Lex Anteinternet: Confidence in majorities and minorities.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Confidence in majorities and minorities.

I have no distrust of a majority on principle. But I have a distrust of all those who have confidence in majorities. Just as I have a distrust of all those who have confidence in a minority, because it is a minority. It has nothing at all to do with the value of an idea, whether at a given historic moment it finds acceptance with a majority or with a minority which believes itself to be an elite.

Jeg har ikke noen prinsipiell mistillit til flertall. Men jeg har mistillit til alle som har tillit til flertall. Akkurat som jeg har mistillit til alle som har tillit til et mindretall, fordi det er et mindretall. Det har simpelthen og ingenting med ideenes verdi å gjøre, om de på et bestemt historisk tidspunkt får tilslutning av et flertall eller om de får tilslutning av et fåtall som tror seg selv at de er en elite.

Sigrid Undset

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Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

We hope you'll feel moved to comment as well. While we moderate every comment, so as to weed out Spam, we greatly appreciate the comments where they are offered, and hope to see more.

Thank you for stopping in!