The Princess of Wales may rise above the drivel that engulfed her illness, but the ignorance that pervades social media is likely incurable

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Henry L. Mencken was a well-known journalistic grump of wide influence whose low opinion of the general public was equalled only by his contempt for the politicians they chose to lead them.

He invented the term “booboisie” a century ago to describe a populace he considered hopelessly ignorant and endlessly foolish. Some day, he prophesied from his perch in Baltimore, “the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

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Perhaps his most cited (and misquoted) observation stated that: “No one in this world … has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”

Mencken died long before the advent of social media but he’d almost certainly have viewed it as vindication of everything he ever said or wrote. That he’d have good reason to do so has been demonstrated by the monumental level of ignorance put on public display over the health of the Princess of Wales.

Kate, we were assured by a legion of ill-informed online windbags, temporarily dropped from public view because she’d undergone a hysterectomy. No, no, insisted rival dimwits, she was suffering from diverticulitis. Wrong again, it was bulimia, the same disorder........

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