The Gods of the Copybook Headings Strike Back

The attack on Israel by the forces of the Muslim terrorist organization, Hamas, have once again summoned up the oldest gods in the universe; neither the Hebrew, Christian, nor Muslim gods, but the eternal Gods of the Copybook Headings, as limned by the British poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling in his eponymous poem. Antedating Yahweh, God the Father, and Allah, they are the gods of the eternal verities of human existence whose tenets no amount of liberalism or progressivism or wokism can gainsay….

The lesson currently being relearned by Israel is that the leopard never changes his spots, and no amount of wishful thinking will make it so. One of the lessons of "Never Again" is that if your avowed enemy says he's not going to rest until you are dead, believe him. And then do unto him as he would do unto you, but first. And not "proportionately" either, but with as much finality as necessary. And even then, as the saying goes: eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Another lesson western Europe and the U.S. are both learning is that -- by definition -- "diversity" destroys the nation-state and "tolerance" kills it dead. In mechanical terms, "tolerance" is the point at which a system can no longer maintain structural integrity, and simply comes apart.

Western Europe and the U.S. are both learning the hard way
<><>”diversity” is a prelude to anarchy
<><>diversity destroys the nation-state
<><>its bosom buddy “tolerance” kills it dead
<><>”tolerance” foments a system that can no longer maintain structural integrity,
<><>tolerance makes the system simply come apart.
<><>”tolerance,” is culturally dangerous
<><>sap-happily employed by lefties to “push boundaries” and “break barriers.”
<><>tolerance destroys historic norms
<><>tolerance ushers in moral anarchy in the name of “righting wrongs.”
<><>a “tolerant” society is one under mortal attack;
<><>with the perversion of its definition, it effectively prevents fighting back.
<><>a “tolerant” society is a defenseless society and thus a doomed society.

‘The Gods of the Copybook Headings’
by Rudyard Kipling

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!

I am 67 years old. I know what a copybook is because my Grandma showed me hers when I was a boy. I never used one myself.
She did give me a little red and blue pamphlet entitled “Readin’ ‘Ritin’ and “Rithmetic” from which I memorized my times tables. I learned phonics from my mother who was a public school teacher.

Every one of my schools were poor as was typical, and what few teachers were competent were under the control of Principals and Superintendents that were completely distracted with Democrat politics. I graduated from Northwestern H.S., York Co. S.C. in 1974.

Who in the world these days knows what a copybook heading even is, or what any of the maxims were? Y’all are Googling it now right? Start at the wiki article about the poem and go from there. He wrote this in 1919!

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