William Gilmore Simms Quotes
Neither praise or blame is the object of true criticism. Justly to discriminate, firmly to establish, wisely to prescribe, and honestly to award. These are the true aims and duties of criticism.
1968 was one of the more polarized presidential elections, and most politicians in the heat of debate, tended to make ad hominem attacks on their opponents instead of rational arguments. Conservatives tended to attack opponents as communists, communist sympathizers, or giving aid and comfort to the communists. Often they never got around to attacking the real political position of their opponents. Buckley realized that he would not persuade many of his fellow conservatives to eschew the personal red-baiting on their opponents. Their political; base demanded this. But he urged them to restrain themselves and first make a rational attack on liberalism and liberal policies. Very few took his advice that year or ever in the remainder of the century until the fall of the Soviet Union.
Critics, pundits, and social and program evaluators, have—as Deleuze observes—a major vested interest in the outcome of the evaluations—namely their own economic and influential existence. That alone should cast suspicion on all evaluations,
William Gilmore Simms was an American writer and politician from the American South. Poet, novelist, and historian, his History of South Carolina served as the definitive textbook on state history for much of the 20th century. Literary scholars consider him a major force in antebellum Southern literature; in 1845 Edgar Allan Poe pronounced him the best novelist America had ever produced. Throughout much of his literary career he served as editor of several journals and newspapers. He also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1844–1846.
