Quote of the day—Rudyard Kipling

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.

Rudyard Kipling
1919
The Gods of the Copybook Headings
[This truth was well known 100 years ago yet people still believe the lie it refutes.

Closely related.—Joe]

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10 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Rudyard Kipling

  1. There are two personal decorations in my cubicle at work. One is a photo of my wife and dog. The other is a copy of that poem on my wall.

    No one has ever accused me of being secretive about my worldview.

  2. But lies are so much more attractive!

    There’s a good subject for deeper study;
    Why is it that lies are so often more attractive, or at least more tolerable, than truth? Or, maybe the better question is; what sort of personality seeks lies and rejects truth? Or; what drives any person toward lies and away from truth?

    Simple answer to the latter? That combination of the carrot and the stick.

    I’m pretty sure that the enemies of liberty understand these things far better than the proponents of liberty. It’s either that or the true advocates of liberty aren’t being heard. We hear a lot from fake “advocates” of liberty, and they’re by design inarticulate, inconsistent, and just dumb (e.g. Republicans).

    Those who love liberty see a clear distinction between right and wrong, and to them the distinction is simple and that’s that, whereas the enemies of liberty make it a life-long study to find out how to lie and manipulate and worm and twist and wriggle and coyly redefine and confuse, and eventually threaten, and do it all very effectively.

    Doing what’s right because it’s right is simple-minded and stupid in the mind of the authoritarian, as is avoiding what’s wrong because it’s wrong, and that’s rejecting whole avenues, whole worlds even, of possibility. It isn’t hip, it isn’t cool. It’s choosing to place limits on one’s self and even being a “push-over” in the eyes of others. It isn’t being “liberal”.

    In short, and once again; the Great Controversy of the world is between two alliances. The dark side would have us believe that there are countless interests, and all valid, but there are only two, and only one of the two is valid.

    They both see themselves as seeking and loving freedom, and they both see the other side as blatantly foolish and even ridiculous. One wants the freedom from wrong, to do right, and the other wants freedom from right, to do wrong. Neither alliance understands the stubbornness of the other AT ALL (nor wants to). The two alliances are utterly and completely incompatible and irreconcilable, and truly there is no reason to seek reconciliation (or any form of mutual tolerance) between them except as a ruse or a holding action. Surely one must destroy the other, completely.

    So it is that both alliances often seek, or long for, a Great Intercessor.

    Ultimately they end up seeking either God (the creator of the heavens, the earth, the seas and all that is in them, through Christ), or Lucifer (“prince of the world”, the “bringer of light” or “covering cherub” as his worshipers like to call him, or even “the wronged one” as the papists have been known to put it).

    Like it or not then, it’s Jesus verses satan, and that’s that. Everything else is just fluff and distraction.

  3. When I first saw this poem, many years ago, I didn’t understand it, and therefore didn’t like it. Now that I do (many good analysis writeups on the web, and you can even still buy Copybooks), I like it, and have used it in class more than once to illustrate an important point.

    I’ve noticed that some on the left are incapable of understanding it, and never want to consider “ok, then what?” They are doomed to repeat the cycle of folly…. And, sadly, look to be bound and determined to take the rest of us with them.

    • I remember reading somewhere that while conservatives are capable of empathizing with and analyzing liberal views (even when they’re wrong), the reverse is not true. That liberals literally cannot wrap their brains around any kind of nonstatist viewpoint or concept.

      So they have to muddle through, projecting what they THINK is the problem onto us. Except they never contemplate the prospect that they might be wrong.

      • Yes (however, you may have overstated it just a bit). And that result has been replicated several times.

        We also have a very specific instance of that demonstrated here.

      • 3rd rule of SJWs – they always project. They accuse you of what they themselves are guilty of, because they cannot conceive of others thinking differently. Ironic, then, that they are the ones claiming to celebrate diversity, while attempting to crush all dissenting views from their own, no?

        But that can be flipped: when you hear a popular leftwing catch-phrase, like “toxic masculinity,” flip it around and ask if they’d be offended by people using “toxic feminism,” or “toxic black culture.” Not that ever part of that culture is bad, you understand, of course not. But sure you can’t be against the toxic parts of it, right?

  4. Don’t forget the Dark Prophecy at the end:

    “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!”

  5. There are two personal decorations in my cubicle at work. One is a photo of my wife and dog. The other is a copy of that poem on my wall.
    No one has ever accused me of being secretive about my worldview.

  6. Pingback: Translation of The Gods of the Copybook Headings | The View From North Central Idaho

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