“There seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously-after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important … so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth.”
“Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not know,” the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked in this fashion; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, whose mind is free. No, not the rack nor the atomic bomb, not anything. You can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”
Robert Heinlein (born July 7, 1907, Butler, Missouri, U.S.—died May 8, 1988, Carmel, California)
Powerful words and thoughts from a mainly science fiction author. Most of us have no idea he was highly educated in physics and mathematics, pursuing graduate studies at the University of California. During the war, he was an engineer in the navy. Probably his most famous book is “Stranger in a Strange Land” and coined the term “Grok”. I read most of his books while growing up, in junior high and high school. Later in life, his writing turned a corner, at least for me – and I stopped devouring his books. Still, a force to be reckoned with. He helped shape many young individuals as they sprouted to adulthood.
Including mine.
