A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.
-H. L. Mencken
17 Replies to “Quote Of The Day”
I see your Mencken and raise you a Jefferson, or 3…
“I deplore… the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them… These ordures are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food.”
“‘From forty years’ experience of the wretched guess-work of the newspapers of what is not done in open daylight, and of their falsehood even as to that, I rarely think them worth reading, and almost never worth notice.”
or my favourite:
“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”
He didn’t get everything right. Jefferson on meteors and, maybe, academics:
“Gentlemen, I would rather believe that two American professors would lie than believe that stones fall from heaven.”
Love those. So true. I was involved in covering a legal presentation of some sort for a local union rag. 1/2 way through, some noteworthy person was to present. As soon has he was done the journos all scurried away. I was shocked at the time because because what the notable had to say was a minor part of the story– which was unfolding throughout the day. Tells you what you need to know about “news” and how it is reported.
JD, Those quotes were announced yesterday, right?
One of my favourite Mencken quotes got deleted from SDA comments. Something about hoisting a black flag…
Ah, so those teachers I once knew who bragged they never read any newspapers were better educated than I was, who, at that time, read 3 each day?
As Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.”
Much like watching the TV news from any outlet.
Tow of my favorite Mencken quotes:
“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”
“The State doesn’t just want you to obey, it wants to make you want to obey.”
The media is not in the business of information. They are in the business of influencing opinion.
The lefties hate that Harris sold highway 407 to a consortium but it is now 53% owned by our CPP so we all are benefiting from its high tolls. This highway is by far the best in Ontario. Maintenance is swift and new construction quickly completed. Get these guys to build new highways like 413. There was no money for the 407 construction under Premier Boob Rae so Mike Harris made the right decision and it was quickly built..
As a young teenager I watched the construction of the 401 back in the late 50’s. Even then we were told it was too small and it is still being worked on today. Labourers were born and died working on this road and it will continue forever.
Absolutely agree, 407 is my preferred east west route. And a as a bonus it allows one to bypass moronto. Also cops tend to be a bit more relaxed and tend to ignore you unless you go all Smokey and the Bandit in front of them
Who GAF. The media is dead.
By pretending that it is relevant only gives it credibility.
A favourite Mencken quote:
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
Actually I believe the quote is ALL of them, not most, are imaginary. More so now than ever before, at least in recent memory.
MSM reporters don’t investigate or go out to get the story. They simply ask for the talking points and releases, which they then pretend to be news.
Take Janet French of CBC (formerly Edmonton Journal/Post Media),for example; she is nothing more than an NDP shill issuing Wretched Knothead’s talking points.
I see your Mencken and raise you a Jefferson, or 3…
“I deplore… the putrid state into which our newspapers have passed and the malignity, the vulgarity, and mendacious spirit of those who write for them… These ordures are rapidly depraving the public taste and lessening its relish for sound food.”
“‘From forty years’ experience of the wretched guess-work of the newspapers of what is not done in open daylight, and of their falsehood even as to that, I rarely think them worth reading, and almost never worth notice.”
or my favourite:
“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”
He didn’t get everything right. Jefferson on meteors and, maybe, academics:
“Gentlemen, I would rather believe that two American professors would lie than believe that stones fall from heaven.”
Love those. So true. I was involved in covering a legal presentation of some sort for a local union rag. 1/2 way through, some noteworthy person was to present. As soon has he was done the journos all scurried away. I was shocked at the time because because what the notable had to say was a minor part of the story– which was unfolding throughout the day. Tells you what you need to know about “news” and how it is reported.
JD, Those quotes were announced yesterday, right?
One of my favourite Mencken quotes got deleted from SDA comments. Something about hoisting a black flag…
http://img.picturequotes.com/2/46/45392/the-man-who-reads-nothing-at-all-is-better-educated-than-the-man-who-reads-nothing-but-newspapers-quote-1.jpg
Ah, so those teachers I once knew who bragged they never read any newspapers were better educated than I was, who, at that time, read 3 each day?
As Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.”
Much like watching the TV news from any outlet.
Tow of my favorite Mencken quotes:
“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”
“The State doesn’t just want you to obey, it wants to make you want to obey.”
The media is not in the business of information. They are in the business of influencing opinion.
The lefties hate that Harris sold highway 407 to a consortium but it is now 53% owned by our CPP so we all are benefiting from its high tolls. This highway is by far the best in Ontario. Maintenance is swift and new construction quickly completed. Get these guys to build new highways like 413. There was no money for the 407 construction under Premier Boob Rae so Mike Harris made the right decision and it was quickly built..
As a young teenager I watched the construction of the 401 back in the late 50’s. Even then we were told it was too small and it is still being worked on today. Labourers were born and died working on this road and it will continue forever.
Absolutely agree, 407 is my preferred east west route. And a as a bonus it allows one to bypass moronto. Also cops tend to be a bit more relaxed and tend to ignore you unless you go all Smokey and the Bandit in front of them
Who GAF. The media is dead.
By pretending that it is relevant only gives it credibility.
A favourite Mencken quote:
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
Actually I believe the quote is ALL of them, not most, are imaginary. More so now than ever before, at least in recent memory.
MSM reporters don’t investigate or go out to get the story. They simply ask for the talking points and releases, which they then pretend to be news.
Take Janet French of CBC (formerly Edmonton Journal/Post Media),for example; she is nothing more than an NDP shill issuing Wretched Knothead’s talking points.