“Another example of how our oh-so-arty pro-aborts use their
self-image as culture heroes to push their agenda. This poem by the lefty poet
Kevin Higgins is being circulated on the pro-abort sites. For Mr Higgins see
HERE
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Higgins_(poet)
and here is his self-description of the poem and another atrocity in which he
represents Our Lady of Knock as calling for the reopening of the Magdalen
Asylums, and which is likewise circulating on the web in the same milieu
mentioningthewar.blogspot.ie/2013/07/poem-in-search-of-good-home.html
EXTRACT
Last week I put out a call on Facebook asking if there were any political or
literary blogs that might be interested in publishing my poem 'What The Virgin
At Knock Would Say If She Could Speak'. Roisín Peddle stepped up and published
the poem on her excellent personal blog Random Descent. The poem was very
quickly condemned as 'not poetry' by a foaming at the mouth member of Youth
Defence, or at least a member of Youth Defence I will now forever imagine
foaming at the mouth. This I considered a great success.
In a similar vein, I am now looking for a home for my just finished and very
topical poem: 'Irish Government Minister Unveils Monument To Victims Of The
Pro-Life Amendment' [to the Irish constitution in 1983]. Like Bertolt Brecht's
'To Those Born Later' and Mayakovsky's '
At The Top Of My Voice' the poem looks
forward to a tomorrow which can only be better than today and will, certainly,
be infinitely better than all our dark abortion free Irish yesterdays.
END OF EXTRACT
Mr Higgins' poem is reproduced below as legitimate fair use for the purpose of
legitimate literary criticism (which I am sure he himself would agree must
necessarily include criticism of the work's political-ideological assumptions),
IN CAPITALS
A poem by Kevin Higgins
'Irish Government Minister Unveils Monument
To Victims of Pro-Life Amendment'
On a date to be confirmed,
when those who remember 1983
will sleep safely in their graves,
or be anxiously telling nurse
about the auld ones with crucifixes
they think are coming to get them
[HERE WE SEE MR HIGGINS REASSURING HIS AUDIENCE THAT HISTORY IS ON THEIR SIDE
SO THEY CAN ASSUME THEY ARE RIGHT AND NEED NOT BOTHER WITH ARGUMENTS, AND THAT
PRO-LIFERS WILL ONE DAY ONLY BE REMEMBERED AS SENILE LUNATICS AND SEMI-MYTHICAL
GHOULS. NOTHING LIKE RIDICULING THE MESSENGER TO AVOID TAKING THE MESSAGE
SERIOUSLY. THIS ALSO REFLECTS THE FACT THAT HE ASSUMES MUCH OF HIS AUDIENCE
WILL BE TOO YOUNG TO REMEMBER 1983, SO HE IS REASSURING THEM THAT THEY ARE WELL
ON THE WAY TO THAT DESIRED CONSUMMATION]
a girl, today
on holidays from primary school, [JUST LIKE TURN-OF-THE CENTURY IRISH REVIVAL
OCCULTISTS PROCLAIMING THAT THE IRISH MESSIAH WAS ALREADY BORN AMONG US, ONCE
AGAIN MR HIGGINS ASSURES HIS ASSOCIATES THAT HISTORY IS INEXORABLY MOVING IN
THEIR DIRECTION]
by then grown into
a Maggie Thatcher suit, will thank
the Chamber of Commerce
for use of their microphone
as a pulled chord unwraps
this thing chipped from stone
AS MR HIGGINS IS PRETTY FAR-LEFT HE PRESUMABLY DOES NOT IDENTIFY WITH THIS MARY
ROBINSON/MARGARET THATCHER FIGURE OR WITH THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. HIS POINT IS
THAT BY THE TIME WE GET TO THE BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAIN HE PROGNOSTICATES, EVEN
THE MOST HIDEBOUND IRISH ESTABLISHMENT FIGURES WILL RECOGNISE RESTRICTIONS ON
ABORTION AS POSITIVELY EVIL, AND WILL BE ENGAGING IN COLLECTIVE SHOWS OF
REPENTANCE FOR THEIR QUONDAM EXISTENCE AND HELPING TO PUT UP MONUMENTS TO THE
'VICTIMS' JUST AS AT PRESENT CHURCH AND STATE ARE ERECTING MONUMENTS TO THE
GENUINE VICTIMS OF THE MAGDALEN LAUNDRIES, INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS, AND CLERICAL
ABUSE - I DETECT A FAIRLY DELIBERATE REFERENCE TO THE PROPOSED MONUMENT TO
VICTIMS OF INSTITUTIONAL ABUSE PLANNED FOR PARNELL SQUARE, AT THE BACK OF THE
GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE
in memory
of those forced
to change trains at Crewe clutching
solitary suitcases that screamed
one night only,
those that bled out in the backs
of London taxis after journeys
made possible by post office accounts
and extra hours at the newsagent’s;
[THIS IS AN EXPLICIT REFERENCE TO A WELL-KNOWN RECENT CASE, AND OF COURSE MR
HIGGINS BLAMES IT ALL ON THE EVIL PRO-LIFERS AND GLOSSES OVER THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE ABORTIONIST FOR LETTING THIS WOMAN, WHO HAD A CLEARLY
DEFINED MEDICAL CONDITION, LEAVE WITHOUT PROPER AFTERCARE OR OBSERVATION. IF HE
THINKS IRISH-BASED ABORTIONISTS WOULD BE MORE FASTIDIOUS ALL I CAN SAY IS THIS
IS PRETTY INCONGRUOUS WITH THE STANDARDS OF REGULATION WE GET IN IRELAND, AND
WHICH LEFTIES LIKE MR HIGGINS NEVER CEASE TO EXCORIATE WHEN THEY CONCERN
ANYTHING EXCEPT THE SACRAMENT OF ABORTION]
all because of a stick
which, for them, turned
the wrong colour
the wrong year
in the wrong country.
[THIS IS LIKE SAYING THAT NAZI WAR CRIMES TRIALS WERE ALL OVER A FEW PIECES OF
LEAD AND PUFFS OF EXHAUST FUMES; IT'S WILFULLY GLOSSING OVER THE HUMAN LIFE AT
STAKE. NOTE THAT MR HIGGINS DOES NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF
THE "CHOICE" - THOUGH THE REFERENCES TO POST OFFICE ACCOUNTS AND
WORKING EXTRA HOURS AT THE NEWSAGENTS' IMPLIES THESE WOMEN ARE POOR AND HAVE
DIFFICULTY RAISING THE FUNDS TO TRAVEL, THE UNDERLYING ASSUMPTION OF THE POEM
IS THAT ABORTION SHOULD BE AVAILABLE WITHOUT RESTRICTION FOR ANY REASON OR NONE
And as the Minister continues,
across the road a little girl will grab
her mother’s arm and ask:
what’s that lady saying?
THE LITTLE GIRL, FOR MR HIGGINS, IS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INEVITABLE
TRIUMPH OF THE PRO-ABORT PRINCIPLE, SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS WILL BE UNABLE
TO COMPREHEND THAT SUCH CREATURES AS PRO-LIFERS COULD EVER HAVE EXISTED, OR
THAT ANYONE COULD EVER HAVE SERIOUSLY WISHED TO PROTECT THE LIFE OF THE UNBORN
CHILD.
Mr Higgins trusts in the inevitable triumph of his version of civilisation,
just as his literary model Mayakovsky trusted that the Marxist-Leninist state
would produce the earthly paradise. Mayakovsky was disappointed in his
expectation - though he didn't live to see the worst, because he killed himself
when he realised the way things were going. Just as the bloody dictatorship
that sold Mayakovsky and so many others that promise of earthly paradise didn't
last forever, but destroyed many lives and did a vast amount of harm, so Mr
Higgins and his cronies can do a vast amount of harm even though the universal
moral blindness which he prognosticates may never come to pass. Educate,
organise, to resist that darkness.
In the meantime, as GK Chesterton put it "Many clever men have trusted in
civilisation - many clever Babylonians, many clever Egyptians, many clever men
at the end of Rome". Mr Higgins' poem reminds me of someone else who
believed the constitution of his own country should be reinterpreted to get rid
of unrealistic pie-in-the-sky provisions about universal rights, provisions
which in his opinion could only cause trouble; someone else who thought history
was on his side and that all future generations would realise how right he had
been and despise his narrow-minded opponents. In that case, the opponents were
those who wished to abolish American slavery, so for comparison with Mr
Higgins' effusion I leave you with Alexander Stephens, first and only
vice-president of the Confederate States of America, telling his audience that
history was on their side:
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech
EXTRACT
But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow
me to allude to one other — though last, not least. The new constitution has
put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar
institution — African slavery as it exists amongst us — the proper status of
the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late
rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated
this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was
right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he
fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may
be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading
statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the
enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was
wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they
knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day
was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be
evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the
constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is
true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should
last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional
guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those
ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of
the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the
government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind
blew."
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations
are laid, its corner- stone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not
equal to the white man; that slavery — subordination to the superior race — is
his natural and normal condition. [Applause.] This, our new government, is the
first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical,
philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its
development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It
has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well,
that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their day. The errors
of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those
at the North, who still cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we
justly denominate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the
mind — from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of the most
striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming correct
conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises; so with the anti-slavery
fanatics; their conclusions are right if their premises were. They assume that
the negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges
and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their
conclusions would be logical and just — but their premise being wrong, their
whole argument fails. I recollect once of having heard a gentleman from one of
the northern States, of great power and ability, announce in the House of
Representatives, with imposing effect, that we of the South would be compelled,
ultimately, to yield upon this subject of slavery, that it was as impossible to
war successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in physics or
mechanics. That the principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in maintaining
slavery as it exists with us, were warring against a principle, a principle
founded in nature, the principle of the equality of men. The reply I made to
him was, that upon his own grounds, we should, ultimately, succeed, and that he
and his associates, in this crusade against our institutions, would ultimately
fail. The truth announced, that it was as impossible to war successfully
against a principle in politics as it was in physics and mechanics, I admitted;
but told him that it was he, and those acting with him, who were warring
against a principle. They were attempting to make things equal which the
Creator had made unequal.
In the conflict thus far, success has been on our side, complete throughout the
length and breadth of the Confederate States. It is upon this, as I have
stated, our social fabric is firmly planted; and I cannot permit myself to
doubt the ultimate success of a full recognition of this principle throughout
the civilized and enlightened world.
As I have stated, the truth of this principle may be slow in development, as
all truths are and ever have been, in the various branches of science. It was
so with the principles announced by Galileo-it was so with Adam Smith and his
principles of political economy. It was so with Harvey, and his theory of the
circulation of the blood. It is stated that not a single one of the medical
profession, living at the time of the announcement of the truths made by him,
admitted them. Now, they are universally acknowledged. May we not, therefore,
look with confidence to the ultimate universal acknowledgment of the truths
upon which our system rests? It is the first government ever instituted upon
the principles in strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of
Providence, in furnishing the materials of human society. Many governments have
been founded upon the principle of the subordination and serfdom of certain
classes of the same race; such were and are in violation of the laws of nature.
Our system commits no such violation of nature's laws. With us, all of the
white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law.
Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place. He, by nature, or by the
curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our
system. The architect, in the construction of buildings, lays the foundation
with the proper material-the granite; then comes the brick or the marble. The
substratum of our society is made of the material fitted by nature for it, and
by experience we know that it is best, not only for the superior, but for the
inferior race, that it should be so. It is, indeed, in conformity with the
ordinance of the Creator. It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of his
ordinances, or to question them. For his own purposes, he has made one race to
differ from another, as he has made "one star to differ from another star
in glory."
END
THAT is the sort of speech Mr Higgins' imagined minister will be making if his
proposed monument is ever unveiled, and if you or I or any of us happen to be
present, let us make a face and go home to our catacombs to write a rebuttal
for samizdat circulation. But in the meantime let us educate, organise and
agitate so that that day may never come, or if it does come there will always
be witnesses against it.”
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