"Any stigma, as the old saying is, will serve to beat a dogma"
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Guedalla’s line is a wicked little inversion: take the familiar proverb about beating a dog with any stick, swap in “stigma” and “dogma,” and you get a miniature theory of how public opinion disciplines belief. The wit isn’t decorative; it’s the mechanism. By making the words nearly rhyme, he implies the process is nearly automatic. Once a stigma exists, it’s not merely evidence against an idea, it becomes a cudgel - portable, reusable, and conveniently crude.
The intent is less to defend dogma than to expose the lazy sociology of debate. “Stigma” suggests shame, contagion, the social penalty that travels faster than argument. “Dogma” suggests fixed doctrine, the kind of belief that often deserves challenge. Guedalla’s twist is to show how easily legitimate critique gets replaced by reputational warfare. You don’t have to refute a doctrine if you can make it embarrassing to hold.
As a historian writing in the early 20th century, Guedalla had front-row seats to ideological stampedes: nationalism hardening into orthodoxy, class and race theories gaining “common sense” status, dissenters being branded before they were answered. The subtext is warning and diagnosis at once: modern publics love a shortcut, and stigma is the shortcut. It polices the boundaries of acceptable thought while letting everyone feel like they’ve made a reasoned choice.
The line also carries a quiet self-awareness about intellectual life. Even the people who pride themselves on skepticism reach for stigma when it’s useful. Guedalla is reminding you that arguments don’t just happen in the realm of ideas; they happen in the realm of status.
The intent is less to defend dogma than to expose the lazy sociology of debate. “Stigma” suggests shame, contagion, the social penalty that travels faster than argument. “Dogma” suggests fixed doctrine, the kind of belief that often deserves challenge. Guedalla’s twist is to show how easily legitimate critique gets replaced by reputational warfare. You don’t have to refute a doctrine if you can make it embarrassing to hold.
As a historian writing in the early 20th century, Guedalla had front-row seats to ideological stampedes: nationalism hardening into orthodoxy, class and race theories gaining “common sense” status, dissenters being branded before they were answered. The subtext is warning and diagnosis at once: modern publics love a shortcut, and stigma is the shortcut. It polices the boundaries of acceptable thought while letting everyone feel like they’ve made a reasoned choice.
The line also carries a quiet self-awareness about intellectual life. Even the people who pride themselves on skepticism reach for stigma when it’s useful. Guedalla is reminding you that arguments don’t just happen in the realm of ideas; they happen in the realm of status.
Quote Details
| Topic | Wisdom |
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