KIPLING'S LITTLE MAN
~ or ~
Bolshevism Revisited
A Leftist caught in doubt
Lifts up his head to shout:
Your treatment is unfair,
You bully! How you dare
To question my veracity
With cruel, hard-eyed tenacity
I do not know. My views
Which boldly you accuse
Of being falsely ranked
In truth are sacrosanct.
My thoughts are Holy Writ.
Your thoughts are quite unfit;
Based on selfish fears
They inspire tears
And dare to say the blame
Lies squarely in the frame
Of those whose failing lives
Look to him who thrives
And say: Your gold is mine,
You greedy, bloated swine.
You have more than you need.
It's up to you to feed
Me, the ill and weak,
Else Heaven that you seek
Will ever be denied.
And I will see your hide
Shredded, tanned and dried.
And hung outside the gates
Of each neighborhood that hates
The needy and the poor,
Who soon will storm your door
And drag you from your bed
And then lop off your head.
While the masses you denied
Will ever take great pride
Your ignominious demise
Was effected in the guise
Of condign righteous wrath
Giving Bourgeois digs a bath.
With stolen food and goods
We'll raze your neighborhoods
And laugh to see you hurt
Dying in the dirt.
WE DO NOT CARE TO RISE:
We live for your demise.
We thrive on righteous hate.
It is by now too late
To make a plan to stop us
End the Founder's opus.
Our Marx destroyed your God.
He's in - not on - the sod
Feeding nematodes
In their dark abodes.
With mockery and shrill
Sarcastic gibes we kill.
We drool with sheer delight
At the thought of endless night.
Where everything that's witty,
Charming, gracious, pretty
Slumps to the nitty gritty,
As we revel in the dung
Corrupting all your young.
For 'we are the little folk, we
Too little to love or to hate.
Leave us alone, and you'll see
How quickly we'll drag down the state.'*
~ FreeThinke (2007)
–––––––––––––––––
* Rudyard Kipling
Absolute Marxism would result in a veritable heaven upon the Earth. But anything less...
ReplyDeleteMuch "food" for thought FT.
ReplyDeleteTAM: Tis so...
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ReplyDeleteThe now "rising air" smells pretty sulphury now, DB. Perhaps you should apologize for your uncontrollable flatulence.
DeleteFrankie Febreezio said
DeleteHe, she or it just got the D & D Treatment, Titan -- i.e. Dissolved and Dissipated.
PHEWHEEEEEEEE AWAY!
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteAnother brilliant outing, FreeThinke!
ReplyDeleteI love your adaptation. The Kipling poem is A Pict Song
British leftwing activist Billy Bragg put a tune to the words and made a song of it.
FT: Don't click the link. You will hate it.
Thank you Kurt. Put "the little folk" in charge and, and it's "bye bye happiness, hello emptiness."
DeleteThe truth of that should be obvious. All we have to do is look at they way "the little folk" abuse freedom of expression in the blogosphere.
Freedom for the Oppressed, apparently, spells Oppression for the Free.
An oxymoronic conundrum from which there appears to be no escape.
It's the Achilles Heel of the Founders' Vision.
Does it stand the test of reason oppressed folks will sooner or later revolt whether "little" or "big"?
ReplyDeleteDoes it stand the test of "reason" that little children feel "oppressed" by their parents and long to "move out on their own" when they get "bigger"?
DeleteSome might argue that their "feelings" of "oppression" are ill founded.
The cry of the oppressed in America...
DeleteEarth to the Left
DeleteThe "oppressed" in America today, if that's what they are, haven't the faintest idea of what it's like to be REALLY oppressed, do they, Speedy?
DeleteGandolf,
ReplyDeleteI'm certain the term "little folk" pertains to that class of people who think only of themselves, have no sense of commitment or duty to spouse, family, community, country, honest work or God.
It has nothing to do with midgets, dwarfs, or children.
Instead it has everything to do with short-sightedness, proud ignorance and small mindedness, and those myriad, sad creatures who've been encouraged to believe the world owes them a living simply because they exist.
I'm certain the term "little folk" pertains to that class of people who ... have no sense of commitment or duty to spouse, family, community, country, honest work or God.
Delete..it has everything to do with... those myriad, sad creatures who've been encouraged to believe the world owes them a living simply because they exist.
Every bit of the above is right on target.
Those other things, yeah, also true. They just happen to be in play with some "big" folks too.
Gandolf,
DeleteI'd like to know more precisely what YOU mean by "Big Folk." Are you referring to the powerful, highly placed, rich, and privileged?
If so, I am aware that they too suffer from varying degrees of mental, moral, and spiritual deficiencies that blight their existence and make them even more miserable than many we might regard as "peasants."
Yes FT, we are on the same page.
DeleteKipling used the term to refer to conquered peoples, literally the inhabitants of northern Scotland during Roman times, but the analogy was aimed at the Indian peoples living under the British empire. I mention it because it seems quite different to what you're talking about.
DeleteAppreciate the historical background, Jez, but the inferences one may draw from works of art, literature and music -- even architecture -- are always broader and potentially more extensive than any literal interpretation.
DeleteThe Bible, for instance, is on the surface a largely mythological history of ancient Jewry and its conflicts with the Egyptians, Canaananites, Hittites, Moabites, Midianites, et al. yet biblical scholars and followers of Judaism -- and later Christianity -- have for thousands of years been drawing inferences from these ancient texts applicable to the way we are supposed to lead our lives in any time period or any part of the world.
And, as I've said ever so many times in many ways, the notes that make up a symphony or any significant piece of music comprise the barest beginning of a stirring, coherent, potentially life-transforming performance of the work. That takes a degree of insight, imagination and the courage of one's convictions given to few to pull off successfully.
The differences -- both subtle and vast -- fully engaged listeners may perceive in many different readings of one particular work are what keeps musical art alive and make it forever more intriguing to those sensitive to its charms, virtues and power.
At any rate, regardless of what Kipling may -- or may not -- have had in mind when he wrote A Pict Song, the use I chose to make of Kipling's term may be different from the literal source of his inspiration and probably intent, but my point in using it as I did is no less legitimate.
Of course you may appropriate Kipling's ideas for whatever purpose you wish, but when you quote him aren't you inviting us to understand your poem in light of his? I assumed that your contrasting attitudes towards the "little people" was an intended effect.
DeleteI don't think I've never met anyone more determined to misperceive the motives of others. I confess your relentless attempts to put me on the defensive rarely fail to irritate, so you may take satisfaction in that, if you wish. However, what-I-cannot-help-but-see-as implicit snideness in your willful misunderstanding is unworthy of you. I think you're probably a good deal better than that.
DeleteI don't believe you are ignorant, so your apparent opacity puzzles me.
We come from different countries, different backgrounds and markedly different generations. It's not surprising, therefore, that we have different tastes and values, but this tendency you have always to challenge, never to admire and never to accept is irksome
I attribute it to your having been steeped in an educational milieu that wholeheartedly embraced Gramsci's idea of Critical Theory as promoted and practiced by the Frankfurt School and their disciples. Either that or you must be an ethnic Jew who comes, therefore, quite honestly to an, apparent, Addiction to Endless Dispute. ;-)
At any rate, ALL I did when writing the piece in question was make an honest effort to give proper credit Kipling for his original use of that singular phrase.
My piece deserves to be judged strictly on its own merits -- or lack thereof -- depending on your point of view. Naturally, I expected Marxian-Fabian-Progressive-Liberal-Socialist-Communist-Statist Dictocrats to find it despicable.
I would have been bitterly disappointed if they hadn't . ;-)
Cheerio!
My apologies, I did not mean to cause irritation: I only wanted to steer the conversation towards Kipling's literature.
DeleteThe Just So stories, perhaps? ;-) That should make a safe neutral ground.
DeleteAt any rate your intent, whether for good or ill, was certainly to draw attention as far away from what I had written as you possibly could.
There's no need to apologize. That's what most people do in the blogosphere. I've travelled that route, myself, more than I like to admit.
I did enjoy the material on C.S. Lewis and Oscar Wilde you sent my way the other day. So, I thank you for it again.
Take care.
I happened to see the two posts from "OKJimm" before you erased them, FT. I don't blame you for that, but they made an important point about the left, so maybe you should have let them stay. Those people are so unaware of their faults they want to take a brilliant portrayal of what ails them like your poem today as evidence of what's wrong with conservatives. It's another one of those Peter and Paul comparisons you're so fond of making. They condemn themselves with their perverse way of looking at things, and think they're being funny. Apparently, they look in the mirror, and the ugliness, nastiness and stupidity that stares back at them they identify as "conservative." It would be funny, if it weren't so terribly sad, and so dangerous to the good health of society.
ReplyDelete--------------------------> Katharine Heartburn
Thank you, Katharine. I cherish your good opinion, and always appreciate your input.
DeleteAnything written by that slimbag called "OKJimm" reeks from a foul and objectionable stench...
ReplyDeletePerhaps so, but please let's not belabor it. Wpuldn't it be better for you to express appreciation of something you think positive -- or at least truthful?
DeleteIndulging in gratuitous negativism is a mental disorder.
//always appreciate your input. //
ReplyDelete,,,,and I appreciate your abysmal prose.....say, the geology dept would so love a poem about climate.....could you accomadate...they need amusement too.
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DeleteI may appreciate moral support, Conservative Dad, but I don't appreciate gratuitous vulgarity. The object of your (thoroughly justified) contempt and derision does a much better job of vilifying himself by his choice of words and sentiments than you or I could ever hope to do. (Witness Max Pilkington's post below, which quotes the subject's flippant little profile at his very own site.)
DeleteWhen confronted with a pathetic specimen of perverted humanity, the less said to or about him, her or it the better.
We only damage ourselves when we indulge in unbridled excretions of vitriol. Vindictiveness is not a virtue.
Max Pilkington said
ReplyDeletePROFILE of a SMART ALEC WHO MISTAKENLY THINKS HE'S CLEVER
About me (OKJimm)
Industry____________ Non-Profit
Occupation ______Death Panelist
Location ________ Downtown, Beautiful Wisconsington, U.S. Outlying Islands
Introduction _____ Just a Commie, pinko, socialist, union supporter, intellectual slob
Interests __ Beer, cheese, nude jello wrestling, fishing for dollars, Death Football, pudding taster
Favorite Movies ___ Coffee and Cigarettes, Paris, je t'aime
Favorite Music_____ angst, jazz, rock, folk, death-polka, NRBQ, Jayhawks, Phil Ochs, Uncle Tupelo, The Dead, Beth Orton, Chan Marshall Old 97's, Elvis Costello
Favorite Books ___ World According to Garp, Collected works of ee cummings, Biography of Peter the Great, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Chinese Menus
You can punch a hole in an apple using a straw. How do you think that makes your milkshake feel?
because.... god said so
________________________________
Hat's off, Ladies and Gentleman, an authentic, bona fide, four-letter, blue-ribbon, first-class, Nobel Prize winning asshole. In short nothing special.
No wonder he hates FreeThinke.
Not to worry. I don't mind in the least being hated by a certain class of people, Max.
DeleteIn fact I'd take it as positive INSULT if that sort ever said they enjoyed or expressed approval of anything I did.
"The argument that the level of discussion in any dispute should be kept civil is intriguing. It only works, however, when you are dealing with reasonable, civil people. When someone hits you with a sexual harassment charge (or whatever) without going through appropriate channels of proper discussion then this is neither reasonable nor civil."
ReplyDelete~ Author Unknown
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ReplyDeleteoh, and unlike Free Thunk.....I do not hate anyone....but idiots do amuse me.
ReplyDeleteI do not hate you, Jimmy Boy. I DESPISE the way you and all your ignorant, depressing, value-challenged, brainwashed, socially degenerate, nihilistic ilk have chosen to waste the Gift of Life.
DeleteThere is a good deal of difference between hatred and contempt. The former tends to be irrational; the latter rooted in knowledge and pity, believe it or not.
If ever anyone could properly be called pitiable, that person would surely be you -- and that coterie of conceited, sharp-tongued Cultural Marxists and Fellow Travellers you hang out with at cyber-sites I no longer permit myself -- or anyone who visits here -- to mention.
okookjimmy says: "but idiots do amuse me"
DeleteThey explains why you spend so much time on at that east coast progressive pile of crap
The very act of the progressive pot stirrers coming here reveals just how unfulfilled they are in their mutual appreciation society over there on the left side of the internet.
ReplyDeleteThey seek to bait in conservatives so they can censor, berate, scold and damn them to hell.
I do hope no one falls for that anymore. Their professions of a search for comity and civility are all balderdash.
Balls to you and your fetid ild, okjimm! Balls to you!
Chuckling with great good humor here at that, Mr. Buggarage. Thanks, but please let's not be TOO hard on the herpetic inhabitants of that Den of Vipers to which you allude. It might backfire and generate sympathy for the likes of sad creatures like our dear little Jimmy Boy.
DeleteThose poor souls are so desperate for attention they're perfectly capable of slipping a steaming pile of freshly laid poo poo into the stewpot just to get a rise out of the dinner guests.
In fact isn't that EXACTLY what they do do (;-) -- in the metaphorical sense -- ALL the TIME?
I think SO!