There once lived a man in Cobblesville who discovered some fool’s gold. How it glittered and impressed his heart and deceived him just a little. But not enough to imagine that he was rich or had struck the real deal. And though all his friends marveled that his find resembled the real rock, no one pretended that it was anything other than what it was – a geologically, chemically different rock, and only a fool would think it otherwise. Besides the markets don’t lie, and his discovery was valued accordingly.

But then some neo-geologists started talking more loudly, more wildly, then forcefully, and proposed the audacious line that ‘fool’s gold is gold’. The word ‘fool’ is just the adjective, they said, but the real matter is the noun, and therefore – fool’s gold is gold. It mattered not that the rock was chemically different; the words themselves now determined the truth of the matter. Besides, they said, every rock is entitled to be called whatever it wished.

And so day by day, the land began to change. Even the name of the land was changed to Supplesville to reflect what was happening. Children were educated in the new doctrine. Psychologists affirmed the new doctrine. Sports teams embraced the new doctrine. Governments enforced the new doctrine. But not all were convinced. And as time went on, a line from the old world began to reemerge: ‘All that glitters is not gold’. And the land had rest from its madness.