Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I just found the mother lode of Americanism

The H. L. Mencken Page!

No time to go into to anything much right now, but there are tons of links to online writings by Mencken.

This is from the front page:
Mencken's Creed

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty...
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

I came to it starting with Wendy Kaminer's Opinion Journal article, The American Liberal Liberties Union: The ACLU is becoming very selective about what it considers "free" speech, which led to The Free For All blog - particularly this post by Harvey Silverglate, and a link to Mencken's obit of William Jennings Bryan. That led me to google Mencken and find that great treasure trove.

That obit is entitled, "To Expose a Fool." Pretty good intro to Mencken. It doesn't quite refute the mischaracterization of him presented by Hollywood in the movie Inherit the Wind, but I think the credo I posted above covers that.

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