Tea at Trianon: Cultural Sensitivity

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, October 31, 2018

Cultural Sensitivity

From Matt Walsh:

USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers stated the liberal position with appropriate levels of self-righteousness: "Dear white people who are upset that you can't dress up as another race or culture for Halloween: your feelings don't matter. The only feelings that matter are of those who feel disrespected/mocked by you appropriating their culture for entertainment. Show some common decency."

No intelligent statement has ever begun with "Dear white people," and this was no exception. She says that only the feelings of the Offended Party matter. If a person feels that their culture is being "appropriated," then it is. This seems to be the consensus view among liberals. In an editorial published by the Cincinnati Enquirer, a white woman confessed to dressing her daughter as Pocahontas a few years ago. She says that she didn't intend to be racist, but she was racist. This is all quite mad for many reasons, but I'd like to highlight just one:

St. Patrick's Day.

My ancestors are Irish. On St. Patrick's Day, a whole lot of non-Irish people dress like Leprechauns and chug beer. If I were to adopt the language of the Left, I might say that my Irish heritage is appropriated, mocked, and reduced to crude stereotypes. But I will not say that. And I don't think that any of the real Irish people in Ireland say that, either. I think they just laugh at us and roll their eyes. As for me, I go to a bar and join the festivities. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: Based on that mentality, school children for a hundred years have been taught racism by dressing up as Indians when they commemorate the first Thanksgiving....but it is acceptable for men to put on exaggerated make-up and prance around pretending they are women. Seems these left wing liberals make up their own values and those are the values the rest of us are expected to live by without question.; October 31, 2018 at 12:34:00 PM EDT