H. L. Mencken Quotes
We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.
Mencken, H. L. Minority Report: H. L. Mencken's Notebooks. Alfred A. Knopf, 1956.
The Kandahar region of Afghanistan was occupied by the Persians under Gurgin Khan. The Persians at the time were Shiite Muslims while the Afghans were Sunnis. Gurgin Khan forced all the Sunnis to convert to become Shia under threat of death. Mirwais Hotak led a force of freedom fighters, and defeated the Persians, killing Gurgin Khan in the process. There were some Afghan people who by collaborating with the Persians had done very well for themselves. They were anxious about their liberator and some were thinking about sneaking away and joining up with the Persians. He then made this speech, remarkable for any time, and especially so at the early 18th century. Notice, that unlike most other peoples of the Middle East, the Afghan’s placed a high value on freedom, and were willing to fight for it. In that sense, Afghanistan was culturally and politically different from the rest of the Islamic world.
Goldman and other American radicals who had been born in Russia were deported to America after the Palmer Raids. When she arrived, she was shocked that the Russian Revolution had betrayed all the principles of freedom that had been advocated by most of the communist leaders. She left Russia and for the rest of her life condemned the Russian Bolsheviks and the result of the Revolution. She was one of the first radicals who realized that Russia itself had betrayed the principles of the revolution.
See Thomas Jefferson: {605051} for a somewhat similar notion.
Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial," also gained him attention.
