Umberto Eco was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political/social commentator, perhaps best known for two of his novels, “The Name of the Rose” and “Foucault’s Pendulum.”

In 2015, he warned of the dangers inherent in the rapid evolution and the potential misuse of the internet.

And in one sentence, he managed both to predict and explain the enigma of a man who one day would be pacing in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House in the wee hours of the morning, spewing his verbal venom across that very same internet for the entire world to see:

“Nothing gives a fearful man more courage than another’s fear.”

Nailed it!

Just sayin’ . . .

Bendochka
2/13/26