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TexLaProgressive

(12,306 posts)
Tue Aug 20, 2024, 11:41 AM Aug 2024

X-Post GD - "Ode to a Scab" by Jack London."

"Ode to a Scab" by Jack London

This is a second time to attempt to post. The first I had several issues and then it all disappeared before I posted.

I am a union man who stands with his union brothers and sisters in solidarity even though I am retired. I am living well financially because of the benefits the union won for me in employment and in retirement.

I always understood Scab to mean someone who crosses the picket line. However Shawn Fain’s speech and tee shirt have given new elements of my narrow definition. Read this Ode to a Scab by Jack London and you will see it fits DonOld tRump to a tee. Pun intended.

Ode to a scab - Jack London 1876-1916

Ode To A Scab

After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, and the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab. A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul, a waterlogged brain, and a combination backbone made of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.

When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out. No man has a right to scab as long as there is a pool of water deep enough to drown his body in, or a rope long enough to hang his carcass with. Judas Iscariot was a gentleman compared with a scab. For betraying his Master, he had character enough to hang himself. A scab hasn't.

Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Judas Iscariot sold his savior for thirty pieces of silver. Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of a commission in the British Army. The modern strikebreaker sells his birthright, his country, his wife, his children, and his fellow men for an unfulfilled promise from his employer, trust, or corporation

Solidarity wins


Solidarity wins, solidarity wins, Say it proud and live it. The right wants to destroy us by sliding wedges in places we disagree. Well not being in lock step is important, but more important that we don’t lose sight of the goal of furthering the nation to a more perfect union.

Woody Guthrie’s song “Union Maid.” With a bit of history of the song

https://www.cornell.edu/video/woody-guthrie-7-union-maid


Pete Seeger doing Woody’s - “What Side are you On”



Seeger - “Solidarity Forever”

https://support.google.com/youtube/?p=report_playback

Seeger doing Woody’s “Union Maid”

https://music.


And I will leave you with a hymn from Peter Paul and Mary (rip) “Because all Men are Brothers”



MY NOTES
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X-Post GD - "Ode to a Scab" by Jack London." (Original Post) TexLaProgressive Aug 2024 OP
I am Union proud. I first read Ode To A Scab many years ago..thanks for the refresher Deuxcents Aug 2024 #1
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