Ode to Barrett Brown

Coal mine canary sedated for singing,
Guard dog muzzled for barking at thieves,
This diehard proponent of righting wrongs
Was crucified for his honesty.
He tilted at titans and was crushed;
To be expected, one might say.
A journalist rarely acknowledged as such,
A contributor to Anonymous,
He sifted through shadows for grains of truth
That he massed into sweeping incriminations.

The titans yawned and raised their boots.

With his own anonymity weakened and cracked,
The accuser in turn became the accused.
Incarcerated on trumped-up suspicions,
Condemned by "due process"--itself corrupt--
He learned firsthand the abuses of prisons,
Detention for any who rocked the boat.

The titans stomped on his soiled remains.

When his debt was deemed repaid at last,
The American gulag spat him out.
After years locked within those loathsome bunkers,
He emerged to find the whole nation deluded,
A republic of limp mediocrities:
An apathetic, blear-eyed herd of
Video gamers, pious bleaters,
Ear wax diggers, and booger-eaters,
Indifferent and incapable of
Discerning malignancy spread throughout
The fabric of government, commerce, law.

What's to become of America?
With disease infecting her vital organs,
The patient is wheeled into terminal care,
Where the bed-bound hears only ticking clocks
And triumphant laughter from the titans.

Once we silence our virtuous critics,
The downfall begins.