Wednesday, November 22, 2017

A Minute Meditation


We are, in fact, a nation of evangelists; every third American devotes himself to improving and lifting up his fellow-citizens, usually by force; the messianic delusion is our national disease.
           --  H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
             Prejudices: First Series, I: Criticism of Criticism of Criticism

Most of us, including me, believe that we have the best way of doing things--the best way of acting, the best way of thinking--and forget the most important last two words--FOR ME.  Your way may be different than mine, and if it works, great.  However, don't try to improve my life by trying to force it on me.  

10 comments:

  1. i read a lot of Mencken when young; and became a bit iconoclastic as a result... but i do look at things from a rather mechanical pov; if someone shows me a better way, i'm glad to adopt it... but i haven't seen a lot of that in my life, except in working on cars and compressors(when i worked for the gas company, i was in charge of a field full of them and it kept me busy, replacing valves and rebuilding engines...)

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    1. Mudpuddle, I don't think Mencken was talking about working on cars.

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  2. There is much truth to this. I heard a definition of liberalism the other day that defined it as living in a way that one thinks proper but leaving others alone to make their own decisions. I think that is s good way to be.

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    1. Ah, that's old-school liberalism...these days both parties like to do all the deciding for other people.

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    2. Brian, I encountered Liberals who are as meddlesome as Conservatives. I think the disease Mencken speaks of crosses gender, religious, political boundaries.

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    3. Stephen, I have noticed that also. It's national disease.

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  3. Mencken was a crank! Still, his words remind me of Voltaire's admonition in Candide, which I slightly amend: It is best to tend one's own garden!

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    1. R.T., I wonder if Mencken got it from Voltaire. The two comments are very close in spirit.

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  4. Everyday the news includes a story about the fallibility of someone who has the presumption to know better than the rest of us.

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    1. James, Yup, and I wait in vain to hear them admit they were wrong.

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