Tea at Trianon: How Facebook Can Ruin Friendships

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

Friday, September 11, 2009

How Facebook Can Ruin Friendships

Some people are bothered by hearing all the details. It is so easy to press the "hide" button or use the partial profile settings rather than shun someone completely over a trifle. Facebook should not become a way of hurting people but unfortunately it has. Discretion is called for, not pettiness. Share

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: I was appalled when a good friend of mine ridiculed one of her family members in a facebook update. Many of her friends joined in the cruelty. She is foolish to think that somehow it won't get back to this family member....it is an even smaller world now. Then I began to wonder what she has said about me to others over the years....; September 11, 2009 at 3:13:00 AM EDT
Elena LaVictoire said...: I agree. I know it has affected some of my relationships!; September 11, 2009 at 7:17:00 AM EDT
Elijahmaria said...: Oddly enough I actually appreciate some of the more revealing aspects of written communications. It allows one to know where they stand rather than continuing to be fooled by false smiles and masques.

M.; September 11, 2009 at 10:14:00 AM EDT
Julygirl said...: 'In your face' comments, rudeness, and judgementalism are masks in themselves that are contrived by people bent on 'masking' their own flaws. It has become prevalent in this society for people to think they have the right to impose their opinion when it has not been solicited.; September 14, 2009 at 7:03:00 AM EDT