Mencken was contemptuous of, and felt superior to, nearly every person and aspect of human existence. It's better to ignore such people, IMO.
More to the point...and to the topic...H.L Mencken also said
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public."
Which kind of puts the first quote in perspective, doesn't it?
But speaking of quotes...and perhaps as a welcome foil to Mencken...I heard something on the radio yesterday that startled me. It comes from Melville's Moby Dick...
The cook of the Pequod, Fleece, delivers a sermon to a school of sharks feeding on the offal that has been thrown overboard. When it is all gone they turn on each other. He tells them that the only difference between sharks and angels is that angels have learned to control their baser impulses. If sharks would learn to control themselves they too could be angels. In the end Fleece turns away in disgust because he knows that what he is asking of the sharks is impossible.
Perhaps expecting human beings to be different than sharks is also impossible but a feeding frenzy is hardly civilized behaviour...Mencken notwithstanding.
Last edited by DWFII; 6th August 09 at 06:05 AM.
DWFII--Traditionalist and Auld Crabbit
In the Highlands of Central Oregon
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