Text Analysis #2 "To Expose a Fool"

Who Wrote: H.L. Mencken, noted editor and political writer, wrote this piece soon after the death of his arch nemesis William Jennings Bryant.

Audience: Mencken seems to be writing an open letter to the American people.

Represent: We would call this a "political hit piece today" that probably would be found on an op ed page of a very left or very right of center newspaper or heard via a media source that has a definite and sometimes caustic opinions about issues {Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, or Keith Obermann come to mind}. Mencken's goal is to discredit Bryant and to expose him and his followers s charlatans and fools.

What is Being Said: Mencken goes after Bryant who had recently died. He paints Bryant as a demagogue who flopped on the issues a number of times in the past and who according to Mencken largely was motivated not because he was working in the best interests of the American people but more because he was pandering to a core constituency who was against human progress, not open to a new ideas,, who generally feared change, were anti-intellectual and exclusively faith based in their filtering of world events. What was really interesting was Mencken's focus on the urban establishment v rural dynamic. Mencken felt that Bryant was largely motivated by a personal grudge that Bryant had against the urban elite and intellectual classes. Wow, this is powerfully contemporary stuff. I was watching Jay Leno a few weeks ago when Glenn Beck was on. Jay is not hardcore interviewer and his role is to keep thinks light. I'll paraphrase an exchange between the two:
Beck: Hates Obama because he is a "Harvard elite" and general intellectual who is out of touch with the way "real Americans" live.
Leno: Wasn't Obama raised by a single mother who was on food stamps
Beck: Yes but he's really part of the intellectual elite
Leno: He seems like a self-made man and a smart guy. I would think that those virtues would be something that you could admire and isn't it important to have smart people in government
Beck: He's an east coat intellectual and out of touch with "real Americans."

How is it Being Said: Have a dictionary handy when you read this! He uses big words, writes a complicated essay, and is very caustic. As they say, he is probably preaching to the choir on this one and not changing the minds of many of Bryant's followers.

Some things never change.

What Proof: Again, I would call this an Op Ed piece so its full Mencken's opinions and short on facts. He does go into various issues that Bryant has purportedly flip-flopped on.