There was a time when people like Lehrer, comedians like Lenny Bruce and others were censored. I'm not sure if Samuel Clemens was ever censored, but it's the same admirable tradition.
Today they have other ways of censoring people. Let's never forget that humorists have done more to awaken people, to help people think, than any other genre. 🙏💜
Yes, Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, was censored in his own time, and for many of his works. One year after "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in 1884, Concord Public Library banned it from their shelves.
I’m glad to read as many considerations of Mr. Lehrer’s life as the Internets will provide, but let’s also remember that on the subject of satire he was far more ambivalent than you suggest: He liked to quote Peter Cook’s line about how satire in the Berlin cabarets of the 1930s powerfully thwarted the Nazis from taking power.
Reading the interviews that Lehrer gave over the decades, I’d say his position on satire is less grandiose, but more wise: It makes us feel less alone. That is, however, also true for Trump’s audience. It just isn’t ever a neat solution, this life we have and share.
One of the Mothers of Libertarianism, Isabel Paterson, left all of her works to the public domain in her will. They are readily available for download.
Gawd how I loved that human! Thank you for this post
There was a time when people like Lehrer, comedians like Lenny Bruce and others were censored. I'm not sure if Samuel Clemens was ever censored, but it's the same admirable tradition.
Today they have other ways of censoring people. Let's never forget that humorists have done more to awaken people, to help people think, than any other genre. 🙏💜
Yes, Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, was censored in his own time, and for many of his works. One year after "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in 1884, Concord Public Library banned it from their shelves.
Now that you mention it, yeah. Banned for purposes of bigotry.
Today, most people are banned for telling the truth. 😔
I’m glad to read as many considerations of Mr. Lehrer’s life as the Internets will provide, but let’s also remember that on the subject of satire he was far more ambivalent than you suggest: He liked to quote Peter Cook’s line about how satire in the Berlin cabarets of the 1930s powerfully thwarted the Nazis from taking power.
Reading the interviews that Lehrer gave over the decades, I’d say his position on satire is less grandiose, but more wise: It makes us feel less alone. That is, however, also true for Trump’s audience. It just isn’t ever a neat solution, this life we have and share.
One of the Mothers of Libertarianism, Isabel Paterson, left all of her works to the public domain in her will. They are readily available for download.