Actual Quote:
“If this were played upon a stage now,
I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.”
In Current Language:
If I witnessed these events played on a stage, I would rate the fiction as unrealistic.
Suggestions For Use: Colorful way to express incredulity at what is happening under your eyes, directly or at a distance.
What Happens in the Actual Play:
Malvolio, Olivia’s butler, is secretly in love with his employer. Other characters in the play trick him into believing that his feelings are reciprocated. One of the pranksters forges a letter to Malvolio, supposedly from Olivia, suggesting that she loves him and that, as a signal that he reciprocates her love, he should wear yellow stockings and smile all the time.
Malvolio does as the letter suggests, but Olivia thinks that he has gone mad and has him locked up. On seeing some of Malvolio’s ridiculous gesturing, a character called Fabio believes that, even as fiction, the plot would be unrealistic.
Jimmie’s Comment
Events seemingly stranger than fiction are – for good or for bad, but mostly bad – are more frequent than perhaps many realize. A few days ago, the lines of today’s quote came spontaneously to my mind and I felt just like the character Fabio in “Twelfth Night.”
It happened as I watched a debate displayed on TV by a major broadcasting channel of Argentina.
The reason why I tuned on this channel are irrelevant, but the program had to do with the (then) soon-to-occur presidential elections.
Shown was a presidential debate between the (now elected) new president of Argentina, Javier Miley, and his opponent who came from the ranks of the previous Alberto Fernandez’ government.
As it can happen, the time being late in the evening, I was insensibly drifting into that indistinct mental state that we define as ‘being half asleep’. That is, I gradually absorbed less and less of the meaning of the actual spoken words, and only captured part of the flavor of significance of what was being actually said.
Suddenly, however, I was brought to full consciousness by some extraordinary statements made by the now new president, Javier Miley.
This comment section would be too long if I developed the subject thoroughly. Therefore, I will limit it to some meaningful instances.
Jacob Miley first said that he would eliminate the Argentinian central bank and “dollarize” the economy. To dollarize, in the instance, means eliminating the local currency, the peso. To the uninitiated (and I consider myself one) the idea may seem or sound odd and not perceptually beneficial of itself, but who are we to say?
What is more interesting, in the instance, is how the proposal was interpreted by the Argentine electorate at large (at least based on the results of the elections notwithstanding the questionable and un-charismatic appeal of the character.)
For the record, as I am printing these notes it takes more than 1000 Argentine pesos to make a dollar, with the official rate losing ground daily.
But in the reported perception of many if not most (Argentinians), dollarization equates (or they assumed it would equate) to an instant miraculous one-to-one conversion and re-valuation of pesos in dollars.
For example, a salaried worker making 250 thousand Argentinian pesos a month, in practice makes 250$ (as I said, the exchange rate is optimistic). But in the perception of many or – who knows – most, ‘dollarization’ was understood as meaning that someone with a salary, for example, of 250,000 Argentine pesos per month would now be making 250,000 dollars a month.
That is all Argentinians would become instant millionaires.
An interview with an Argentinian student was produced in a separate program where the student disclosed to the interviewer one such remarkable deduction and populistic conclusion.
It was the soon-to-be president’s program and the student’s interpretation that brought my incipient sleep to a sudden end. What I heard next from this presidential hopeful and now actual president, follows logically and consistently. That is, total privatization of everything privatizable, including schools, health care, hospitals, government-controlled enterprises, transportation, parks, roads, transport and so on.
It was also disclosed that Javier Miley was a quickly-to-become-Jewish convert. In fact, immediately after the elections, Miley flew on a private plane to New York, where he was shown visiting the Lubavitch center (according to many, one of the most radical Zionist sects in the world), receiving indoctrination by choice Lubavitch theologians on the Jewish religion, and praying on the tomb of a recently deceased Lubavitch leader or Rabbi.
His first planned state visit is to Israel, to ‘strengthen ties between Israel and Argentina.’ One next or contemporaneous step is to abandon the BRICS association of which most listeners are familiar with, starting with severing relations with Brazil, Russia and China – communist countries in his perception.
Now, Argentina has possibly been the most Catholic among the overwhelmingly Catholic countries of Latin America. Witness a current pope of sound Argentinian blood and roots. It is true that since the last Vatican Council – mysteriously, because the matter still remains unexplained – the Vatican has undergone a remarkable transformation or, should we say, Zionization. Consider, for example, the multiple and meaningful photos of the Pope bent at 90 degrees to kiss the hands of various rabbis.
There is opposition to all this inside the Catholic Church, but, as now usual in these cases, censorship prevails.
I will briefly end these comments with another remarkable associated example of the applicability of today’s quote to the effects of the political wind, currently blowing across the western political world.
Elon Musk, now even known to the pebbles of any street in the world, dared recently to define Jewish financier George Soros as ‘bent on the destruction of the Western world,’ and to call the Anti-Defamation-League a ‘generator of anti-Semitism’.
According to reliable reports, immediately all major stockholders of Twitter, now X, sold or withdrew their support. Immediately Musk flew to Israel to make penance and dispel allegations of anti-Semitism.
Netanyahu responded with this tweet that listeners can also find online independently.
@shlom0_karhi
Elon Musk,
Elon musk, I congratulate you for reaching a principal understanding with the ministry of communications under my leadership.
As a result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of communications, including the Gaza Strip.
As the state of Israel fights against Hamas – ISIS, this understanding is vital, as it is for everyone who desires a better world, free of evil and free of anti-semitism, for our children’s sake.
During your time in Israel I hope that you will be able to gain valuable insight, and that it will serve as a springboard for future endeavors, as well as enhance your relationship with the Jewish people and values we share with the entire world.
I welcome you to Israel.
@shlomo_karhi
To conclude, all said so far, perhaps, may prompt some readers to comment using Shakespeare’s quote of the day,
“If this were played upon a stage now,
I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.”
But they would be mistaken – it is not improbable fiction, it is true.