Replies

I have noticed that just about everyone on all sides of the ideological divide find those portions of Mencken which they can appropriate for themselves while otherwise ignoring those portions which they cannot. The liberal can and will find that within Mencken's oeuvre that pleases him without bothering himself with the rest; the conservative of any stripe will and often does do likewise. (By the way - I didn't and don't for a moment buy the "anti-Semitic" bit about the man, but of course language being more casual in his era you could make a case for anyone being anti-Semitic or otherwise bigoted or racist based on the casual euphemisms of the time.)

My own long-enough time reading of Mr. Mencken tells me that he was, overall, a champion of freedom and of individualism (as am I), and perhaps that is a prime reason why those who champion no such thing but admire the man's wit and prose simply bypass, as though it never really existed, that very championship. It is also simple enough business to dismiss a champion of individualism as one or another sort of bigot, racist, or anti-whatever, it being so that individualism yet offends enough who still think in terms of this or that groupthink (yea, verily, even in places enough along the right), but you probably didn't need me to remind you about that.

{"....I have noticed that just about everyone on all sides of the ideological divide find those portions of Mencken which they can appropriate for themselves while otherwise ignoring those portions which they cannot...."}

You make a great point about Mencken. Liberal supporters of Mencken often overlook the fact that he was one of the harshest critics of FDR's New Deal policies, at a time when most intellectuals of his era supported FDR's policies. He was also a critic of mass democracy, and a defender of the ideal of the constitutional republic that had been set up by America's founding fathers. By most measures, Mencken was an Old Rightist. But he presented his ideas with such wit and humor, that he avoided the social ostracism and persecution that many other New Deal critics suffered.

It is also simple enough business to dismiss a champion of individualism as one or another sort of bigot, racist, or anti-whatever, it being so that individualism yet offends enough who still think in terms of this or that groupthink

Bump for a point not made often enough.