The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- Henry Louis Mencken
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Time is the great legalizer, even in the field of morals.
- Henry Louis Mencken
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
- Henry Lewis Mencken
Eugene Volokh had a couple of posts a few days ago about anti-religious speech and a movement to regulate it around the world. It begins with the UN Commission on Human Rights urging nations to "take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination through political institutions and organizations of…
Tony Mauro has written a pretty devestating expose` on Jay Sekulow, director of Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). It's pretty much what has come to be expected from people who build their career around TV evangelism. I'll post some long excerpts below the fold.
But there…
I haven't seen that quote from Mencken. Very interesting don't you think? I find it noteworthy that he uses the word scoundrel...since we have a tendency to link a host of "negative" behaviors to that word.
Are you familiar with the philospher Theodorus? Here's a link
Briefly, he thought this: "He taught that there was nothing really disgraceful in theft, adultery, or sacrilege; but that they were branded only by public opinion, which had been formed in order to restrain fools" Therefore, similar to Mencken in some respects.
As a former E/BD teacher I found behaviors of learners, I was charged with minimizing or maximizing, were the result of public opinion...and it always made me wonder if indeed I was doing the proper thing or should I be doing anything at all since I find the public's behavior, generally to be barbaric.
Which brings me to the final point: have you read Thorstein Veblen? He wrote Theory of the Leisure Class and positions the wealthy as manipulating most social and individual behaviors. I've got to get some sleep. Nice blog, I'll be back.
This quote is excellent. So true with what we face with human rights tribunals here in Canada.