Tea at Trianon: Bill Cosby and the American Family

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

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Bill Cosby and the American Family

From Aleteia:

News media reported recently that Bill Cosby will star in a new family drama on NBC, the network that aired the iconic sitcom. The question today is whether Cosby’s family model is still relevant. Can Cosby capture and hold viewers’ attention and affections through a family drama today without sacrificing what are increasingly perceived as outdated family values?

For Bill Cosby’s new show to be relevant, it must confront rather than simply poke fun at the ugly reality besetting the “modern” family. A strong cast and strong stories create compelling drama. The characters must brave moral dilemmas, take principled stances and willingly suffer consequences. And the viewers will participate vicariously. Whether they succeed or fail, the characters must act with grace and class, love and forgiveness, character and resolve. And good humor or no one will watch. (Read more.)