Science Quote by George Richards Minot

A scientist writing like a wary civic anatomist, Minot is dissecting how procedural breakdowns get repackaged as political messaging. The phrase "stopping of the Judicial courts" lands with a thud: it evokes not just inconvenience but a shutdown of the system meant to arbitrate disputes without violence. Yet Minot’s real target is the psychological sleight of hand that follows. He notes that this stoppage "had been blended, in the minds of some people" with "redress of grievances" - as if paralyzing the judiciary were simply another tool in the legitimate toolkit of democratic pressure.

The subtext is an indictment of motive laundering. By treating court stoppages as "considered only as a mode of awakening the attention of the legislature", actors can reframe coercion as communication. The word "only" is doing heavy work: it minimizes harm and sanitizes escalation. It’s not that grievances aren’t real; it’s that the method becomes a performance designed to force the legislature’s gaze, not a genuine pursuit of justice through institutions.

Contextually, the line reads like a warning from someone attuned to systems: once courts are treated as optional, politics turns into a contest over who can jam the gears hardest. Minot’s cool, passive construction mirrors the phenomenon he’s describing - responsibility disperses into "some people", and a dangerous norm slips in quietly. The sentence captures a familiar cultural pattern: when institutions obstruct or feel unresponsive, impatience recruits righteousness, and disruption starts calling itself reform.