Tea at Trianon: Freedom of Expression

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, June 23, 2024

Freedom of Expression

Is not allowed on certain platforms. Many people have had it with FB. From Jan at The Easton Gazette:

Of course, many are censored for other reasons like political statements or ideology and that is bound to ramp up as we get closer to the Election in November. Many of us were victims of censorship in 2020 when Facebook decided that no one could discuss the origins of Covid, the dangers of the vaccine, or remedies like Ivermectin. I personally spent 90 days in Facebook "jail" for saying something that involved those topics.

And let's not even try to address the stupid fact checks that happen every time one posts a joke about a topic Facebook considers "sensitive" or your meme posts a quote from a politician that the fact checkers think you are misinterpreting.

You can ask for a review of your content, but you can't ever talk to an actual person or even state your case. Everything is done by some bizarre protocol that you really cannot fight.

Many of my friends and colleagues suggest it's time to get off this platform. In reality, it has become a site that younger people avoid at all costs. Maybe they know something we don't know.

Perhaps it really is time for many of us to leave this social media site that adds very little to our lives and sucks up too much of our time and attention. META spends most of the time of its employees (or AI) finding reasons to shut us down. Maybe its usefulness for posting cute cat, dog and children's photos is diminished. After all, Facebook might call it SPAM. (Read more.)