Thought

Heinrich Heine

Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.
Heinrich Heine, Almansor: A Tragedy (1823).

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

The Initiative Initiative
SharingThis morning I’ll stand in Washington State’s capitol in Olympia …
Lightfoot’s Dark Turn
The mayor of Chicago is now refusing interviews with white …
Bailing Out Topeka
SharingBack in August, the city council in Topeka, Kansas, voted …
Intentionally Confounding Incumbents
SharingThe three issues on the ballot in Memphis this November …
Video: On the Road in South America, Part Two
SharingTaking a few moments away from the main events of the …

Measures for Measures
November 23, 2024
This year was an interesting one for initiatives.Read More »
Denial Is a River in Argentina?
November 22, 2024
Paul Jacob on one country’s retreat from self-imposed poverty.Read More »
Watch Out!
November 21, 2024
Paul Jacob on strange edits in the Lone Star State.Read More »
The Hill as Hallucinogen
November 19, 2024
Paul Jacob on a false news story, gone but not …Read More »
Elon & Vivek to Cut Government?
November 18, 2024
Paul Jacob on who could help whom do what is …Read More »

Corruption, Arkansas-Style
SharingOn Friday, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck Issue 3, a citizen-initiated …
The Yellow and White Lines
SharingIf I’ve heard it one million times, I’ve heard it …
Knock Down the Incumbency
SharingOver the weekend, I suffered through Knock Down the House … …
Regnat Tyrannis
SharingArkansas’s motto is Regnat Populus — “The People Rule.” Unfortunately, …
Saving Term Limits
SharingMost ballot measures to enact term limits triumph. According to …

Is Denmark Socialist?
SharingFirst… some definitions: Socialism advocates the public ownership (or control) of business …
Gloating Time?
Sharing“The freak-out was something to behold,” I wrote two years ago. Newly …
Strange Days
SharingWe live in a strange time when a possible official UFO disclosure …
Let There Be Light
SharingThe Washington Post sports a new masthead slogan: “Democracy Dies in Darkness,.” …
Skepticism in Order
SharingIt is not a question of “belief,” says Anastasios Tsonis. In “The …

On November 23, 1644, British poet John Milton published Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.

Revolutions of ages do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse.
John Milton, Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England (1644).

The name “Areopagitica” references a speech by Isocrates, the “Areopagitikós” that itself referenced a hill in Athens, Greece, the Areopagus, which had been the site of an important tribunal that the Greek orator had hoped to restore. It may also refer to the defense that St. Paul made before the Areopagus against charges of promulgating alien gods and outré teachings (see Acts 17:18 – 34).