A quote from 1936 by H.P. Lovecraft.

[hobbit709]

“As for the Republicans -- how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell smugly and sentimentally in a distorted dream-cosmos of outmoded phrases and principles and attitudes based on the bygone agricultural-handicraft world, and revel in (consciously or unconsciously) mendacious assumptions (such as the notion that real liberty is synonymous with the single detail of unrestricted economic license or that a rational planning of resource-distribution would contravene some vague and mystical 'American heritage'...) utterly contrary to fact and without the slightest foundation in human experience? Intellectually, the Republican idea deserves the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.”

[Berlum]

1. "Republican ideas deserve the tolerance and respect one gives to the dead.” HPL

[hootinholler]

7. Except he's not talking of republicans

But of the republican form of governance.

[Berlum]

11. And yet not surprisingly at all, his phrase is perfectly apt for US Republicans

...and their degenerate jaundiced mindset as it finds expression around the world...

[starroute]

15. No, he was talking about actual Republicans

The quote is dated 1936 -- when the GOP was doing its very best to obstruct Roosevelt's New Deal. Here's the opening of the 1936 Republican Party platform (which I assume can be quoted at some length under fair use):

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29639

America is in peril. The welfare of American men and women and the future of our youth are at stake. We dedicate ourselves to the preservation of their political liberty, their individual opportunity and their character as free citizens, which today for the first time are threatened by Government itself.

For three long years the New Deal Administration has dishonored American traditions and flagrantly betrayed the pledges upon which the Democratic Party sought and received public support.

The powers of Congress have been usurped by the President.

The integrity and authority of the Supreme Court have been flouted.

The rights and liberties of American citizens have been violated.

Regulated monopoly has displaced free enterprise.

The New Deal Administration constantly seeks to usurp the rights reserved to the States and to the people.

It has insisted on the passage of laws contrary to the Constitution.

It has intimidated witnesses and interfered with the right of petition.

It has dishonored our country by repudiating its most sacred obligations.

It has been guilty of frightful waste and extravagance, using public funds for partisan political purposes.

It has promoted investigations to harass and intimidate American citizens, at the same time denying investigations into its own improper expenditures.

It has created a vast multitude of new offices, filled them with its favorites, set up a centralized bureaucracy, and sent out swarms of inspectors to harass our people.

It has bred fear and hesitation in commerce and industry, thus discouraging new enterprises, preventing employment and prolonging the depression.

It secretly has made tariff agreements with our foreign competitors, flooding our markets with foreign commodities.

It has coerced and intimidated voters by withholding relief to those opposing its tyrannical policies.

It has destroyed the morale of our people and made them dependent upon government.

Appeals to passion and class prejudice have replaced reason and tolerance.

To a free people, these actions are insufferable. This campaign cannot be waged on the traditional differences between the Republican and Democratic parties. The responsibility of this election transcends all previous political divisions. We invite all Americans, irrespective of party, to join us in defense of American institutions.

[hootinholler]

17. Well I didn't get that at first read...

But I can see it after reading again.

[pampango]

62. Great find! I had never seen the 1936 Republican Party platform:

So much of it could come from of a 'modern' tea party member:

It has coerced and intimidated voters by withholding relief to those opposing its tyrannical policies.

It has destroyed the morale of our people and made them dependent upon government.

Appeals to passion and class prejudice have replaced reason and tolerance.

It has created a vast multitude of new offices, filled them with its favorites, set up a centralized bureaucracy, and sent out swarms of inspectors to harass our people.

It has bred fear and hesitation in commerce and industry, thus discouraging new enterprises, preventing employment and prolonging the depression.

It secretly has made tariff agreements with our foreign competitors, flooding our markets with foreign commodities.

[eppur_se_muova]

59. He meant to say 'undead'.

Odd that HPL would miss that one.

[demwing]

2. K&R /nt

[RoccoRyg]

3. Fungi from Yoggoth

I'd vote for Cthulhu before I'd vote Republican.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. "The Color Out Of Space" fits too...

Sucking the life out of EVERYTHING in an ever expanding circle.

[freshwest]

42. The religious right remind me of the ORI:

http://rdanderson.com/stargate/entries/ori.htm

Absolutely the most vicious, oppressive creatures ever imagined as a villain on that show, IMHO. I could feel it in my bones watching those episodes years ago. Reminds me of the War on Women - damn personal they were with people. Total control freaks!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

50. I've been waiting for some Right Wing preacher to promote burning people alive.

[freshwest]

51. No kidding. Remember the video last year of them wanting camps for gays? And the ORI were into

arranged marriages and forced birth...

Yeah, they want all of that, alright.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

52. Back during the Inqusition the Church transfered the prisoner over to the State...

It was a way of keeping themselves out of the dirty business of actually burning people.

Today they STILL want the State to pass laws to impose their will.

[freshwest]

53. And doing a damned fine job of it in GOP territories. Obama made a statement someone put on a pic...

Definitely against using the State to enforce religion on anyone... He said it in clear and logical way... But it was a strong one and I've been unable to find it. About women's medical care, but it was specific to religion. Can't search for pictures at DU if the title doesn't match the words, and they usually don't.

We'd better pay attention and keep on this because I can't imagine living under so much fear and oppression as they want to impose on so many - openly!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

56. Hell, a bunch of them treat "The Turner Diaries" as prophesy....

And to think Trekies are considered to be the goofballs.

[WilliamPitt]

4. I doubted the veracity of this quote.

I was wrong; it's real.

http://grimreviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/political-transition-of-howard-philips.html

[bemildred]

6. Very interesting, thanks. nt

[hobbit709]

9. I did too when someone sent it to me but it checked out on several sources.

[caseymoz]

20. Lovecraft wrote over 50 million words in his lifetime.

I never imagined any of it was political opinion.

[Orrex]

5. The Deep Ones are real and are among us

[Rozlee]

24. "Cthulhu thinks you taste like chicken."

"Flagh! Spew! On second thought, you taste like Yog Sothoth's ass."

[lark]

8. Read all his books in my late teens

Knew the man was a genius, but never knew he also had so much common sense as well.

[DirkGently]

10. Interesting guy. Atheist. Pro-science. Deeply racist New England elitist.

He was bothered by religious fervor, but also terrified by all those "swarthy" immigrants he wrote about. Named his favorite cat "N*gger Man" and considered black people an intermediate step between animals and men.

[starroute]

14. But he was working his way out of it in his later years

And if he hadn't died in 1937, he would likely have gone even further towards a position of general tolerance and acceptance.

[Orrex]

18. You're right--some of his later writings support this

Still, it's hard to read some of his earlier works without feeling at least a shudder of revulsion. Granted, he was a man of his time, but there's a tone to his racism that strikes me as particularly ugly in places.

Great ideas of weird fiction, but some lousy ideas about human equality.

[RiverNoord]

55. Ditto to the 'hard to read' sentiment...

I have enjoyed many of his stories, but finally have given up as I just can't tolerate his descriptions of 'negroes' as grotesque or sub-human. None of the various 'think of the era,' etc. justifications offered by various apologists can get me past that.

[Downtown Hound]

66. It's not being an apologist to state the facts

Lovecraft was a racist. As he got older he changed his mind. Simple as that. If you choose to hate him for his earlier ignorance, go ahead, he was ignorant. But people change, and so did Lovecraft.

I always like to point out to people who condemn people like Lovecraft that Abraham Lincoln himself, although always opposed to slavery, did believe early on that blacks were inferior to whites. His many dealings with them over the course of his life and the civil war eventually changed his mind.

[RiverNoord]

68. 'Apologist' was perhaps not the best choice of words...

for my comment. I never met the guy, so I can't say much about how he may have evolved in his views toward people of more direct African ancestry than Europeans. I was merely stating that, concerning my sensibilities, I find it unpleasant to begin reading a story that may refer to 'negroes' in really repulsive language. I may find myself drawn into the building suspense of one of his stories, only to find myself smacked by such detailed descriptions of some 'negro' character being physically 'grotesque, likely due to his African origins', or references to 'negroes' being so savage that they were really susceptible to the range of 'unspeakable' acts and rituals he liked to pepper his stories with.

I'm not interested in dealing with such stuff the fiction I read, particularly if it is something I can routinely expect from a particular author, whatever 'era' they originate from.

I've read plenty of fiction with clearly racist elements (Huckleberry Finn, etc.), but they weren't so point blank in-your-face, for no useful reason other than to express the author's personal loathings.

[Buzz Clik]

31. Not unlike Chuck Hagel.

[catrose]

33. Didn't he die of starvation?

Despite writing 50 million words and selling a lot of them

[ahostett]

37. Colon cancer, I think

Last edited Sun Jan 27, 2013, 08:50 PM - Edit history (1)

He was pretty miserly (besides being fairly poor) and ate nothing but canned pork and beans and ice cream in his later life.

He did express in his letters a lot of instinctual enthusiasm for Hitler, but may have known that fascism was unlikely to succeed (because it was a mass movement). He may have had some socialist leanings, too, if we can consider his descriptions of advanced alien societies (the Old Ones or the Great Race) as expressing some sort of utopian ideal. There's a good discussion of HPL's politics in the introduction to a recent edition of At the Mountains of Madness (by China Mieville (Modern Library Classics, 2005)), but I'm only remembering bits and pieces.

Wish I could talk my way out of HPL's racism, though. Seemed to be pretty deeply ingrained in him, especially in his earlier stories.

[Downtown Hound]

67. Lovecraft never achieved great commercial success during his lifetime

His stories were mostly published in magazines like, "Weird Tales" and other pulp magazines. It wasn't until after his death that his works gathered a large following.

[kestrel91316]

25. The racism comes as no shock when you realize he started out

as deeply conservative. They do go hand in hand.

[Ashgrey77]

36. Southern Democrats were extremely racist as well in the early 20th century. n/t

[kestrel91316]

38. Those Southern Democrats were also never liberal in any meaningful sense of the word.

Your RW talking point of "Democrats do it, too" simply isn't gonna fly here.

[Ashgrey77]

39. I'm not right wing. Accuse someone else of that thank you very much.

The Democratic party was racist, it's a fact. I'm a registered Democrat I vote Democrat, I just don't refuse to accept the history of our party.

[billh58]

47. Another resurrected

Gungeoneer. Now it all makes sense...

[kestrel91316]

48. I'm not accusing YOU of anything - unless you were a Southern Democrat

back in the 1920s.........

You seem to have trouble understanding the concept of "the past" as opposed to here and now.

[OldDem2012]

57. Just FYI, but Southern Democrats still exist as "Blue Dog" Democrats....

....with political leanings more in line with the Republican Party. Those folks are certainly "here and now". In fact, the Southern Democrats of the 1960s and 1970s began switching to the GOP after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was enacted.

[Warpy]

61. They were also extremely religious and extremely conservative

What's your point? Trying to tar the whole party with the same brush you're using on southern bigots who were Democrats only because they couldn't bring themselves to join the party of the man who defeated them in the Civil War?

It's no mystery why so many of them flocked over to that party as soon as the ink was dry on the Civil Rights bills. They had been there philosophically all along, voting with them on most issues, earning the name "Boll Weevil Democrats" from their fellow party members who knew they'd try to eat the heart out of any legislation they passed.

There was never anything liberal about southern Democrats. Most were as reactionary as you can possibly imagine and the party in the rest of the country was markedly different.

[Ashgrey77]

64. Wow, I had no idea that a simple comment would get so much directed ire.

Just because I stated a fact about the PAST. I was talking about the OP. I was not talking about the modern Democratic Party. All I was saying was that A LOT of people were racist in the early 20th century including HP Lovecraft. I did not say that was alright or that I agreed with it. It was just the way things were and I was just stating a fact. I was not calling out the Democratic party as racist. "Lighten up Francis".

[DirkGently]

46. Not a shock - another product of his time. And as, noted, perhaps

he was evolving as he went along.

[Kablooie]

12. Things never change. it feels like the extremism is new but it's not.

[NBachers]

13. Republicans, by one name or another, have been sabotaging human progress since the cave era

It's unfortunate

[caseymoz]

21. The Gilded Age ruined the Republican Party.

. . . after such a noble start.

And it alienated African Americans in 1927-1921.

[freshwest]

44. I kept this sig line from DU2 someone had, but have never found the original reference.

Last edited Sun Jan 27, 2013, 11:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Republicans serve The Beast. From the dawn of mankind they are the regressive element that's been holding back and destroying our civilization. They nourish other-dimensional entities that feed on misery, pain, and chaos. Republicans are their minions, and hope to share in these entities' power, or be spared the pain. But The Beast never shares; The Beast never spares.

It's sort of an occult, almost religious thing, but seems to fit. That's how I see the GOP leaders, who expect to survive while hurting others. Look at that hateful Darth Cheney still going strong on someone else's heart...



Edit: quote belongs to NBachers...

[NBachers]

45. Yeah, that was mine. I remember the night I put it together.

It seemed a bit long, so I figured no one would take the time to plow through it. So I shortened it to the one I have now.

It's a compliment that you kept it. Maybe I should reconsider, and re-adopt it.

[freshwest]

49. I thought it was a powerful description. Next time I add it, I'll be sure to attribute it to you!

And I'll go back and edit...

I also like your:

Daddy, what were "Republicans?"

That's a good thought, there.

[iemitsu]

16. What an excellent quote.

My students have been studying the Great Depression. They will love this. It clearly demonstrates how wed to the past republican ideology was and continues to be.

[iemitsu]

22. The quote is great but Lovecraft was not an advocate economic, political, or social equality.

The quote alone makes it sound as if Lovecraft supported the New Deal and its legislative goals when he clearly did not or did so only marginally. He was critical of entrenched wealth and power but did not believe in political or social equality for the masses. He self-identified politically as a Fascist, and felt that government should be run by a cultural elite, whose primary responsibility would be to maintain and develop the culture. He did advocate for shortened work schedules for people and believed that this would promote the intellectualism of the nation as a whole but he feared that many would spend their leisure time wastefully and passively being entertained rather than using that time to improve man's individual and social conscientiousness.
Lovecraft felt that materialism was problematic for society and probably was attacking the republican attitudes of the time but he was not a supporter of Roosevelt's plans either.
I will have to do some more reading to decide what Lovecraft was actually saying when he uttered these words.

[caseymoz]

27. The guy was clearly an Asperger's savant.

He was writing sophisticated poetry when he was three, and only 5,000 of the 50 million words he wrote were dialog. I look at those facts, I don't expect him to have anything but the most tenuous grasp of social issues.

[judy]

19. Great quote, thank you Hobbit!

I will be even more proud to wear my Miskatonic University sweatshirt!

[caseymoz]

26. I didn't think it could be Lovecraft

I didn't know he wrote on political matters. Then in the middle I saw the phrase "cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness."

And I thought, "Yeah, it's Lovecraft all right."

[patrice]

29. As you may know he was very interested in madness. nt

[patrice]

28. There's a Lovecraft bio-documentary available in Netflix, fyi, all. nt

[Buzz Clik]

30. Interesting how the Republicans have not changed much in 77 years.

[colsohlibgal]

32. Dead On HP

The amazing fact is that all this time later there are still millions of middle and lower class people here who vote for these crazy plutocrats, thereby screwing themselves.

I'll also say this - most of Lovecraft's books made Stephen King's books look pretty tame by comparison, pretty spooky and scary stuff. He was right on about righties though.

[raouldukelives]

63. Or even worse, work and invest with them, assisting them in conquering us all. nt

[Dawson Leery]

34. Nothing has changed.

[MissMarple]

40. Which is why we keep fighting the good fight.

It's like a never ending story. The greedy, the power hungry, the mean spirited, and the just plain evil people will always be with us. And they cloak themselves quite well from full public view. So far decency, for the most part, has prevailed.

[gateley]

35. Wow!

[vrp]

41. Mouthful....

but really good!

[derby378]

43. I knew I liked this guy

Pity we won't see a major studio release At the Mountains of Madness anytime soon - Benecio del Toro really wanted to direct this, but the producer insisted that the script be widened to accommodate a love story. Bleah.

[reformist2]

54. Regardless of his political views, that 80 year old quote is scarily applicable to today's GOP.

He called the GOP out for what they were (and are) - an alliance of the idle rich and the ignorant, in opposition to changing anything.

[Bucky]

58. "huddle of tradesmen" -- Tradesmen? Republicans?

The only tradesmen voting Republican are the ones working against their own self interest.

[dimbear]

60. Great writer, flop as a human being. Not the first chap to fall in the category,

it's a long list.

[1-Old-Man]

65. What an incredibly long single sentence