Letters to the Editor

For this letter I decided to go to the Brain of Brilliance, the Machine of Mentality, the God of Griping, the Oracle of Offal to get my raw material. That's right; I got lazy and went to the Internet to write the letter. These are quotes I have collected that have some bearing on the situation we are in today. Each quote is preceded by **, and while some are decades old, some came off a blog last week. I don't agree with all the sentiments contained herein but they are all good food for thought and conversation. To make things more interesting I am going to let you match the author of the quote with the quote. The authors are: H.L. Mencken, Quoth the Raven, Samuel Adams, Ted Kaczynski, Michael Every, Ezra T. Benson, Larken Rose, Rudyard Kipling, Me. Good luck in matching, the test is open book, you can use the internet.

**"The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by the force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre the man who can most adeptly disperse the notions 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."

**Or in fewer words: "E Pluribus Airhead"

**"The liberties of our Country, the freedom of our civil constitution are worth defending at all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have receiv'd them as a fair Inheritance from our worthy Ancestors: They purchas'd them for us with toil and danger and expence of treasure and blood; and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle; or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men. Of the latter we are in most danger at present: Let us therefore be aware of it."

**"In any technologically advanced society the individual s fate MUST depend on decisions that he personally cannot influence to any great extent. A technological society cannot be broken down into small, autonomous communities, because production depends on the cooperation of very large numbers of people and machines. Such a society MUST be highly organized and decisions HAVE TO be made that affect very large numbers of people. When a decision affects, say, a million people, then each of the affected individual has, on the average, only a one-millionth share in making the decision. What usually happens in practice is that decisions are made by public officials or corporation executives, or by technical specialists, but even when the public votes on a decision the number of voters ordinarily is too large for the vote of any one individual to be significant. Thus most individuals are unable to influence measurably the major decisions that affect their lives. There is no conceivable way to remedy this in a technologically advanced society. The system tries to 'solve' this problem by using propaganda to make people WANT the decisions that have been made for them, but even if this 'solution' were completely successful in making people feel better, it would be demeaning."

**"One wonders how a generation that thinks words are 'violence' and misgendering someone is stochastic terrorism will react to an intercontinental nuclear war. The mind truly boggles."

**"Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right."

**"When enough people understand reality, tyrants can literally be ignored out of existence. They can t ever be voted out of existence."

**"I keep six honest serving men, they taught me all I knew. Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who."

**"I have a seventh and though not my servant, he is reliable, through and through. Faith is his name and when I need him he comes from beyond the blue."

Robert Wayman

Musselshell

 

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