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Entry tags:	america, book review, fossil media, politics, quotation, thomas paine, us politics, writing

thomas paine on the fossil media; book review
the fossil media's lack of contact with reality or honesty is nothing new。 this was written in 1806：

The writer of this remembers a remark made to him by Mr. Jefferson concerning the English Newspapers which at that time, 1787, while Mr. Jefferson was Minister at Paris, were most vulgarly abusive. The remark applies with equal force to the Federal papers of America. The remark was, that "the licentiousness of the press produces the same effect as the restraint of the press was intended to do. The restraint, said he, was to prevent things being told, and the licentiousness of the press prevents things being believed when they are told." We have in this state an evidence of the truth of this remark. The number of federal papers in the city and state of New-York are more than five to one to the number of republican papers, yet the majority of the elections go always against the federal papers, which is demonstrative evidence that the licentiousness of those papers are destitute of credit.

-- thomas paine, 1883011035, p.429。

i originally bought this collection of paine's writing from my interest in america politics and the spread of freedom。 however， i could just as easily recommend the book for those who simply want to read beautifully written prose。 he sometimes goes over the top on the rhetoric of his cases， but even then he invariably manages to do it prettily。

。。 as for the content， this is a man who sized up the great problem of his day and decided that the most effective way to improve the world was to start writing。 having decided， he then set about pretty much singlehandedly persuading america， first to declare independence [in "common sense"]， and then to stick to their guns [in "the crisis" series of public letters]， until britain was defeated and america was free to become the beacon of hope it is today。

his methods were truly modern： step by logical step he took the arguments of his opponents to pieces， leaving them with nowhere left to stand。 he regularly dissected the illogics in the statements of america's enemies。 he also carried out highly competent 'fisks' more than two centuries before fisk began making a fool of himself。

as with any 'ancient'， it is possible for those who stand on his shoulders to pick holes and mock the ignorance of his age， as seen through his writings。 however， without these same writings， our freedom， wealth and knowledge would likely not afford us the latitude to mock。 paine is one of the giants on whose shoulders we all stand。

amongst his other achievements are inventing a new way of constructing iron bridges so as to span much larger rivers with much greater ease。 with surprising naivety， he was also centrally involved in the early french revolution， prior to the bloodbaths - he almost got himself killed opposing said bloodbaths。 he also in effect invented a 'rationalist' religion whose ideas are still influential today。 he campaigned against slavery and capital punishment。 he wrote of a citizen's wage in "agrarian justice"：

The life of an [Red] Indian is a continual holiday, compared with the poor of Europe; and, on the other hand, it appears to be abject when compared to the rich. Civilization, therefore, or that which is so called, has operated, two ways, to make one part of society more affluent, and the other part more wretched, than would have been the lot of either in a natural state.

It is always possible to go from the natural to the civilized state, but it is never possible to go from the civilized to the natural state. The reason is, that man, in a natural state, subsisting by hunting, requires ten times the quantity of land to range over, to procure himself sustenance, than would support him in a civilized state, where the earth is cultivated. When therefore a country becomes populous by the additional aids of cultivation, arts, and science, there is a necessity of preserving things in that state; because, without it, there cannot be sustenance for more, perhaps, than a tenth part of its inhabitants. The thing therefore now to be done, is, to remedy the evils, and preserve the benefits, that have arisen to society, by passing from the natural to that which is called the civilized state.

note that this is precisely the same mechanism which makes it not an option to ignore our fossil fuel problems。

not bad for a perpetually broke corset-maker cum customs inspector cum drifter from thetford in norfolk， england。

the book above has 830 pages of his writing and a fairly full chronology of his life。 it is a properly bound hardback with nice thin pages： the way a book should be。 i haven't finished reading it yet， but this one definitely goes on my recommendations list。 when i make the list， that is。