George Bernard Shaw On English Entitlement

 'At every one of these concerts in England
you will find rows full of weary people
who are there not because they really like classical music
but because they think they ought to like it.

There is the same thing in Heaven,
a number of people sit there in glory
not because they are happy
but because they think they owe it
to their position to be in Heaven.
They are almost all English.'.

from his play 'Man and Superman'. 

The Immoral Maze

I don't know who this quote might refer to in his time
but it could apply to so many people who have become
 public figures since his death aged 94 in 1950. 

An Old Joke Taken Seriously

When George Bernard Shaw wrote
'Those that can do, those that can't teach'
that was his idea of a dry joke, which proves
how some jokes age badly and still get retold.

But he was also reinforcing through the hope of art
that well known hierarchy where the rich and self educated
define everyone else, particularly the poor - whom they divide
between the worthy/semi skilled (the teachers) and the unworthy
(their pupils who for lack of space/materials will never be skllled)
all the better make pupil and teacher co-dependent on each other
and make each blind to how thoroughly they are divided from above.

All of this helps keep the riches of the wealthy well hidden
-except for when displays of old bling confirm old defferences.

Contrarianism In Art

Many well to do folk now quote the phrase
'Those who can do, those who can't teach',
about creativity of others ignorant that their quote
originates from a playful George Bernard Shaw.

When he said it he was being contrary at the expense
of people who were as creative, but poorer than himself.
He was poking fun at how easily wealth inspired vain
and contrarian thoughts about the lack of space
and reduced choice through which the poor lived well.

Should we be surprised at how easily irony
loses its bite when wealth inspires condescension?

Progress And Reason

'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable man persists in trying
to adapt the world to himself. Therefore
all progress depends on the unreasonable man.'
-George Bernard Shaw, 1903.