"Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large defect
in your race -- the individual's distrust of his neighbor, and his desire, for
safety's or comfort's sake, to stand well in his neighbor's eye. These
institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and always oppress you,
affront you, and degrade you, because you will always be and remain slaves of
minorities. There was never a country where the majority of people were in
their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions."
-- Mark Twain, _The Mysterious Stranger_

>an interesting definition of droll

you pays your money and you takes your choice:

1. Intentionally facetious, amusing, comical, funny.
2. Unintentionally amusing; queer, quaint, odd, strange, ‘funny’.

Dear tsuwm: I don't see anything droll in that quote. It seems to be an unpleasant fact of life that the elite are always in the minority, and use religion and other institutions out of fear, to control the mob which is the majority.

dear bill, you're right. the only thing funny is that Mark Twain said it.

Dear tsuwm: But the fact that a humorist said it need not mean he believed it. Perhaps Twain was putting the words into a character's mouth. I can't remember reading that book.

dear bill, you're right. the only thing funny is that Mark Twain said it.

Another example of Mark Twain drollness: "I bear him no malice. In fact, I'd send him a fan if I could."

Used as an example in an exercise to demonstrate the power of the unsaid word.

Dear Drow: I'm not sure I get it, unless the proposed recipient of the fan is in Purgatory. But in that case, I don't see how malice would be possible.

[cross-thread potentials noted]

A War Prayer by Mark Twain
http://www.rense.com/general13/warprayer.htm

Dear wwh, MT bears him no malice yet he wishes he was in hell (meaning he does). In the same way tsuwm said Anu's quotes lack drollness meaning they don't. Irony?