Evening star., 1923-11-02
THE MIND
OF SHAW
BY DIR. FRANK, CRANE.

George Bernard Shaw is not a
freak. He is picturesque. but he is
not public entertainer. meaning
that he does not say sharp things
merely by way of kicking up his heels
to attract attention.
. The striking thing about him is that
he has a mind which sees clear
through to the bottom of things, He
thinks. By thinking, | mean that
he does not juggle catch phrases and
parade sleek old traditions. The quail
ity OF his thought is indicated in his
statement that men are not averse
to new ideas: on the contrary, they
are too greedy. and credulous in pur-
suit of them; but nothing is rarer in
nature than a man who, on accepting
new idea, proceeds to overhaul his
old ideas and see how many of them
must be scrapped to make logical
room for the newcomer
His mind Is hospitable. That is, II
Is open to new ideas, and when he let's
new idea in he does not force it to
conform to the other ideas he al
ready has He says, for instance:
Men are born to a belief In fiat
earth. with fiat ceiling and heaven
on the first floor. They are converted
to belief that the earth is a ball
spinning on it's axis and flying
through boundless space and are
proud of this advance in scientific
culture, but they go on believing in
the fiat ceiling and the first floor just
as If nothing had happened in their
minds"
He appreciates that there is quite
as much stupidity and fog In reform
as there is in conservatism. Himself
an lrishman, he realizes what might
be called the reactionism of revolu-
NfSfC
this moment a regular rag and bottle
shop of superseded ideas and super
stitions. There are formidable vest
ed interests In our huge national
stock OF junk and bilge, glowing with
the phosphorescence Of romance"
Like every other clear thinker, he is
fully alive to the danger of the ma
ton myth He declares:
"Nationalism must now be added TO
their fuse pile of superstitions. We
are now citizens of the world; and
the man who divides the race into
elect Irishmen and reprobate foreign
devils especially Englishmen) had
better live on the Baskets, where he
can admire himself without much dis
turbance."
He sees also the fallacy of that
sort of national independence which
is really but d patriotic provincialism.
There can be no national independ.
ence for Ireland any more than there
can be national independence for the
United States, the French republic or
the British empire. Indeed, no ma
tion can become entirely independent
except by becoming so insignificant
that her independence would not mat
ter"
He describes in a swift and merry
sentence the nature of strike:
Now the strike means starving on
your enemy's doorstep. 1t may ter
rify an oriental IL he happens to be-
lieve that your death will bring the
wrath of Allah on him; but the mod
ern capitalist snaps his fingers at Al
lah: he simply calls the police to re-
move your body to the mortuary.''
He perceives the nonsense Of
speaking of the laboring class.
Labor for everybody, and idleness
for nobody, rich or poor, is the only
policy that can make a country eco
nomically sound and its people phys
ically and morally healthy. In
truly free state nobody can be free un-
til he has earned his keep, and no.
body can be considered gentleman
If he is mean enough to stop at that"
In fine, II gives one a distinct slim
ulus to his faith in the human race
that such minds as that of Shaw are
living and functioning.