I just finished a superb book - a collection of writings of H. L. Mencken titled, "The Impossible H. L. Mencken" edited by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers. This is without doubt one of the best books I've read in years, combining insight, humor and lots of $10 words. Here's the last selection which view coincides with my own.
*** excerpt begins ***
Quod est veritas? I know the answer no more than Pilate did. But this, at least, I have observed in forty-five years: that there are men who search for it, whatever it is, wherever it may lie, patiently, honestly, with due humility, and that there are other men who battle endlessly to put it down, even though they don't know what it is. To the first class belong the scientists, the experimenters, the men of curiosity. To the second belong the politicians, bishops, professors, mullahs, tin-pot messiahs, frauds and exploiters of all sorts --- in brief, the men of authority.
My inclination, I suspect, makes me lean heavily in favor of the former. I am, as the phrase is, prejudiced in their favor. They fall, now and then, into grievous errors, but in their fall there is still something creditable, something that takes away all shame. What fetches them is the common weakness of humanity, imperfectly made by a God whose humor has been greatly underestimated. They have, at least, the virtue of fairness. And that of courage. Unhorsed, they pick themselves up and try again. They do not call for the police.
In the other camp I find no such virtues. All I find there is a vast enmity to the free functioning of the spirit of man. There may be, for all I know, some truth there, but it is truth made into whips, rolled into bitter pills. It is truth that has somehow lost all dignity, all beauty, all eloquence and charm. More often, it is not truth at all, but simply folly bedizened*. Whatever it is, it is guarded by the common enemies of mankind: theologians, lawyers, policemen, men armed with books, guns, clubs, goads, ropes.
I find myself out of sympathy with such men, I shall keep challenging them until the last galoot's** ashore.
*** end of excerpt ***
That was written September 7, 1925 and published in The Baltimore Evening Sun. And it is without doubt as applicable today as then.
Word of the Day
"Bedizen" - verb, transitive [$10] poetic, a Mencken word.
Bedizen means to deck out gaudily. From be + obsolete 'dizen' meaning 'deck out'.
Sentence: see * above.
Bonus word
"Galoot" - noun, colloquial [$10] a Mencken word
Galoot means a person, especially a strange or clumsy one. [19th century nautical slang]
Sentence: see ** above.
Showing posts with label Mencken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mencken. Show all posts
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
More Memorable Mencken
**First published Baltimore Evening Sun, August 19, 1935**
All government , in its essense, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man. In theory, it invades his liberty and collars his money only in order to protect him, but in actuality it always makes a stiff profit on the exchange. That profit represents the income of the professional politicians, nine tenths of whom are professional rogues, They employ a great many technicians to carry on the ostensible functions of government, and some of those technicians are honorable and competent men, but the politicians themselves are seldom either. Their only object in life is to do as little honest work as they can for the most profit, whether in money or in mere glory. The typical politician is not only a rascal but also a jackass, so he greatly values the puerile notoriety and adulation that sensible men try to avoid.
**End of Quote**
That thought of Mencken still fits today, and it's actually even more appropriate and correct and governmental actaivity has expanded a hundredfold since 1935.
Markets
Miners, ag and some natural gas stocks got smashed yesterday. In simple terms, all beefers remaining in that speakeasy still drinking bathtub gin panicked at once and left though every exit. As usual my patience has been inadequate so I added to FCX, DVN and CCJ too early. I wonder if "Early" should have been my middle name ? I'll wait and add more down here. Over the past few years I have done rather well buying these stocks on big dips. Maybe it's different this time. While some of those related commodities are / were overpriced, these stocks never participated much in those commodity spikes, so in my opinion are quite cheap at these levels.
But I could be wrong again.
Word of the Day
"Factitious" - adjective [$10]
Factitious means 1. specifically contrived, not genuine; 2. artifical, not natural.
Sentence: The modern Presidential nomination conventions are factitious pep rallies designed as a TV infomercial to sell you their man.
All government , in its essense, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man. In theory, it invades his liberty and collars his money only in order to protect him, but in actuality it always makes a stiff profit on the exchange. That profit represents the income of the professional politicians, nine tenths of whom are professional rogues, They employ a great many technicians to carry on the ostensible functions of government, and some of those technicians are honorable and competent men, but the politicians themselves are seldom either. Their only object in life is to do as little honest work as they can for the most profit, whether in money or in mere glory. The typical politician is not only a rascal but also a jackass, so he greatly values the puerile notoriety and adulation that sensible men try to avoid.
**End of Quote**
That thought of Mencken still fits today, and it's actually even more appropriate and correct and governmental actaivity has expanded a hundredfold since 1935.
Markets
Miners, ag and some natural gas stocks got smashed yesterday. In simple terms, all beefers remaining in that speakeasy still drinking bathtub gin panicked at once and left though every exit. As usual my patience has been inadequate so I added to FCX, DVN and CCJ too early. I wonder if "Early" should have been my middle name ? I'll wait and add more down here. Over the past few years I have done rather well buying these stocks on big dips. Maybe it's different this time. While some of those related commodities are / were overpriced, these stocks never participated much in those commodity spikes, so in my opinion are quite cheap at these levels.
But I could be wrong again.
Word of the Day
"Factitious" - adjective [$10]
Factitious means 1. specifically contrived, not genuine; 2. artifical, not natural.
Sentence: The modern Presidential nomination conventions are factitious pep rallies designed as a TV infomercial to sell you their man.
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