I think the Negro people should feel secure enough by now to face a reasonable ridicule without terror. I am unalterably opposed to all efforts to put down free speech, whatever the excuse.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of free speech and the courage to confront ridicule without fear.
H. L. Mencken's quote reflects a belief in the strength and resilience of the Negro people in the face of societal ridicule, advocating for the necessity of free speech. Mencken argues that individuals should feel empowered to express themselves openly and withstand criticism, regardless of the challenges they face, and he firmly opposes any attempts to suppress this freedom under any guise.
In practice
In a speech about civil rights, one could use this quote to highlight the necessity of expressing one's views freely.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
Speak against unconscious oppression, Speak against the tyranny of the unimaginative, Speak against bonds.
Anti-Semitism hits me on the head: I am enraged, I am bled white by an appalling battle, I am deprived of the possibility of being man. I cannot disassociate myself from the future that is proposed for my brother.
Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.
You need a degree of foolishness to cause disruptive change in healthcare. Dare to dream.
There's no pride in having been a child soldier.
As an adolescent, I was painfully shy, withdrawn. I didn't really have the nerve to sing my songs on stage, and nobody else was doing them. I decided to do them in disguise so that I didn't have to actually go through the humiliation of going on stage and being myself.
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