"Something ought to be done to Mr. Edison and there is a growing conviction to ought to be dome with a hempe rope.... Too many inventions of the most deleterious character… He’s been addicted to electricity for many years….”
More details here.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
NY Times Warns People About The Evils Of Thomas Edison
These establishment always loves the status quo. From an 1878 New York Times editorial:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I do believe one can find an editorial from the early 1900's arguing against the income tax.
ReplyDeleteAlso Hazlitt worked there.
This is one of the biggest problems with Libertarians today.
They paint with a broad brush for no reason.
Oh yeah, Libertarian immigration policies are still moronic.
Thanks for letting us "great unwashed anonymous mass" post here.
Yeah ... Libertarians are really dumb. Especially that non-aggression principle. That is really dumb. Morons. And all Libertarians have the same thinking on immigration. Talk about dumb.
DeleteSo is it your view that statists are not inclined to "paint with a broad brush for no reason"?
Delete"This is one of the biggest problems with Libertarians today.
DeleteThey paint with a broad brush for no reason."
Wow. Your statement is "painted with a broad brush". Thanks for the cliche and hypocrisy. Also, unless you're talking about the party, it should be small-l libertarian.
No need to thank me.
I wonder how libertarian immigration policies differ from what GOP and Dems are doing presently
ReplyDeleteNot all libertarians believe in unrestricted borders. My guess is that most do not.
ReplyDeleteThe hyperbole sounds silly to us today, since we have so many benign or beneficial uses of this technology. But it did point out some risks that eventually came to pass. The totalitarian states that arose 60 years later employed these recording technologies to monitor and control the populations in their grasp.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post - helps to keep things in perspective as we think about the future of the technologies we're developing now.
The government made the technologies evil. As it does with everything it gets its hands on. Perhaps its time we thought not whether a new invention can used against us in the future but how more government can be used against us.
DeleteThe editorial is a great metaphor about the personal freedom that has been lost since the early 1900's. There was a robust debate in the NYT about personal freedom (the anti-tax editorial referenced above) and state control (this editorials reference to using "hemp rope" to restrain Mr. Edison). I see no such debate in the NYT today and it seems clear that the "hemp rope" mentality prevails. No need to worry about "the future of the technologies we're developing now" until we start worrying about personal freedom and respect for each human life. Lets replace the "hemp rope" mentality with one of Live and let Live.
ReplyDeleteThey also called Goddard a fool for claiming man could reach the moon with liquid rockets...
ReplyDeleteWhat? You mean you actually believe that men went to the moon in the 1960s and the technology to do so was somehow lost since then? Not to state that Goddard was a fool, but his claim hasn't been proven to my satisfaction.
Delete