Tea at Trianon: “The Big Lie"

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

Saturday, January 30, 2021

“The Big Lie"

From The National Pulse:

Bloomberg explained the analogy in September: “Adolf Hitler and Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, espoused a technique known as the ‘Big Lie,’ which involved repeating a colossal falsehood until the public came to believe it was true.”

Historians Timothy Snyder, Fiona Hill, and Ruth Ben-Ghiat have affirmed this usage of the term. Snyder whimsically explained to NPR how a “big lie” works: “The big lie fills in this space which used to be taken up by a lot of little truths, by hundreds and thousands and millions of little truths,” Snyder said. “We’ve let that slip away. And then the big lie comes in and fills in the gap.”

But that’s not what “Big Lie” means, nor where it came from. (Read more.)

Also from The National Pulse:

As former President Trump faces the second sham impeachment effort of Speaker Nancy Pelosi in just over a year, opportunity arises, both for him and for the America First movement. Within this shameful political charade, the overreaching Democrats included accusations that allow for Team Trump to make a robust case before the nation about the material problems that mar the November 3rd presidential vote, in a forum of unparalleled prominence and reach.

If Trump dives headlong into this challenge with courage, imagination, and the charisma that only he can command, then he will transcend the absurdity of this tribunal, crystallize his own political viability, and propel the populist nationalist cause forward into 2022 and beyond. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: However one wishes to define the 'Big Lie', it has been visited upon our Country in a Big Way. President Trump came into office because the millions who voted for him were tired of it. Those of us who rejected it during the election of Joseph Biden are now under scrutiny and are considered criminals if we constitutionally voice our objections.; January 30, 2021 at 2:39:00 PM EST