100 years ago

[sumpnz]

Kipling published "The Gods of the Copybook Headings".  It's amazing how on point it still is today. 

The Gods of the Copybook Headings




AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

[230RN]

Snopes says it's false.

[Hawkmoon]

Snopes is false.

[TommyGunn]

False?  A poem  is false?  Really?   How does that work?

Never mind  ..... now that we live in clownworld, I do not want to know. 

[230RN]

Snopes seems to declare everything off the leftist agenda as false.  Write that the sun is bright, and if it doesn't enhance leftist propaganda in some way, it is false.

Or only partly true, with 1000 words worth of "fact checking" doublethink narrative which expertly spins it into supporting the leftist outlook.

Just personal opinion, you understand.

So yes, a poem can be "false."

Terry, who enjoys being as unfair to the leftists as they are to the rightists, 230RN

[Hawkmoon]

False?  A poem  is false?  Really?   How does that work?

Never mind  ..... now that we live in clownworld, I do not want to know. 

It's also a poem expressing the poet's opinion. How can an opinion be false? It can be factually incorrect, but it's still the author's opinion and he/she/it/they/xxx have a right to express an opinion.

How can anything about economics and the marketplace be "false"? (Unless your name is Bernie Madoff, of course.) It's all opinion. One expert says things are looking great, buy heavily. Another expert says the outlook is gloomy, sell everything and hide gold bullion under your bed. Is one of them "false"?

[Ron]

I love aphorisms, proverbs and pithy quotes.

The wisdom that has survived the ages, transcending eras, cultures and geography is wisdom indeed.

Robust wisdom forged in a furnace by students and graduates of the school of hard knocks.

[fifth_column]

Snopes says it's false.

I can't find any reference to the poem on snopes.com.  I take it this was meant as a joke?

[makattak]

I'm fairly certain it's a joke about how Snopes has become politically biased and is, for example, attacking satire sites because they make fun of leftists.

So, OF COURSE, they've started fact-checking poems.

[Pb]

Snopes says it's false.

 

I wish I had thought of that....

[fifth_column]

I'm fairly certain it's a joke about how Snopes has become politically biased and is, for example, attacking satire sites because they make fun of leftists.

So, OF COURSE, they've started fact-checking poems.

I figure he was making a joke.  I wasn't sure others realized that so I thought I'd clarify.

[230RN]

Is this thing on?  <taps microphone three times>

Yeah, that was kind of a strained joke, so no wonder almost nobody got it.

Me:

Snopes seems to declare everything off the leftist agenda as false.  Write that the sun is bright, and if it doesn't enhance leftist propaganda in some way, it is false.

Or only partly true, with 1000 words worth of "fact checking" doublethink narrative which expertly spins it into supporting the leftist outlook.

Just personal opinion, you understand.

So yes, a poem can be "false."

Terry, who enjoys being as unfair to the leftists as they are to the rightists, 230RN

Terry

[Pb]

Is this thing on?  <taps microphone three times>

Yeah, that was kind of a strained joke, so no wonder almost nobody got it.

Me:
Terry

Well, I thought it was hilarious!   

[bedlamite]

Snopes says this is false.