[lbo-talk] Mencken

[Gar Lipow]

On Thu, Sep 18, 2008 at 10:50 AM, John Thornton <jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> Mencken wrote in praise of Strom Thurmond and in praise of Jim Crow.
> He opposed lynch mobs because he hated mobs. Same for the KKK.
> He also wrote that the US would have been better served if the South had won
> the Civil War and the US was ruled by an elite Southern aristocracy.
> I don't paint Mencken as virulently racist but he was a little more racist
> than average in my opinion.
> Better than 50% of American's opposed Jim Crow in 1950 but Mencken did not.
>
> John Thornton

Also, though he opposed individual cases of lynching, he also opposed
Federal laws outlawing it as improperly stepping on States Rights. The
overwhelming majority of Americans supported anti-lynch laws.  Given
some of his statements, I would paint him virulently racist.

Again, I repeat that that Mark Twain really should never have been
lumped in with Bierce and Mencken. Bierce and Mencken were primarily
concerned with stupidity and self-delusion.  At Twain's core was a
hatred of cruelty and unnecessary suffering.