Tea at Trianon: Why Christians are Jerks Online

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, July 7, 2010

Why Christians are Jerks Online

Why does all charity, discretion, prudence, meekness and temperance disappear when devout people get behind a keyboard? Share

4 comments:

Julygirl said...: People in general are jerks online, Face Book being the central dispersing point for jerkiness.; July 7, 2010 at 9:55:00 AM EDT
Colleen Hammond said...: Wouldn't more of us be polite if we were face-to-face? Sadly, I've found face-to-face manners to be in short supply as well. It's a general de-Christianization of society that is to blame. When prayer came out of the schools in the early 60s, society started its downward slide. Now, with the internet, anonymous and snarky comments are the rule. I understand "privacy" concerns, but maybe more people would think twice about slicing and dicing comments if their real name and photograph were included with each and every comment.; July 7, 2010 at 12:05:00 PM EDT
Christina said...: Sometimes sibling rivalries are the worst. Between kooky far-left "Spirit of Vatican II" Catholics and "more Catholic than the Pope" radical traditionalists, Catholic blogs and forums can be a very uncomfortable place to be. I had to stop participating on some Catholic forums because they were just so unpleasant.; July 9, 2010 at 12:55:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, there are few Catholic sites that I feel safe commenting on.; July 9, 2010 at 1:07:00 PM EDT