privileged few back in old Blighty. And the way the North of Ireland is being split asunder… No Words. Silent Scream.
    To you, bravo! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. promises Hoovered up and all transparency swept under the rug, dreaming up slogans to stir the blood. WIWt*

    Excellent. (In that exhausting, ‘”You wish to see true horror? Come! Come! I have much to show you and, once shown, cannot easily be forgotten.”) Not that any of us can forget or easily ignore.
    Since slogan are être au menu this week, I will offer “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”***

    RATM! yeah!!
    Full Disclosure: I have Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Nightmare’ playing in my head.

    *Wish I‘d written that**
    ** compliment
    *** hopefully, Samuel Johnson

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, Clark.

      Well noted about: “that exhausting ‘You wish to see true horror that cannot be easily forgotten.'” experience.
      Like watching the Russian anti-war film ‘Come and See’ or the British anti-nuclear war film ‘Threads’ – both devastating and brutal portraits of humanity at its worst, and you won’t ever forget them.

      RATM (and slogans) wins the popular vote so far this week 😎

      Like

      Reply

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