Tea at Trianon: Beyond Spoiled

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

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Beyond Spoiled

From Return to Order:

Hyper-pampered children do not appear out of anywhere. They are a product of clueless, hyper-pampering parents, who confuse affection with preventing all suffering. Many parents were products of broken homes and pamper their children so that they will not suffer as they did.

Teachers are shocked when they see parents carrying their children’s backpacks to the school door. Other parents will do their children’s homework to save them from the effort and the possibility of failure. This upbringing results from a pedagogy that favors fantasy and emotion over the role of logic and the formation of the will. These mistaken ideas have become embedded in education and culture.
The book, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, explains Generation Z and how its children are on the road to disaster. Authors Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff claim that present generations have learned three “Great Untruths” from parents, teachers and society. These untruths are “you are fragile,” “trust your feelings,” and “life is a battle between good and bad people.” To summarize the three, bad people make others feel unsafe and fragile. The result is what Haidt and Lukianoff denounce as the “fetishization of safety” and the suppression of all suffering, even discomfort. (Read more.)

julygirl said...: Thanks for this article. This is a problem that really needs to be addressed. My generation was reared by 'The Greatest Generation' who in the 20th Century experienced and survived health issues that had no medical remedy, The Dust Bowl, WWI, The Great Depression, WWII, other devastating military engagements, adapting to new age technology, and a series of bad Presidents. They taught and trained us to be strong and effective when problems arose in our lives. My generation however did not want our children to suffer in any way and they are now the generation who are raising the current crop of pampered, self centered, entitled, narcissists.; March 16, 2021 at 12:34:00 PM EDT