Tea at Trianon: Unlearning Liberty

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

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Unlearning Liberty

Stephanie Mann reports on liberal arts and campus censorship.

One of the most ridiculous cases of a university administration going after student was at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis in 2008: because the student/worker was reading a book titled Notre Dame versus The Klan he was accused and found guilty of racial harassment based on another student/worker referring to the cover of the book! (It offended him because he thought it was a book supporting the KKK.) According to Mr. Lukianoff, the university said that the student, reading a book about "How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Klu Klux Klan" was guilty of racial harassment for "openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject." (Perhaps this university won't show Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln, because students would be openly watching a movie related to "a historically and racially abhorrent subject"!--slavery) The university finally backed down, apologized to the student, and cleared his record--but it took FIVE (5) months! (Read entire post.)

Stephanie A. Mann said...: Thanks for the link and post! This censorship is truly shocking and disappointing to me. When I was in undergrad and grad school studying English lit and history, I never experienced any such political correctness. In fact, a couple of my professors told me I had an almost unfair advantage over so many of the other students because I had a Catholic education and a Catholic worldview--especially in Art History and certain eras of literature. It's horrible to read of universities censoring speech!; November 29, 2012 at 9:21:00 AM EST
elena maria vidal said...: Yes, especially since universities are supposed to be a place for a broadening of the mind!; November 29, 2012 at 6:57:00 PM EST
May said...: Goodness, they didn't even want him reading a book about *fighting* the KKK? Well then, why not accuse the university itself of racial harassment for further dredging up this offensive topic by making a fuss over it?; November 29, 2012 at 8:34:00 PM EST