I was first introduced to H.L.
Mencken by a Jewish friend when I was in my 20’s. I’ve been hooked ever since.
Times have changed a lot since then and the Republic is no more. But even so,
there once was a time in this country when the press wasn’t controlled and paid
to spit out propaganda. For one brief shining moment, it published freely,
unfettered by dictate from the government or the mob.
This
man lived on the edge of that time. His wit, his intellectual ability to think
outside the box of events, the people and their culture, taking place around
him then, would by today’s intellectually fascist standard, fuzzily defined as
political correctness by Bill Clinton back in 1990, will not be welcome by
those of the strictly herd mentality of today. some of which sit, sadly to say,
at Amazon today deleting reviews and comments from like-minded individuals, who
will call a spade a spade rather than lie or gloss over their own opinions. I
take no pleasure in saying that. In fact, it vexes me deeply, but it is an
opinion that has become quite apparent to me when reading book reviews and
their comment threads. And it smacks of the dictatorship behind political
correctness. I would much rather read what someone actually thought, than what
any apparatchik anywhere thinks anyone should say, imply or convey. And no, I’m
not talking about name calling. But with the loss of freedom of the press, it
only follows that those who value it, lose our freedom of speech as well.
If you’re someone who also
appreciates hearing someone’s unvarnished opinion, has a sense of humour
towards your culture, yourself, religion, and doesn’t think the government and
politicians are the greatest things since sliced bread, you will find reading
this book to be a breath of much needed fresh air from today’s stifling,
politically correct pollution that passes for informative commentary and
opinion.
These
are the most valuable, interesting and refreshing aspects of reading H.L.
Mencken IMHO and why I give this book 5 stars. He spoke his
unvarnished opinion, as did many others of his time. It’s what made people real
and news and events informative, not glossed over. And they were allowed to
have different opinions. They didn’t have to tow the line of the opinion of the
editor or the owner of the newspaper to keep their job.
This is a keeper.
