Most journalists are not heroes. I was a journalist myself once, so I know this. A notable date in journalism history slipped by almost unnoticed: the birth of H.L. Mencken on September 12, 1880. If this information leaves you completely unmoved, you are not alone. Fame is an ephemeral commodity. Even the most celebrated celebrities are usually forgotten within a few years, and 146 years is a very long time in the collective memory. But H.L.Mencken was the most famous newspaperman, critic, and political commentator of his time. He deserves to be remembered, especially now.
The remarkable thing about Mencken’s writing was that he could be clever and funny at the same time. That’s a rare combination. A few of his most famous or notorious quotes will give a sense of his style. On politics: “Under democracy both parties devote their chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule. Both commonly succeed, because both are right.” Who could argue with that in 2026? On religion, Mencken wrote: “Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy,” which sounds awfully familiar. On decision-making: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.” On democracy: “Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”
Some of Mencken’s journalism and criticism would be quietly censored in the mass media today – it is too subversive, and too stingingly funny. Like Mark Twain (who wrote, among many other things, that “There is no distinctively criminal class in America, except Congress”) Mencken had the gift of making the reader laugh and think at the same time. He had America laughing about race, religion, patriotism, imperialism and women’s rights, when these were untouchable subjects, as they almost still are today. He was denounced as a traitor, an atheist and a disgrace to the profession of journalism, all of which insults he relished.
He certainly had plenty of material in the 1920s: the ruthless competition and exploitation of primitive capitalism, and the uncontrolled political power of the plutocrats and financiers, to say nothing of the polarized culture of the so-called “roaring twenties.” If you could put Mencken down in a newspaper office today, he would look around and reach for the typewriter without the slightest hesitation. He waged an endless battle against ignorance and hypocrisy and, as you might expect, he had many prejudices and described himself as ‘the permanent opposition.’ By modern standards, he was politically incorrect in just about every way you could think of and could be both spiteful and cynical. But he gave a voice to the outrage of ordinary Americans, while entertaining them at the same time.
Critical Journalism is a dangerous game, especially in an authoritarian age. We shouldn't expect journalists to be braver than the rest of us, like soldiers on the front line, but we do expect it and the best of today’s journalists live up to our expectations without asking us to take their risks.
All I would hope for from today’s journalists is a little more humor, a little more of Mencken’s awareness of the absurdity of it all. You may feel that our political and social situation is beyond a joke. It’s not.
