Tea at Trianon: Trolls on the Internet

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, January 21, 2015

Trolls on the Internet

I am so sick and tired on trolls on the internet. I complained to The American Spectator about some unpleasantness which I thought tarnished the quality of the discussion.

To the Editor, Sir:

I am really surprised that a clever and witty magazine such as The American Spectator, which I have enjoyed for many years, would permit such filth in the comboxes by an anonymous person called "Merkava." The links are below:

https://disqus.com/…/thea…/je_suis_charlie_et_je_suis_juif/…

https://disqus.com/…/theamericanspe…/maximilian_schell_rip/…

Comments from trolls like "Merkava" destroy all pretense of lively debate and any kind of intelligent exchange of ideas. I am also disappointed to see the verbal attacks aimed at R.J. Stove, a distinguished scholar whose books and articles I admire. I do not understand why the editors of The Spectator would permit trolls to sully the conversation by humiliating the readers, because I thought it was a sophisticated journal of culture and politics, not a college fraternity. Until persons like "Merkava" are banned from the combox, I will steer clear of The Spectator. Freedom of speech should not mean a license to be rude and crude.

With regrets,