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

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

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

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

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., attempted to take a swipe at Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House'due south main medical adviser, with a quote appearing to come from a deep thinker.

"To larn who rules over yous, only observe out who you are not allowed to criticize," said the quote, which was credited to Voltaire, the French author and philosopher, in the paradigm Massie shared.

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

The same quote and citation are also circulating on Facebook. But 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, according 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 equally role of Facebook'southward efforts to combat fake news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more than nigh our partnership with Facebook.)

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

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

"To decide the truthful rulers of whatever society, all you lot must practise is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not 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 blog post that what he said was commonly misquoted. Strom claimed credit for the quote in 2017, noting that the one-liner was "about always attributed" to Voltaire only was actually his.

Strom said he establish it "kind of flattering" for his thoughts to exist attached to Voltaire's name.

Massie'due south tweet was shared thousands of times, including past Fox News contributor Sara A. Carter. The post was panned by many others, who pointed out the quote'due south 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 group. "We wait better of our representatives in Congress."

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

The University of Oxford's Voltaire Foundation has said the same. Still, the misattributed quote has required debunking by various fact-checkers, once again and once more.

Massie'due south role did non respond to a request for comment.

We rate his tweet Imitation.

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

Facebook postal service, 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 Jan. 31, 2022

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

American Jewish Committee on Twitter, Jan. 31, 2022

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

AFP Fact 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 Yous, Simply Notice Out Who Y'all Are Not Allowed to Criticize," October. 2, 2019

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

Oxford Academy Printing' Academic Insights for the Thinking World, "Voltaire and the 1-liner," March 10, 2017

National Vanguard, "Voltaire Didn't Say It," January. 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'yard Often Misquoted," January. 22, 2009

National Vanguard, "All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon U.s.," Aug. 14, 1993

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Source: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jan/31/thomas-massie/gop-rep-thomas-massie-wrongly-credits-neo-nazis-qu/