Tea at Trianon: Pandemic Derangement Syndrome

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

Sunday, August 15, 2021

Pandemic Derangement Syndrome

From Beyond the Optics:

America- August 7, 2021. Half the country is vaccinated and half remain unvaccinated. This is good news, in a sense. It implies Americans fear different things. Half the country fears a Communist China-engineered virus. The other half fears mandated risk-management and totalitarianism. A population that shares the same fear for the same reason is not free, but imprisoned, and the absence of diversified fear is evidence of that. Additionally, what’s most feared is rarely the same thing as what’s most dangerous. When the strongest institutions are the arbiters of truth and fear, you are experiencing secondary-effect totalitarianism1.

Jordan Peterson explains totalitarianism arises when those with power attempt to eradicate all that is unknown and uncertain. Totalitarianism aims to create certainty to eliminate the potential for chaos. Totalitarianism creates order by way of limiting what is unknown (chaos). Limiting what is unknown creates the illusion of certainty and security. But in America, however, an attempt to eliminate the potential for chaos does not create order. Rather, it creates more chaos. America’s foundation is made up of differences. In America, an attempt to eliminate the potential for chaos will infringe on it’s citizens rights. In America, chaos is necessary for order. This is not a bug in the operating system. It’s by design. (Read more.)

From Gingrich 360:

In a scathing op-ed, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called out Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, President Joe Biden, local bureaucrats, and union leaders.

He accused Speaker Pelosi of implementing draconian policies to continue her “drunk with power rein over the Capitol.” He also warned President Biden that he will tack on an amendment to cut funding to every bill that comes through the Senate regarding federal agencies if the President shuts them down again.

Sen. Paul then offered some advice to you: Resist. He further said “They can’t arrest us all. They can’t keep all your kids home from school. They can’t keep every government building closed – although I’ve got a long list of ones they should.”

Sen. Paul is fed up with the poor treatment of our children, the lack of honest public health guidance, and the tyrannical rule by Democrats over our economy and society. He believes in standing up for freedom and our nation by defying lockdowns, mandates, and power grabs.

Maybe Sen. Paul is right. Maybe more of us need to start saying no. Read Sen. Paul’s entire op-ed at Fox News. (Read more.)