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Neo-Nazi, not Voltaire, originated quote about 'who rules over you'

If Your Fourth dimension is short

  • In an attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci, U.Southward. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted a ane-liner that he wrongly claimed was a quote from Voltaire, an influential Enlightenment-era philosopher.

  • The quote was not Voltaire'south. Information technology's been traced to Kevin Alfred Strom, a white supremacist and neo-Nazi who said something similar during an anti-Semitic radio broadcast in 1993.

  • The quote has been commonly misattributed to Voltaire in recent years.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., attempted to take a swipe at Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White Firm's chief medical adviser, with a quote appearing to come up from a deep thinker.

"To learn who rules over you, only discover out who you are not allowed to criticize," said the quote, which was credited to Voltaire, the French writer and philosopher, in the image Massie shared.

"You mustn't question Fauci, for he is science," Massie wrote above the quote.

The same quote and citation are besides circulating on Facebook. Only Voltaire didn't say this.

The original speaker is Kevin Alfred Strom, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier who founded the neo-Nazi grouping National Vanguard in 2005, co-ordinate to the Southern Poverty Law Center. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 23 months in prison.

The posts were flagged as office of Facebook'due south efforts to combat imitation news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more virtually our partnership with Facebook.)

The quote does non appear in Voltaire's writings or correspondence, but information technology is widely passed off equally something he said. An Australian politician misattributed the line to the Enlightenment-era thinker in 2015. Actor John Cusack made the same fault four years later.

Strom's original quote was worded slightly differently. He was specifically talking about Jewish people when he said it during a 1993 broadcast on an alt-right radio program.

"To decide the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am non permitted to criticize?" Strom said.

Etymologist Barry Popik noticed the misattribution to Voltaire happening in 2012 and traced the quote back to Strom. Strom lamented in a 2009 weblog post that what he said was commonly misquoted. Strom claimed credit for the quote in 2017, noting that the 1-liner was "about always attributed" to Voltaire but was actually his.

Strom said he found information technology "kind of flattering" for his thoughts to be attached to Voltaire'due south name.

Massie's tweet was shared thousands of times, including by Pull a fast one on News contributor Sara A. Carter. The mail was panned by many others, who pointed out the quote'southward origin.

"This quote is from neo-Nazi, Holocaust-denier, and convicted pedophile Kevin Alfred Strom, non Voltaire," tweeted the American Jewish Committee, a Jewish advocacy grouping. "We expect better of our representatives in Congress."

The University of Western Commonwealth of australia's Paul Gibbard, a leading expert on Voltaire, told the Guardian in 2015 that the quote from Strom was "not un-Voltarian" in its "spirit" because it captured his resistance to authority. Only Gibbard added: "In that location are lots of quotations that are attributed to Voltaire that aren't actually past him, and that's one of them."

The University of Oxford'due south Voltaire Foundation has said the aforementioned. Still, the misattributed quote has required debunking past various fact-checkers, over again and once more.

Massie'south office did not respond to a request for comment.

Nosotros rate his tweet Imitation.

Thomas Massie on Twitter (archived), Jan. 30, 2022

Facebook post, Jan. 24, 2022

Southern Poverty Constabulary Center, "Kevin Strom," accessed Jan. 31, 2022

Online Library of Liberty, "The Works of Voltaire. A Contemporary Version, in 21 vols.," accessed January. 31, 2022

Academy of Southern California Libraries, accessed Jan. 31, 2022

American Jewish Committee on Twitter, January. 31, 2022

USA Today, "Fact check: Quote falsely attributed to French writer and philosopher Voltaire," May 30, 2021

AFP Fact Bank check, "Quote about censorship falsely attributed to Voltaire," May 28, 2021

Check Your Fact, "Fact Bank check: Did Voltaire Say, 'To Learn Who Rules Over You, Simply Notice Out Who You Are Not Immune to Criticize," October. two, 2019

The Associated Press, "John Cusack apologizes for anti-Semitic tweet," Jan. 18, 2019

Oxford Academy Press' Academic Insights for the Thinking World, "Voltaire and the one-liner," March 10, 2017

National Vanguard, "Voltaire Didn't Say Information technology," Jan. 19, 2017

BuzzFeed News, "This Senator Accidentally Quoted A Child-Porn Possessing Neo-Nazi," Nov. 27, 2015

The Guardian, "Cory Bernardi mistakenly 'quotes' Voltaire on Twitter with neo-Nazi's line," Nov. 27, 2015

Barry Popik, "Entry from August 16, 2012," Aug. 16, 2012

Kevin Alfred Strom, "I'k Frequently Misquoted," Jan. 22, 2009

National Vanguard, "All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon Us," Aug. xiv, 1993

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