Tea at Trianon: ‘We Are Turning Children into People Who Act Robotically’

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

Monday, June 12, 2023

‘We Are Turning Children into People Who Act Robotically’

From El Pais:

I think with our busy work lives, we attach a lot of importance to children’s achievements and performance, but we often forget what it’s like to be a child. Sometimes, we are so far removed from a child’s experience, which can be just letting your mind go blank or walking around and looking at what you see. What does give us hope is that we have a great opportunity because children are wonderful to talk to. They have a natural playfulness and sense of wonder, and they see the world from a very different perspective. We have forgotten that because we have learned so much about the world. For example, children often wonder: why don’t we get younger and younger, or what would happen if we lived on Mars? We often forget to ask these important questions, and by spending more time with children and talking to them more, we not only help them, but we also reawaken our capacity for wonder. (Read more.)