This Is The Era Of Graphics And Videos

     When Lysander Spooner wrote this:

     The government does not, indeed, waylay a man in a lonely place, spring upon him from the road side, and, holding a pistol to his head, proceed to rifle his pockets. But the robbery is none the less a robbery on that account; and it is far more dastardly and shameful.
     The highwayman takes solely upon himself the responsibility, danger, and crime of his own act. He does not pretend that he has any rightful claim to your money, or that he intends to use it for your own benefit. He does not pretend to be anything but a robber. He has not acquired impudence enough to profess to be merely a “protector,” and that he takes men’s money against their will, merely to enable him to “protect” those infatuated travellers, who feel perfectly able to protect themselves, or do not appreciate his peculiar system of protection. He is too sensible a man to make such professions as these. Furthermore, having taken your money, he leaves you, as you wish him to do. He does not persist in following you on the road, against your will; assuming to be your rightful “sovereign,” on account of the “protection” he affords you. He does not keep “protecting” you, by commanding you to bow down and serve him; by requiring you to do this, and forbidding you to do that; by robbing you of more money as often as he finds it for his interest or pleasure to do so; and by branding you as a rebel, a traitor, and an enemy to your country, and shooting you down without mercy, if you dispute his authority, or resist his demands. He is too much of a gentleman to be guilty of such impostures, and insults, and villanies as these. In short, he does not, in addition to robbing you, attempt to make you either his dupe or his slave.

     …he did not have the Internet, the PNG graphical format, or Adobe Photoshop at his command:

     Ahh, progress!

2 comments

1 ping

    • SteveF on November 11, 2023 at 4:55 PM

    I write essays on political and social topics running into the thousands of words. I create images with text.* I post the essays in a few places and give links to them in quite a few places. I usually post my images only on Gab.
    Guess which get more views and more feedback?
    And the essays take at least an order of magnitude more time and sweat to create. Probably closer to two orders.
    On the other hand, the essays have inspired others, including this site’s Curmudgeon in Chief, in their own essays, so that’s something.
    * I refuse to call them “memes”. The word “meme” was attached to a concept which is now difficult to express in English.

  1. I feel the same, but each of us chooses his preferred mode of expression because it’s best suited to his strengths. That’s why I took up the writing of fiction. Not everyone’s particular strength will be in tune with the Zeitgeist. There’s nothing to be done about it.

  1. […] taxation… Francis quotes Spooner here and the point is made and driven home with a hiclory ax […]

Comments have been disabled.