‘This sort of opinion may be merely the bray of a jackass heard over a hedge as we pass along a country road, but there is no reason why we should tether jackasses alongside public thoroughfares. The jackass may think his braying melodious, and our present attitude of fulsome indulgence toward idiots may end in our coming to think so ourselves. The word “idiot” is derived from a Greek word which means “a private person”. I need not stress this point further. I have no wish to persecute people who do not like chamber music so long as they realise that their dislike of it indicates a lack of something in themselves. I have no desire to persecute or torment or jeer at or sneer at any human being who suffers from a mental or a physical deficiency; but when these abnormal creatures advertise their deficiencies, then persecution becomes a public service.’
– Compton Mackenzie, Gramophone magazine 1929.
