Fools And Knaves

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"Commentary"
Commentary

I quoted Poul Anderson who accuses some demagogues of rousing ignorant hordes by consciously lying. I have now found a similar passage in Dornford Yates:

"...of her wisdom, she knew that the truth was being denied. False prophets were spouting the praises of the new order of life. She tried to believe they were fools: she knew in her heart they were knaves. But their doctrines were hailed with delight by millions of dupes."
-Dornford Yates, Lower Than Vermin (London, 1950), PART THREE, p. 308.

When disagreeing with what someone has said, we can either accept him as honest or accuse him of dishonesty but must have good grounds for that latter assessment. Mere mind reading is unacceptable.

I have seen someone fail to understand a point, then refuse to understand it, indeed to deny that there was a point. This was face saving. He did not want to acknowledge that he had misunderstood in the first place. I base this judgment on my reading of his words and manner, not on telepathy.

Years ago, an acquaintance told me that:

she would never live on our, racially mixed, street;
it was a terrible environment in which to bring up a child;
we were patronizing Asians by living next door to them!

The economic reality was that we had moved to Blades St. because its houses were half the price of similar houses in other parts of town but, being racist, my acquaintance knew that our motivation could only have been based on inverted racism.

I read authors with whom I disagree because they write well but a welcome by-product is the broadening of perspectives gained by imaginatively entering into very different world views. I do not accuse the sometimes arrogant Yates of knavery. Poul Anderson was a fellow pilgrim and seeker of the truth that makes us free.