Tea at Trianon: Measles Outbreak

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, June 5, 2019

Measles Outbreak

From the New York Post:

This year’s U.S. measles epidemic has now surpassed a 25-year-old record, and experts say it’s not clear when the wave of illnesses will stop. U.S. health officials on Thursday reported 971 cases so far this year. That eclipses the 963 measles illnesses reported for all of 1994. It’s been 27 years since the nation saw this many measles cases — 2,237 cases were reported in 1992. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated the numbers Thursday. Measles was once common in the U.S. but gradually became rare after vaccination campaigns were started in the 1960s. (Read more.)

The North Coast said...: We can thank the anti-vaccine hysteria that seems to be running rampant now, and is embraced by people of every political persuasion and socio-economic bracket.

I attribute this to the dumbing down of our population, which seems to be growing more irrational, fantasy-prone, and credulous daily. Worse, people seem more willing to believe any crank theory that issues from the mouth of some entertainment celebrity than they are the scientists and medical practitioners who together have thousands of years of schooling, research, and practice. They find the rantings of an ex-Playboy Bunny and a disgraced doctor who was convicted of fraud, more credible than the findings of the CDC and the WHO.

You'd better believe that I've gotten a whole lot more conscientious about making sure my own vaccinations, and I'd do the same if I were you, because we can no longer depend on "herd immunity".; June 7, 2019 at 1:25:00 PM EDT