Tea at Trianon: The Nassar Case

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, February 7, 2018

The Nassar Case

From the National Center on Sexual Exploitation:

In light of the sexual assault scandal involving former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) called on the entire USA Gymnastics board to resign and the remaining members resigned over the weekend. Such gross negligence of duty demanded a clean sweep of the leadership at USA Gymnastics, which was long overdue, and there is still work to be done.

The Nassar case is a textbook demonstration of the social conditions that discourage disclosure of sexual abuse. As researchers have reported, many victims hesitate to come forward due to fear of not being believed or being disregarded in favor of the perpetrators’ denial. They fear being met with victim-blaming, ostracization, and being forced to leave the team. Many others fail to report due to a lack of evidence. As is all too clear in this case, USA Gymnastics met reports with indifference and failed to act. (Read more.)