I have been thinking about this poem the past few days, and I think it describes an antidote to echo chambers and constantly affirming what people think.
Actual betrayal is no joking matter, but the poet is promising more to play with the audience. Or at least you could read it that way if you picture this as a teasing rejoinder between friends. I promise I’ll provoke, probe, fail to be predictable or expected.
I suppose you could read it more as a challenge too....if the poet is rather speaking to someone who insists on ideological loyalty.
The last line “who has time to think on their own?” Is a challenge as well. Who indeed! It is very time consuming to think on your own. It takes me a shocking amount of time to form one coherent thought, though I can have several incoherent, partly justified ones in an hour. It also takes a lot of time to actually consider another person’s idea and how it is separate from your own. It is quite a bit more comfortable to simply slide into a sort of communal mind with ill defined boundaries.
That’s another reason I would like to embrace a bit more conflict in my life: not because I particularly enjoy it but because it does clarify for me how I am different.
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