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It is badly educated, it is stupid, it is full of low-caste superstitions and indignations, it is without decent traditions or informing vision; above all it is extraordinarily lacking in the most elemental independence and courage. Out of this class comes the grotesque fashionable society of our big towns, already described. Imagine a horde of peasants incredibly enriched and with almost infinite power thrust into their hands, and you will have a fair picture of its habitual state of mind. It shows all the stigmata of inferiority--moral certainty, cruelty, suspicion of ideas, fear.
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And here is Mencken's foretelling of the election of GW Bush:
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." — H. L. Mencken
-- Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920 -
"What took this joker so long to say it?"
Warren.Comment
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Prophetic quotes. Sounds like something Mark Twain might have said, too.There is no rational, logical, or physical description of how free will could exist. It therefore makes no sense to praise or condemn anyone on the grounds they are a free willed self that made one choice but could have chosen something else. There is no evidence that such a situation is possible in our Universe. Demonstrate otherwise and I will be thrilled.Comment
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Painful to read and to be reminded of the bitter truth.
LewOne of the most enduring qualities of an old wooden boat is the smell it imparts to your clothing.Comment
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So what is the solution?Berryville, VA: A quaint little drinking community with a farming problem.Comment
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Teach your children well (Sounds like a song I heard once).Originally posted by Garrett LowellThere is no rational, logical, or physical description of how free will could exist. It therefore makes no sense to praise or condemn anyone on the grounds they are a free willed self that made one choice but could have chosen something else. There is no evidence that such a situation is possible in our Universe. Demonstrate otherwise and I will be thrilled.Comment
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Exactly correct! Education is the key, and not just the "worker class" curriculum endemic in mainstream US schools.If you don't think for yourself, someone else will do it for you!Comment
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Originally posted by Don Olney
Bogus, but funny nonetheless.Comment
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H.l.
He said it in 1920. Was Wilson just out and Collidge just in the white house? Granted Wilson was a kind of egghead and Silent Cal was well. . . quite, but there hadn't been a long line of Morons in that office at that time, had there?? HL sure had an eye for America didn't he?Comment
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A lot of able and bright people have been President of these United States.....Democrat and Republican.Originally posted by troutman
Do you historians out there know of a president that could match the imbecility of the current sorry example residing in the White House?
It's just embarassing.Comment
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Warren Harding was bad, but not as stupid. Of the election of Warren Harding, Mencken said, roughly from memory, "it is as if the American People, having a sumptuous banquet before them offering countless culinary delights, has elected to satiate its hunger by catching and eating flies."Comment
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Hoover.
It's hard to say for sure, because the incumbant sets a new high for low brow, and, I think, low intentions. Saying he's stupid though, forgives him too much.
Originally posted by pcfordOne of the most enduring qualities of an old wooden boat is the smell it imparts to your clothing.Comment
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Mencken's Creed:
I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty...
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.
H.L: Not a man, it would seem to suffer fools well. The kickoff principle about religion has immediate and direct application in this thread.
LewOne of the most enduring qualities of an old wooden boat is the smell it imparts to your clothing.Comment
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Man after my own heart, wonder how long he'd last today before someone topped him?Comment
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