>>10492062

>Oldie, but a goodie

Except Voltaire never said that.

The statement "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize" is often falsely attributed to Voltaire, the French Enlightenment philosopher. However, the phrase is believed to originate from an essay by Kevin Strom first published in 1993: "All America Must Know the Terror that is Upon Us". He wrote: "To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?".

>>10492471

>>10492529

The quote is unanimously attributed to the French polymath Voltaire — who, in fairness, was an aphorism-spouting machine. The problem: there’s no record of Voltaire ever having said it. A Google search of the quote turns up absolutely nothing before 2012. (Smarter minds note the misattribution.) Twitter seems to have discovered it in May of that year.

The closest source to have been located is a 1993 text by white supremacist Kevin Alfred Strom entitled All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon Us. Strom was a co-founder of the West Virginia-based white supremacist organization National Vanguard; he later pled guilty to charges of possession of child pornography and served two years in prison.

Here’s the likely culprit from Strom’s book: See image.

Sauce: https://www.mediaite.com/online/to-learn-who-rules-over-you-viral-voltaire-quote-probably-originated-with-white-supremacist/

(one of countless)