Tea at Trianon: Calumny in the Blogosphere

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Calumny in the Blogosphere

Calumny is a serious offense before God. (Catholics seem to be better at it than everyone else.) (Via The Crescat)

Calumny is cheating. It does not play by the rules. It is unsportsmanlike in the extreme, even viciously so. It uses half truths, innuendo, misrepresentation, disregard for context and downright lies, all in the hope that some negative bit of mud, no matter how distorted or absurd, will stick to the person or organization under attack.

Anonymous said...: Definitely a "bookmark" article! Thanks for posting this, very informative!

Oh and thank you for the Halloween article too. I notice your comments are off on that post, so I'm just mentioning it here. You are absolutely right, and I too was never once tempted to dabble in witchcraft by observing the innocent fun. I have had some rounds with the Catholic "puritans" too over the topic. Amazing how calvinism has penetrated the Christian American psyche so completely, including Catholics.

Happy trick or treating with the little one!

~Gette; October 30, 2008 at 4:27:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Thanks, Gette. I think that so many people have had such terrible experiences in the culture of death, that they react by going to another extreme.; October 30, 2008 at 4:49:00 PM EDT
Hans Georg Lundahl said...: It seems to me, that priest would consider me guilty of calumny, because, blogging, I argue that psychiatrists are kidnappers, slave-hunters et c, et c, et c.

I am not sure if he has ever thought that maybe psychiatrists are continually guilty of calumny in giving wrong diagnoses along with crimes they consider "treatments".; October 31, 2008 at 10:22:00 AM EDT