Commonsense

 

 

Good sense and gumption

Reasonableness and judgment

Horse sense and mother wit

Sagacity and discernment

 

Commonsense is basic sense

As in the case of a horse

So that a human being without it

Is an indication he/she is lost.

 

To sink below a horse

In the manner of our reasoning

Is a very dangerous proposition

That is quite disheartening.

 

The fact of its very name

Indicates it should be common

But here it gets most interesting,

It is sadly lacking quite often.

 

Due to stark shortsightedness

It was contrasted with education

But education without commonsense

Is lacking information.

 

In commonsense is education

And education in commonsense

And to separate the two of them

Should be an unlawful offense.

 

Commonsense is now outlawed

And replaced with a pseudo education,

An education that only makes sense

To those with a warped imagination.

 

You may think that I am going mad

Given the argument that I bring

But it seems there is a competition

 

For thinking up the most stupid thing.  

Education is about progress

It is about using our commonsense

But the direction in which it is going

Is absolute nonsense.

 

Which says it is not education

But a horrible lack of commonsense

And so-called educated people

Are rushing to its defense.

 

Commonsense and education

Walk hand in hand always

And if what we do does not improve life

Then the two have parted ways.

 

I am tempted to be specific

But I am urging you on to think

Of the many so-called bright people

Who are leading us to the brink!

 

Commonsense is becoming extinct

And nonsense is taking its place,

Many line at stupidity starting point

To compete in the nonsense race.

 

It’s like the advent of virtual reality

Is of far more significance that the real

And what has been long established

Is now becoming quite stale.

 

Let us accommodate everyone

Regardless of what he/she believes,

And though it be void of commonsense

Let us embrace its appeal.

 

 

It’s like fake news and the factual

Both of these are publicizing the truth,

And what is tremendously amazing…

Both supply undeniable proof.

 

You can now have an exact copy

Of what a person did not say,

Word for word and comma for comma

That’s the new commonsense way.

 

My commonsense is not yours

And your commonsense is not mine,

But both of them are commonsense

Though commonsense of a different kind.

 

We have commonsense that is madness

And commonsense that is not common,

It is high time we define the term

To include the ridiculous and the wanton.

 

Then commonsense would be anything

That the weirdest weirdo would do:

In which case the only commonality would be

It has to be somebody's view.

 

Stewart Russell © October 2019

 

Who Are You?

In a country which I won’t name

There are fifteen genders to be taught,

If I were a parent living there

I would be particularly distraught.

Bearing in mind the children’s ages

The authorities would have to be mad,

Of kindergarten age, I am told,

How could any parent be glad?

And it appears it is pretty advanced

Not much anyone can do,

There is even a textbook, I am told,

And its title is “Who Are You?”.

Bear in mind your five-year-old

How would you teach this to him?

“Timmy, you don’t have to be a boy or girl.

Such limitations would be a sin.

After all, God is a God of variety

Just take a look around you,

The possibilities are limitless

Not only for me but for you too.”

Five-year-olds who cannot read

Now trying to discover themselves,

“The book to use is “Who Are You?”

You’ll find them on the shelves.

Turn to page number so and so

You will find the genders there,

We will deal with these fifteen for now

Perhaps some others next year.”

That’s my kind of introduction

Remember, these are five-year-olds,

Whoever the unfortunate teachers are

They would have to be quite bold.

Bear in mind the modern paradigm

Children must construct their own learning,

Hence, videos and demonstrations

To stimulate in them a yearning.

What an introduction to the family!

The bedrock of human society,

Fifteen genders from which to choose

Therein lie tremendous possibilities.

Fifteen different gender variants

They must teach these five-year-olds,

Just dealing with some of the names alone

Would knock some adults cold.

I am hoping this is fake news

Or somebody’s idea of a crude joke,

But my gut feeling is telling me

These miscreants will win the vote.

And if that should ever happen

It will be the beginning of the end,

For education to head in this direction

Is to definitely go round the bend.

For a list of some of these genders

Check at the end of this poem

But believe you me, my friend,

Teaching this curriculum will take some doing.

From parent consent to parent mandate

No choice in this sordid matter,

If the vote goes in the proposers’ favour

It will definitely be the latter.

Well, for that promised list

Just check below

And if five-year-olds can learn this stuff,

Then there is much I do not know.

Stewart Russell © October 2019

Trans, genderqueer, non-binary,

gender fluid, transgender, gender neutral,

agender, nutrois, bigender,

third gender, two-spirit

Fake News and Alternative Facts

 

What interesting times we live in!

What perilous times as well!

What weird repackaging of sin!

No wonder some believe here is hell.

Heaven is here and so is hell

Depends on what one makes it,

This is the view I’ve heard some tell

So we had better learn to fit.

Fake news is on the increase

Alternate facts are on the rise,

Some want Biblical truth to cease

While others the sacred Word despise.

Bizarre orientations are a fact of life

Mostly in first world countries,

And legal minds are causing strife

To visit on the local communities.

Take prayer out of the schools

And remove the Bible too

God and education! That’s not cool!

Is becoming the scholastic view.

Christianity is for weaklings

Religion, a placebo and cop out

Their pseudo God in a manner of speaking

Is nothing much to shout about.

He’s just a good feeling like a drug

That always wears off with time

And inevitably becomes a humbug

Is what some intellectuals opined.

There is no God but man himself

There’s no limit to what he can achieve,

The Bible is like any other book on the shelf

Isn’t this what they want us to believe?

 

 

 

Fake news and alternative facts

As true as true can be,

Thousands believe it and say it’s that

That is the new truth they want us to see.

  

There is no need for verification

And definitely no need to investigate,

Millions propagate its publication

Positing it as true even though it’s fake.

The only truth in an alternative fact

Is the fact that it is always a lie,

The gullible receives it as a juicy scrap

And the demand exceeds the supply.

It spreads with speed like a forest fire

Obscuring the truth in its wake,

Increasing the victims of the Chief Liar

Like leaves swept up by a garden rake.

No resistance to the certain untruth

Like hungry souls they gobble it up,

The millions that believe, their only proof

And upon that lie they excitedly sup.

Deep in the mind a certain doubt

That further recedes under the weight

Then disappears with the popular shout

As the truth gives way to the fake.

 

 

 

Fake news and alternative facts

Are really one and the same,

This two-in-one scourge burns up the track

And the sensational vibe fans the flame.

There’s nothing new under the sun

Not even this current distraction

For as long ago as in the biblical Eden

Fake news became an attraction

Served up by none other than Satan

Our fore parents released their grip

And disregarded the Creator’s instruction

Fake news had done the trick.

Nothing new I must repeat

Regarding alternative facts and fake news,

The more incredible the sweeter the treat

The more ridiculous are the reviews.

It will get worse the Bible says

As the coming of the Lord draws near,

Mankind will be driven by his selfish ways

And men’s hearts will fail them for fear.

Nothing will be too ridiculous to attempt

Nothing too low to conceive,

Man’s depravity will be allowed to vent

On a world that is already deceived.

But all is not lost for the Christian child

In fact nothing really at all

For nothing can God’s sheep defile

That has answered the Shepherd’s call.

No alternative fact or fake news

Can disillusion the Lord’s elect

Who daily God’s Word will choose

And the alternatives and fakes reject.

Stewart Russell © November 2017

No Such Thing as Truth! How true can this be?

If in fact as postmodernists declare

There is no such thing as truth

Would this not also be a falsehood?

You see, in itself it gives the proof.

They are trying their very best

To rubbish God’s Holy Word

And in trying to achieve this feat

They will even use the absurd.

There is no such thing as truth

Is a contradiction; there is no doubt,

It shows the lie for all that follows

And such a premise must be thrown out.

For once the premise is faulty

The whole argument tumbles down

And as brilliant as postmodernists appear

They must be viewed as circus clowns.

We live in a knowledge boom time

In which knowledge is on the increase,

In the Bible we read of this era

But this too will also cease.

There is no such thing as truth

Are you quick to believe in such?

Or are we saying like some today

That truth doesn’t matter much?

“We live in a time of universal deceit

And telling the truth is revolutionary.”

These words attributed to George Orwell

Really must be a cause for worry.

In a day of fake news and alternative facts

Truth must in deed be strange

And if there is no such thing as truth

This world must clearly be deranged.

In a world of madness is where we are

Cunningly pretending to be sane,

The Emperor’s new clothes are on us

As lies packaged as truth and so renamed.

  

“Hath God said?” you’d remember that,

The first case of an alternative fact

That altered the face of original truth

And led the first humans into a trap.

A trap from which they could not escape,

The consequences are still felt today

And men have moved away from truth,

No such thing as truth you hear them say.

“A Strong delusion” according to the Bible

That’s how the word of God puts it,

And man has perfected the art of lying

Such that it has become a compelling habit.

There is no such thing as truth

Once only the tiniest of germs at birth

Has grown in quantum leaps exponentially

And now it fills the entire earth.

It puzzled a Roman governor too

When once he had asked what is truth,

Oblivious at that particular time

That standing before him was his proof.

There is no such thing as truth

Means that today any and everything goes,

No wonder our world is in such a state

And man born of a woman is full of woes.

Many are comfortable with believing a lie,

“It’s truth,” some would dare to expound

Even though with comprehensive examination

No such evidence can be found.

A strong delusion I must repeat

For having believed an obvious lie

Our world today is in desperate straits

And creation’s beginning it still denies.

Everything hinges and hangs on the beginning

And the truths concerning that,

If in fact there is no such thing as truth

Then all we believe is a lie and that’s a fact.

Scattered, wandering and groping in fear

Moving further away from the Light

Fooling ourselves we are seeing quite clear

But terribly disoriented in our plight.

Post-truth is the new word; do take note

As accepted by the Oxford Dictionaries,

It relegates the evidence of objective facts

And establishes personal beliefs as summaries.

There is no such thing as truth

Because the false is all that we know

Having long dispelled the truth from our mind

Post-truth is the only way to go.

Post-truth is what enables our agendas

Personal and selfish though they be,

The word of God is reckoned a lie

When the blind believe that they can see.

He that is well needs not a physician

And he that can see, no balm for his eye

But truth will out and it always does

Even to the stoutest of them that deny.

There is no such thing as truth

We all that statement should defy

For if it were correct it could still not be a fact

Since built into such truth is the lie.

There is no such thing as truth

How true can this really be?

Not true at all you must agree

Since its very sense is contradictory.

Stewart Russell © 2017