Facts or Fibs?

By luigi_pagano

Mon, 25 Nov 2019
  • 1341 reads
10 comments
 
Henry Ford showed spunk
as he said history is bunk.
I differ from his definition
and opt for this description:
 
history is like a package
that is tricky to manage,
containing fragile ware
to be handled with care.
 
Some of its content are junk
that one has to debunk,
while others consist of fibs
that will tickle one's ribs.
 
Did George Washington
in his stately mansion
cut down a cherry tree?
You could have fooled me.
 
And no one with brains
will believe that the trains
ran just like a dream
during the fascist regime.
 
And what about the fate
of Catherine the Great?
It's only a myth of course
that she died under a horse.
 
Many schoolboys learned
that while Rome burned
Nero played the fiddle
but it's only a taradiddle.
 
We're told Morton Stanley,
an explorer who was manly,
found Dr. David Livingstone
in poor health and alone.
 
Did he say, as we assume,
“Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
Or did he ask, venting his spleen,
“Where the hell have you been?”
 
 
© Luigi Pagano 2019
Certificate 12
Poem
Are you being versed?
Humour

Comments

Submitted by Nolan on

Know what you're saying Luigi especially these days, I myself have resorted back to encyclopedias and printed general reference works eg dictionaries. It is very hard to get reliable information on the internet half the time you don't know what's-what. There is false and misleading information around every corner, history being re-written wrong facts etc.

I like the poem it's like happy, nice rhythm, hopping skipping-skipping! & Nolan

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Thanks Nolan. You're absolutely right, we don't know what to believe and if what we read is reliable. 

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

A lie is deadly but the half-truth is death.

Keep well Liuigi! Knowledge is power!

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Hi Tom. 
Thanks for your philosophical analysis .
Knowledge is power. I am mad about knowledge. Am I powerful or mad?
Discuss. smiley

Cheers, Luigi x

 

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

According to your logic you are probably mad.

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Logic tells me  otherwise but I am probably biased.  cool

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Probably

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Yes, but as a mathematician you must know that the probability is still 50%.

Best, Luigi.

 

Submitted by Tom Brown on

Yes, the probability of any (conceivable) thing happening is 50-50. It either happens, or it doesn't. As a corollary any given fact would be either true, or not. As you say, there is always a 50% chance you might be right!

Goodnight my friend, Luigi!

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

Goodnight, Zzzzzz,smiley