Tea at Trianon: I'm Sorry, Mr. President

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

Friday, May 29, 2020

I'm Sorry, Mr. President

From My New Norm:

So, Mr. President, I'm embarrassed and sorry to say that I did not use my intuition to develop my opinion of you. I have bad mouthed you for 4 years. I joined the groups of people that critiqued every tweet misspelling and passionate speech you made. I watched CNN and MSNBC in disgust at times. I was convinced Russia helped you get elected and that you only became president to advance your bank account and that of your wealthy friends. That is until a day in March. I happened to catch you talking about a drug.

This drug did not present itself as darkness, but as a light in my inner “vision”. Then I saw the look on Dr. Fauci's face after you brought it up. He presented as darkness to me. Why would a famous doctor want to prevent a life-saving treatment for Covid19 patients? In that moment I knew I had been wrong about you all along. You were trying to give frightened Americans hope. You knew the truth. (Read more.)