The loud little handful--as usual--will shout for the war. The pulpit will--warily and cautiously--object--at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.'
Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity.
Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers--as earlier--but do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation--pulpit and all--will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open.
Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.
Mark Twain, "The Mysterious Stranger," 1910
And so it has been, since the beginning of recorded history. There truly is nothing new under the sun...Man has always been led willingly to the slaughter...All it takes is a smarter than average dog to lead the way.
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation
as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases
which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.
~ Charles A Beard, American Historian (1874-1949) ~
I like that Flint
Quote from: flintauqua on August 18, 2009, 08:18:12 PM
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation
as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases
which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.
~ Charles A Beard, American Historian (1874-1949) ~
Charles, that is one of the best quotes I have ever heard.
David
Charles did you stubled on it and need to shave? Or did your fingers stumble on your keyboard while you were typing? :police:
David
Thanks Wilma! ;)
Quote from: flintauqua on August 18, 2009, 10:08:36 PM
Thanks Wilma! ;)
I miss Wilma too, Charles. I hope she gets back online soon.
David
Charlie, I didn't do that. I just now got back on the Forum. My anti-virus security had me blocked out of this new fangled thing. I believe in no changes. I want to stay with the simple life. At least I am back on the Forum, but my MSN screen is too big for the computer. Can anyone tell me how to shrink it back to the size of the monitor screen.
Never mind. I figured it out.
Wilma,
I was making a joke with David as the target. ;D
Charles
Aha, now I see. Do you think David got it, too?
Quote from: Wilma on August 19, 2009, 01:07:43 PM
Aha, now I see. Do you think David got it, too?
I got it.
David