H.L. Mencken And The Scorpion Pit

Generic Story Titles And The Overton Window

“Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”

– H.L. Mencken

The above quote is a very famous quote from H.L. Mencken.

Satirist, Columnist, Novelist, and all around Crack-Pot from the late 19th Century to roughly the middle of the 20th Century.

In his time he was an extremely influential columnist that was printed all around the United States spanning a period of nearly 40 years.

He hated government (especially Republicans), he hated the South, he hated the North, he hated the military, he hated stupid people, he hated smart people, he hated the New Deal and did not believe that the United States should involved in WW2. He seemingly had enough animosity to spread at least a little bit to any group of citizens that could be even roughly referred to as a “demographic”.

He was also beloved for his ability to get to the point in a humorous manner and his willingness to speak his mind even when it was not popular (which was a lot of the time).

He was not however, ever known to have slit a throat.

We do not know for sure, but he is unlikely to ever have spit on his hands, or hoisted a black flag either (His pictures would indicate that he was not a fan of physical labor of any kind).

There is also no evidence that that anyone has ever slit a throat on his behalf, at his behest, or as a result of anything he ever said.

The common understanding and interpretation of the above quote is fairly basic:

“Sometimes people get fed up, and sometimes they feel like it might be time to bring an ass-kicking.”

His targets were varied and many, and while it is almost certain that there were many politicians and government entities that would have loved to see him in a scorpion pit, the authorities never took it upon themselves to darken his door, his publisher never canceled his column, and his friends didn’t give him the freeze.

This is because it was satire. It didn’t matter. The powers that be were quite aware that there was not going to be knife-play in Central Park set off by the evening edition of the newspaper.

It was a funny thought, a slightly twisted sentiment with crude imagery and nothing more.

Which brings us today. A more “enlightened” time in history (it is alleged).

If I were include this quote from a beloved American satirist in the early 20th Century in a Facebook post, Facebook would suspend me. If I were to SAY it in a Youtube video, Youtube would strike me, and despite Elon’s best intentions, if I were to actually include it in the title to this piece, X would at the very least make me take it down.

If I were a native Briton and I posted this ANYWHERE online, I would likely go to jail immediately and be tried and sentenced by the end of the week (unless I was a Muslim Labour MP, then I can do worse than this and get bail until a time that it is more politically feasible to drop the charges altogether).

As I write this (August of 2024), Great Britain has jailed more people for posts on social media than Vladimir Putin by a significant amount. More than 50,000 Britons in the last decade have been prosecuted to one degree or another for posts on social media. It is significant to note that these numbers are from BEFORE the current crackdown on dis-favored thought instituted by the Starmer government.

There are those who will quibble about the exact numbers, but even those discussions end up as not so much an argument about numbers as rationalizing the necessity.

The internet is relatively new not just in the annals of political discourse, but indeed in how we talk about all things. It was entirely predictable that as time passed the Overton Window would be stretched by nefarious actors to encompass any opinion that was in conflict with the agenda(s) of the powers that be.

A chance to control the conversation about their ideas (or lack thereof) and about themselves is too tempting for politicians, and with the inherent loss of privacy that social media brings and a growing police state mentality on the part of the authorities, it becomes relatively easy to freeze, dehumanize, and inflict pain on your targets.

They can cancel accounts, restrict your movement, and indeed even end your life with little or no effort. It really IS a great time to be a Tyrant.

It is a confusing time to be one of the tyrannized. Particularly because any given group of citizens cannot agree exactly where they are on the Democracy to North Korea Scale.

In what is seemingly the one genuine political success Kier Starmer has ever had, he could not be happier to have everyone fighting over who should punished, how much, and how much they deserve it.

That Overton window is getting quite a stretch, from incitement, to things that could cause incitement, to things that could cause incitement by causing distress, and so on.

The language used by shell shocked Britons who have never experienced this kind of thing is interesting:

Kier Starmer wants to…

Keir Starmer seems to be…..

Kier Starmer is tying to…….

No.

The proper wording is “Is doing”, “Is doing”, and “has done”.

You are IN IT now.

The Reichstag fire is long gone cold and the Chancellor has been appointed in Britain.

You are not going anywhere, you are there.

France has just arrested the owner of Telegram on a vague “failure to cooperate with investigations” charge, and Australian women have just been told that if they wish to meet amongst themselves without hairy nuts in the room, they are going to have to do so in the backs of Beer Halls in secret like it is East Germany in 1961.

The West has fallen. Past tense.

The only reason that Americans have been somewhat insulated from most of this is a matter of logistics. Different state laws, different authorities, different jurisdictions, and indeed different cultures with different levels of trust in the Federal government have conspired to make it a much thornier operation.

For now.

I have Zero doubt that Donald Trump will win the upcoming election, and I also have zero doubt that the Federal government will conspire to keep him from being awarded the presidency.

Once that mask is truly off, and they are no longer bound by the old-fashioned sentiment that they like to call “Free Dumb”, it is almost a certainty that they will find a way to dispatch “thorny” issues of jurisdiction and culture, most likely by putting a lot of people in jail.

Those who would have had Mencken in the scorpion pits could have only dreamed of such power, but I doubt they would have used it. They were mature enough to understand that this was a witty off-hand remark that really meant nothing.

How ironic it is that the very people who would now feel threatened by this remark, and victimize those who would speak this sentiment out loud have every reason to be afraid of his words and are giving us reasons to mean it.

“Sometimes people get fed up, and sometimes they feel like it might be time to bring an ass-kicking.”

To be continued…..?