Replies to post #433288 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

Climate change deniers remind me of this quote:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/30/salary/

It Is Difficult to Get a Man to Understand Something When His Salary Depends Upon His Not Understanding It

I take that to encompass, as Krugman alluded to, ideology, beliefs, investments and, especially, political contributions that necessitate denial of facts, evidence and science.

As H.L. Mencken once pointed out, it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his income depends on his not understanding it.

In 2001 Krugman employed a version of the saying again, and this time he credited Sinclair:[8]

Of course, I don’t expect politicians and lobbyists to understand such arguments; as Upton Sinclair said, it’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

In conclusion, Upton Sinclair should receive credit for the statement he spoke and wrote in 1934. Currently, the assertion that H. L. Mencken made a similar remark is unsupported. William Jennings Bryan wrote a thematically related comment in 1893.