Conspiracy of Silence

Found poetry for April 21, 2022 National Poetry Month

“We all self-censor at times. We keep quiet at dinner with our in-laws, or nod passively in a work meeting. But what happens when we take this deception a step further, and pretend we believe the opposite of what we really feel? In this favorite episode from 2020, economist and political scientist Timur Kuran explains how our personal, professional and political lives are shaped by the fear of what other people think.” This is the way Hidden Brain describes this podcast.

Today I create a series of haikus from the Hidden Brain show summary.

Do you fear other peoples opinions? poetry by Kimberly Burnham Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash

Fear Tells Us

self-censor passive
keep quiet nod pretend take
deception further

what happens when we
really feel our lives shaped
by fear of people

Live without fear poetry by Kimberly Burnham, Photo by Sammie Chaffin on Unsplash

―Found poems / blackout poetry / erasure haikus by Kimberly Burnham from Hidden Brain podcast https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/a-conspiracy-of-silence/ from an interview between Shankar Vedantam and Timur Kuran.