What are your reflections on this quote from H.L. Mencken (seen in "details")?

Question

"The worst government is the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression."

Sunny: This is taken directly from your link, which I doubt you read:

"The publication in 1989 of his Diary, with its anti-Semitic and racist comments, focused attention on him again. It has to be remembered, though, that such remarks were all too typical of the era in which he lived; he himself numbered scores of Jewish publishers, writers, physicians, and musicians among his good friends, and no man did more than he to encourage black writers and publish their work."

Answer 1

I think it's a very accurate assessment.

further I would add,

Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate."
Ulysses S. Grant

"[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution

Answer 2

The last one first, the more fanatic the government is the more it can not stand for anyone to be different. The more cynical the government the more it leans towards humane treatment of the population for to do other would show that it was just like a moral government. I am not sure of this but look at our government it is the most moral one we have had. I see them all going to church and talking about how they pray and yet they do things that look totally wrong. A lot of the people think they are great.

Answer 3

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.
— Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906),

Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power.
— Eric Hoffer, (1902-83).

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
— Blaise Pascal, (1623-1662)

What mean and cruel things men do for the love of God.
— Somerset Maugham

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
— Jonathan Swift

It is usually when men are at their most religious that they behave with the least sense and the greatest cruelty.
— Ilka Chase

The doctrine which, from the very first origin of religious dissensions, has been held by bigots of all sects, when condensed into a few words and stripped of rhetorical disguise, is simply this: I am in the right, and you are in the wrong. When you are the stronger, you ought to tolerate me; for it is your duty to tolerate truth. But when I am the stronger I shall persecute you; for it is my duty to persecute error.
— Lord Macaulay, (1800-1859)

One of the most constant characteristics of beliefs is their intolerance. The stronger the belief, the greater its intolerance. Men dominated by a certitude cannot tolerate those who do not accept it.
— Gustave Le Bon, (1841-1931)

Most believers would kill truth if truth threatened their religion.
— L. K. Washburn

Religion is the last refuge of human savagery.
— Alfred North Whitehead

To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance.
— Eric Hoffer, (1902-83)

Impiety, n.: Your irreverence toward my deity.
— Ambrose Bierce

What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.
— Robert F. Kennedy, (1925-1968)

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic.
— Bertrand Russell

Religious tolerance has developed more as a consequence of the impotence of religions to impose their dogmas on each other than as a consequence of spiritual humility.
— Sidney Hook, (1902-1989)

Answer 4

That's a great quote. Have you ever read the little book "The Portable Curmudgeon?" He is quoted a lot in that. But I think some folks here are missing the point-it's fanatics of any sort who can be oppressive, not just religious fanatics.

Answer 5

'moral', once upon a time was a word which differed from 'ethical' because its foundation was in religion. It has lost that meaning due to misuse since.

I agree, of course, but it is probably because im cynical and secular. It is still a subjective concept, and unsupportable with logic, which things are better off tolerated, and which things are wrong to tolerate. The basis of intolerance is, obviously, a result of 'fanaticism'...this is a tautology via the definition of fanaticism...It in no way proves the wrongness of intolerence...

Answer 6

Interesting use of the word "moral" here. But I like the quote. I like a lot of what I've read from Mencken, actually.

Answer 7

Sounds about right. Cynics don't trust anyone, so we make sure society screws the least amount of people. It's a Rawlsian numbers game really.

Answer 8

Rumi's words are as candy at the instant as i'm specific they have been in his day. It concerns no longer what we do, think of or say. It never differences the certainty of who we actually are. although to return to know our certainty is to upward push above the dream of want and all the worldly pleasures. existence quite exists previous the partitions of the particular. Lose our self (e.g. ego) and discover certainty. advantages

Answer 9

That's what bush says every day !!!
except he forgot one thing: He has NO Morals or Brains !!!
bush is the biggest fanatic in the history of politics and humanity!!!

Please forward this to bush - right NOW !!!

before more oppression happens - right NOW !!!

Answer 10

Wow..... where do you find these?

My reflection is that it's quite accurate. I'd like more skeptics to be in positions of power.