“Mechanical instruments, potentially a vehicle of rational human purposes, are scarcely a blessing when they enable the gossip of the village idiot and the deeds of the thug to be broadcast to a million people each day.”
Source: Technics and Civilization (1934), Chapter 6, § 9
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Lewis Mumford 75
American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology,… 1895–1990Related quotes

“In the old days, they put idiots in the village stocks. Now we put them on the Today programme.”
John Prescott, Evening Standard, Wednesday 7 August 2013, p. 16
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Source: Discourses (1967), Vol. I, Ch. 15 : The Life of the Spirit
Context: The value of material things depends upon the part they play in the life of the spirit. In themselves they are neither good nor bad. They become good or bad according to whether they help or hinder the manifestation of Divinity through matter. Take for example the place of the physical body in the life of the spirit. It is a mistake to set up an antithesis between “flesh” and “spirit.” Such contrast almost inevitably ends in an unqualified condemnation of the body. The body obstructs spiritual fulfillment only if it is pampered as having claims in its own right. Its proper function is rightly understood as ancillary to spiritual purposes. The rider needs a horse if he is to fight a battle, though the horse can become an impediment if it refuses to be completely submissive to his will. In the same way the spirit needs to be clothed in matter if it is to come into full possession of its own possibilities, although the body can at times become a hindrance if it refuses to be compliant with the requirements of the spirit. If the body yields to the claims of the spirit as it should, it is instrumental in bringing down the kingdom of heaven on earth. It becomes a vehicle for the release of divine life, and when it subserves this purpose it might aptly be called the temple of God on earth.

Source: The Electric Automobile (1900), p. 3; Cited in: Imes Chui (2006) The Evolution from Horse to Automobile: A Comparative International Study. p. 81
“A village somewhere was missing it's idiot.”
Source: Drop Dead Gorgeous

"Another reminder of irrationality" http://sl4.org/archive/0602/14276.html, February 2006

“Fame always finds the village idiot.”
Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

“The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.”
As quoted in The New Speaker's Treasury of Wit and Wisdom (1958) by Herbert Victor Prochnow, p. 190
As quoted in ...
Variant: The only time people dislike gossip is when you gossip about them.

Laszlo (1992) "Information Technology and Social Change: An Evolutionary Systems Analysis". Behavioral Science 37: pp.237-249; As cited in: K.L. Dennis (2003, p. 36).