The Heart of America
17th December 2009
Apparently the heart of American is Washington, D.C., and doesn’t bother with fact-checking, attributing a quotation from Bolingbroke’s ‘The Idea of a Patriot King’ to Jefferson.
Bolingbroke was about as far from Jefferson, politically and philosophically as it’s possible to get without being Hobbes.
(And what part of America does that make California?)
December 18th, 2009 at 01:48
In these days of the internet, finding correct attributions can be tough. Some years ago, I tried to find the context in which Andrew Jackson said, “One man with courage is a majority.” I found it attributed to Thomas Jefferson more often than Andrew Jackson, and it was obvious that many of the incorrect attributions were websites that had copied wholesale entire quote databases that they’d found elsewhere. I even found it attributed to Thoreau on a few sites.
If you want to get correct attribution for a quote, unless the quote originated on the internet or since internet use became widespread, you’re unlikely to get it unless you go to a book.
That said, the viewpoint of the graphic is disgusting, but it doesn’t surprise me.
December 18th, 2009 at 05:02
‘Wheels within wheels, bendreth.’