12 May 2005

Thursday Q and A

H.L. Mencken
Mr. Mencken, has our recent technological advancements in newsmedia--written press, TV, radio and blogs--produced a more educated and issue-connected electorate?


"When a candidate for public office faces the voters, he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or even of comprehending any save the most elemental--he faces a mob of men whose whole thinking is done in terms of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of what they cannot understand. So confronted, the candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost...All the odds are on the man who is intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre--the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. 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." Baltimore Sun, July 26, 1920.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

our recent advancement into shit
a good answer by dood