While awaiting execution by Hitler, German Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a well-known essay about the role of stupidity in Hitler's rise to power. Viewed that way, stupidity is a kind of force on its own.
Wow. I guess there is nothing new under the sun after all. Has the media ever been any good in America or anywhere? It appears as if newspapers have always been organs of propaganda for someone. That is really rather a depressing thought. How are we to know anything about anything other than our small areas of expertise?
And unlike some other places, hovering over the likes does not display who liked you. One does receive an email, I got that, but a resolution to my complaint (not PQ's fault, but a substack thing) would be better.
Good historical connections. I would add that Evelyn Waugh, about the same time Roosevelt was quoting Mencken, was writing the satirical novel Scoop, which depicted lazy foreign correspondents inventing a war in East Africa.
Here is a general plea for help -- PLEASE, PEOPLE, if anybody has any influence with the Breitbart folks, could you implore them to stop quoting the deranged self-exiled Rosie O'Donnell??? She is currently shrieking about Elon stealing the election for Trump, alternating with blaming President Trump for the Texas flood because of "cutbacks" which do not take effect until October. She also believed that Dick Cheney PERSONALLY set off the explosions that brought down the WTC towers because "steel doesn't melt."
Perhaps journalistic incompetence has not changed much since Mencken, but the capture of journalism by Leftists has worsened greatly, Walter Duranty notwithstanding. Today we have dozens, if not hundreds, of far-Left journalists like Duranty in the print and broadcast media doing their dirty work. And we have half the country that actually believes what these Leftists put out as "news," and that's the most depressing thing about the news business today.
Quite the irony that the place most emblematic of American journalism's demise is Mencken's own Baltimore. Doubling down on higher taxes, releasing criminals, and thwarting ICE's enforcement of federal law in a way that would make Calhoun and Jeff Davis proud.
You can't fix stupid, but Bawlmer shows you can try to perfect it.
I was immediately triggered when I read the words, "South Coast Air Quality Management District," as I had many epic episodes with those Environmental Orwellians during my long career. I also recall attending a regulatory conference in San Francisco in 2013, where the head of the NE States air quality association declared unequivocally that, "We know that Superstorm Sandy was caused by climate change." I am so glad to be retired!
Mencken - a timeless national treasure. I am reminded of a comment attributed to Einstein, although I cannot guarantee authenticity of origin: "The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius knows it has limits."
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one,"
from Charles Mackay's book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds*
This book taught me more than the psychology, poli sci, philosophy, and sociology courses, and many econ courses I have taken. It should be required reading in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, and then a full 3 hour course for all entering freshman. The purpose is not to make one jaded or cynical, but to teach us to question reflectively and think analytically on our own. The book captures motivations and consequences. I love the WSJ’s motto, “Trust Your Decisions,” … it connotes be not afraid to think for yourself. Unfortunately, the WSJ’s news page fails the test, while the opinion pages provide some thoughtful analysis and points of view.
I often say, we are composed of matter, matter is energy, and we are a string of DNA chemicals functioning to sustain and replicate ourselves and create future generations using the matter and energy we can assemble. Our lives are therefore primally driven by a need to acquire energy, control energy, conserve energy, exert energy, and employ it to our use and self-preservation. The conserve part of our existence is why we often become lazy, take shortcuts, rationalize, and outsource our thinking. Many have less ability to process energy into thought, simply choose not to, seek assurance by adopting the point of view of others, or just chose to be lazy and give it little thought. Daniel Kahnemann’s Thinking Fast and Slow captures how many conserve energy and create their own sense of security — and thus “the madness of crowds” can easily take over.
And the press plays off our basic instinct to both be alert to the many threats (threats they create to sell subscriptions) to our ability to sustain while simultaneously selling us the patent medicine answers (i.e. Global Warming, Socialism, Social Justice, Communitarianism, Basic Rights) that will reassure, confirm, and affirm us so that we can rest calm that we are part of the intelligentsia, the elite, or the crowd and therefore, safe, right, and secure. Lemmings understand. And no individual lemming has been called out for making a bad decision.
If you don’t believe me, ask yourself who would take Greta Thunberg seriously or promote her celebrity? Answer: Millions. The UN, no less.
I read that McKay book more than once, as a kid, after finding it on my parents' bookshelves. I still rely on it to help me understand politics and human behavior generally.
Anyone who has ever taken part in a meeting of, I'll say, 5 or more people, has experienced this not so phenomenal phenomenon. That is, if they have any ability or willingness to think outside or beyond the dominant person in the room. And if you do and you do, you will definitely turn heads.
re: "But the flash flood warning came in the middle of the night, and Texas officials were slow to react and get the word out, or people didn’t receive word or heed it. "
Has NOBODY heard of the NWS alerting receivers, where you select your county and the radio will alert with (many of them make a loud siren sound) a 'tone' and a voice message indicating the nature of the alert/warning?
I have not seen one reference yet if and how the camp were to receive urgent weather messages.
Here is the propagation map from the NWS showing the propagation from the NWS VHF weather radio transmitter serving the Kerrville area: https://www.weather.gov/nwr/sites?site=WWF90
Indeed. Here in the Dusty Little Village in Arizona, we are alerted by cellphone siren for dust storms, and even something they call "Extreme Heat Alert". With the latter, I'm not sure what we are to do as there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide when we have a week of 112-119 F weather. But there's no missing the siren from your phone.
It’s remarkable how often “climate narratives” are built on assumptions the institutions themselves no longer endorse. RCP8.5 has been functionally abandoned by the IPCC, yet it’s still paraded by media outlets as the basis for catastrophic forecasting. What you’re pointing out isn’t just bias—it’s a dependency on obsolete data scenarios used to anchor public fear.
And when you cross-reference NOAA’s actual warnings during the Texas flood, it’s clear the agency functioned as intended. What failed was human response. But nuance doesn’t sell. Emotional simplicity does.
The broader pattern? Manufactured panic, retrofitted statistics, and a press corps trained more in ideology than discernment. Even EPA’s own charts show either neutral or declining flood frequency across many regions. But that doesn’t feed the beast.
This isn’t about denying environmental impact—it’s about refusing to let false correlation be weaponized. A flood does not equal proof. And statistical regression isn’t ideology—it’s data. But data’s too quiet for the current climate religion.
FDR shafted Mencken, read the the context. FDR was a person who liked to punch down, not up. Unlike Trump. Frankly he leaves a bad taste in the mouth. His wife believe it or not was better.
Mr. Helphand, my parents were hard-core Republicans, but I read a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt in a magazine that -- it's not much of an exaggeration to say -- changed my young teenage life. Mocked for her unfortunate looks, Mrs. Roosevelt said, "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." Would that the crowd constantly worried about "white supremacy" would practice saying that quote aloud.
She gets an undeserved bad rap. My uncle a a refugee in a camp in upstate NY was visited by her and did not emphatically think it was condescending. He mentioned it 30 years later.
Farbeit from me to have to say it, but Menken is wrong. The journalists are not stupid. They pretend to be stupid because that is what they need to do to be in on the grift.
Steve, I tried to search the AP site for the extra staffers story but no luck. Can you provide a link? I wouldn't put it past them to disappear the story.
While awaiting execution by Hitler, German Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a well-known essay about the role of stupidity in Hitler's rise to power. Viewed that way, stupidity is a kind of force on its own.
"Viewed that way, stupidity is a kind of force on its own."
And obviously very dangerous.
Dupes, and willing dupes.
Wow. I guess there is nothing new under the sun after all. Has the media ever been any good in America or anywhere? It appears as if newspapers have always been organs of propaganda for someone. That is really rather a depressing thought. How are we to know anything about anything other than our small areas of expertise?
Bryan, a plot turn in Max's new book "White Money" shows the impact of small-town newspapers in the Old West, you might enjoy it.
Thank you, Tim. I am on page 350 of your fabulous book and plan to devote an entire column to it shortly after CC4. I am entranced!
The like button only allows one, or there would be more!
And unlike some other places, hovering over the likes does not display who liked you. One does receive an email, I got that, but a resolution to my complaint (not PQ's fault, but a substack thing) would be better.
Awesome. I will have to check it out. So many books! So Little time!
Luckily, it's relatively short. Thanks!
Good historical connections. I would add that Evelyn Waugh, about the same time Roosevelt was quoting Mencken, was writing the satirical novel Scoop, which depicted lazy foreign correspondents inventing a war in East Africa.
So That's where they got Wag The Dog.
The same lazy foreign correspondents write our fake news from inside Israel.
Here is a general plea for help -- PLEASE, PEOPLE, if anybody has any influence with the Breitbart folks, could you implore them to stop quoting the deranged self-exiled Rosie O'Donnell??? She is currently shrieking about Elon stealing the election for Trump, alternating with blaming President Trump for the Texas flood because of "cutbacks" which do not take effect until October. She also believed that Dick Cheney PERSONALLY set off the explosions that brought down the WTC towers because "steel doesn't melt."
Agree, Susan, there are more relevant people who need to be made fun of!
Yeah, but too many Tim, so you have to pick one. ;-)
As I keep saying, it's "clickbait."
Perhaps journalistic incompetence has not changed much since Mencken, but the capture of journalism by Leftists has worsened greatly, Walter Duranty notwithstanding. Today we have dozens, if not hundreds, of far-Left journalists like Duranty in the print and broadcast media doing their dirty work. And we have half the country that actually believes what these Leftists put out as "news," and that's the most depressing thing about the news business today.
Good point. There used to be two biased papers in every town; now only one.
Quite the irony that the place most emblematic of American journalism's demise is Mencken's own Baltimore. Doubling down on higher taxes, releasing criminals, and thwarting ICE's enforcement of federal law in a way that would make Calhoun and Jeff Davis proud.
You can't fix stupid, but Bawlmer shows you can try to perfect it.
History Note: In 1861, Baltimore was the center of a confederate plot to assassinate Lincoln on his way to take office in DC.
I am getting Really Tired of people talking about they want Unbiased News. As If anything like that has ever existed.
What is need is competitive news, not self-appointed Judges of News.
We're starting to get it
May I (Highly) Recommend Absence of Malice 1981
Trailer
Absence of Malice (1981) Original Trailer [HD]
BTW And this, boys and girls, is Wilford Brimley presenting a master class on how to steal a movie in one scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJYD6vkx3fA&t=4s
He was a great one. I met him briefly a couple of times through a mutual friend around the time that film came out. Prince of a fellow.
I was immediately triggered when I read the words, "South Coast Air Quality Management District," as I had many epic episodes with those Environmental Orwellians during my long career. I also recall attending a regulatory conference in San Francisco in 2013, where the head of the NE States air quality association declared unequivocally that, "We know that Superstorm Sandy was caused by climate change." I am so glad to be retired!
Mencken - a timeless national treasure. I am reminded of a comment attributed to Einstein, although I cannot guarantee authenticity of origin: "The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius knows it has limits."
But Einstein did say, "My success is due less to extraordinary genius than to persistent hard work."
And in a letter to Abigail, John Adams wrote, "The Events of War are uncertain: We cannot insure Success, but We can deserve it."
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one,"
from Charles Mackay's book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds*
This book taught me more than the psychology, poli sci, philosophy, and sociology courses, and many econ courses I have taken. It should be required reading in the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade, and then a full 3 hour course for all entering freshman. The purpose is not to make one jaded or cynical, but to teach us to question reflectively and think analytically on our own. The book captures motivations and consequences. I love the WSJ’s motto, “Trust Your Decisions,” … it connotes be not afraid to think for yourself. Unfortunately, the WSJ’s news page fails the test, while the opinion pages provide some thoughtful analysis and points of view.
I often say, we are composed of matter, matter is energy, and we are a string of DNA chemicals functioning to sustain and replicate ourselves and create future generations using the matter and energy we can assemble. Our lives are therefore primally driven by a need to acquire energy, control energy, conserve energy, exert energy, and employ it to our use and self-preservation. The conserve part of our existence is why we often become lazy, take shortcuts, rationalize, and outsource our thinking. Many have less ability to process energy into thought, simply choose not to, seek assurance by adopting the point of view of others, or just chose to be lazy and give it little thought. Daniel Kahnemann’s Thinking Fast and Slow captures how many conserve energy and create their own sense of security — and thus “the madness of crowds” can easily take over.
And the press plays off our basic instinct to both be alert to the many threats (threats they create to sell subscriptions) to our ability to sustain while simultaneously selling us the patent medicine answers (i.e. Global Warming, Socialism, Social Justice, Communitarianism, Basic Rights) that will reassure, confirm, and affirm us so that we can rest calm that we are part of the intelligentsia, the elite, or the crowd and therefore, safe, right, and secure. Lemmings understand. And no individual lemming has been called out for making a bad decision.
If you don’t believe me, ask yourself who would take Greta Thunberg seriously or promote her celebrity? Answer: Millions. The UN, no less.
I read that McKay book more than once, as a kid, after finding it on my parents' bookshelves. I still rely on it to help me understand politics and human behavior generally.
Anyone who has ever taken part in a meeting of, I'll say, 5 or more people, has experienced this not so phenomenal phenomenon. That is, if they have any ability or willingness to think outside or beyond the dominant person in the room. And if you do and you do, you will definitely turn heads.
re: "But the flash flood warning came in the middle of the night, and Texas officials were slow to react and get the word out, or people didn’t receive word or heed it. "
Has NOBODY heard of the NWS alerting receivers, where you select your county and the radio will alert with (many of them make a loud siren sound) a 'tone' and a voice message indicating the nature of the alert/warning?
I have not seen one reference yet if and how the camp were to receive urgent weather messages.
Here is the propagation map from the NWS showing the propagation from the NWS VHF weather radio transmitter serving the Kerrville area: https://www.weather.gov/nwr/sites?site=WWF90
Indeed. Here in the Dusty Little Village in Arizona, we are alerted by cellphone siren for dust storms, and even something they call "Extreme Heat Alert". With the latter, I'm not sure what we are to do as there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide when we have a week of 112-119 F weather. But there's no missing the siren from your phone.
My cellphone does the same thing, for example when there is a tornado watch in our Kansas City area.
You can get a weather radio from Amazon or at any Walmart. Any watch or warning from NWS sets it off, plenty loud.
It’s remarkable how often “climate narratives” are built on assumptions the institutions themselves no longer endorse. RCP8.5 has been functionally abandoned by the IPCC, yet it’s still paraded by media outlets as the basis for catastrophic forecasting. What you’re pointing out isn’t just bias—it’s a dependency on obsolete data scenarios used to anchor public fear.
And when you cross-reference NOAA’s actual warnings during the Texas flood, it’s clear the agency functioned as intended. What failed was human response. But nuance doesn’t sell. Emotional simplicity does.
The broader pattern? Manufactured panic, retrofitted statistics, and a press corps trained more in ideology than discernment. Even EPA’s own charts show either neutral or declining flood frequency across many regions. But that doesn’t feed the beast.
This isn’t about denying environmental impact—it’s about refusing to let false correlation be weaponized. A flood does not equal proof. And statistical regression isn’t ideology—it’s data. But data’s too quiet for the current climate religion.
FDR shafted Mencken, read the the context. FDR was a person who liked to punch down, not up. Unlike Trump. Frankly he leaves a bad taste in the mouth. His wife believe it or not was better.
Mr. Helphand, my parents were hard-core Republicans, but I read a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt in a magazine that -- it's not much of an exaggeration to say -- changed my young teenage life. Mocked for her unfortunate looks, Mrs. Roosevelt said, "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." Would that the crowd constantly worried about "white supremacy" would practice saying that quote aloud.
She gets an undeserved bad rap. My uncle a a refugee in a camp in upstate NY was visited by her and did not emphatically think it was condescending. He mentioned it 30 years later.
Farbeit from me to have to say it, but Menken is wrong. The journalists are not stupid. They pretend to be stupid because that is what they need to do to be in on the grift.
Steve, I tried to search the AP site for the extra staffers story but no luck. Can you provide a link? I wouldn't put it past them to disappear the story.