Comments on: The Reign of Terror, Reconsidered http://informedspeculation.com/2006/04/16/the-reign-of-terror-reconsidered/ Refunds Cheerfully Given To All Who Disagree Sat, 07 Apr 2012 09:00:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: dmac http://informedspeculation.com/2006/04/16/the-reign-of-terror-reconsidered/comment-page-1/#comment-16114 dmac Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:30:42 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/04/16/the-reign-of-terror-reconsidered/#comment-16114 All too true, and one could make the case that since the French never really settled their Revolution (Bony's appearance and brief resurrection being the counterweight), their country will always be in the throes of an identity crisis. All too true, and one could make the case that since the French never really settled their Revolution (Bony’s appearance and brief resurrection being the counterweight), their country will always be in the throes of an identity crisis.

]]> By: megapotamus http://informedspeculation.com/2006/04/16/the-reign-of-terror-reconsidered/comment-page-1/#comment-16107 megapotamus Mon, 17 Apr 2006 15:41:57 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/04/16/the-reign-of-terror-reconsidered/#comment-16107 There are a couple good examinations of what you mention dennis. A goog of "disinhibition internet" will bring up some scholarly treatments worth a glance. Personally it's not too alarming to me cuz it is not some new phenomenon as some seem to think. Read up on some of the electoral history of the early Republic; the age of Harrison/Tyler saw off Martin van Ruin in dire terms rhetorically. Lincoln was by far the most hated President in American history by these rhetorical standards, before he became an Immortal Saint. Not that Bush is Lincoln.... not that he ain't! On the French, there seems to have been much Bonaparte bashing, or revisionism we might say in the historical field in the last few decades. In many ways Boney was as the English painted him; a dictator, a tyrant and a cruel master to the French and the conquered peoples of Europe but in the context of the lately blood-filled gutters and the sorry state to say the least of the governments toppled it is no easy judgement that Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were empty boasts. We still live with the consequences of the Bastille; political and even moreso, philosophical. Sarkozy and Chirac are yet guided rhetorically by the echoes of those years. Was it Lenin who declared a hundred years ago that the results of the Frecnh Revolution were not yet clear? Maybe it was Mao. Yes, I think so. There are a couple good examinations of what you mention dennis. A goog of “disinhibition internet” will bring up some scholarly treatments worth a glance. Personally it’s not too alarming to me cuz it is not some new phenomenon as some seem to think. Read up on some of the electoral history of the early Republic; the age of Harrison/Tyler saw off Martin van Ruin in dire terms rhetorically. Lincoln was by far the most hated President in American history by these rhetorical standards, before he became an Immortal Saint. Not that Bush is Lincoln…. not that he ain’t!

On the French, there seems to have been much Bonaparte bashing, or revisionism we might say in the historical field in the last few decades. In many ways Boney was as the English painted him; a dictator, a tyrant and a cruel master to the French and the conquered peoples of Europe but in the context of the lately blood-filled gutters and the sorry state to say the least of the governments toppled it is no easy judgement that Liberty, Equality and Fraternity were empty boasts. We still live with the consequences of the Bastille; political and even moreso, philosophical. Sarkozy and Chirac are yet guided rhetorically by the echoes of those years. Was it Lenin who declared a hundred years ago that the results of the Frecnh Revolution were not yet clear? Maybe it was Mao. Yes, I think so.

]]> By: Dennis http://informedspeculation.com/2006/04/16/the-reign-of-terror-reconsidered/comment-page-1/#comment-16092 Dennis Mon, 17 Apr 2006 05:42:26 +0000 http://decision08.net/2006/04/16/the-reign-of-terror-reconsidered/#comment-16092 I remember back in college one of my poli sci professors use to argue that the American Revolution was a misnomer, because an uprising only counted as a revolution in her book if you had a complete upending of the social order. Based on that definition, she was right; the founders were the existing colonial leaders, after all. But what bothered me was she clearly had that sort of semi-Marxist, romantic view of revolutions, in which class and money are everything, the old regime must be wiped out completely, etc. I guess when you're living in your tenured position in the ivory tower, you can't quite see the gutters running with blood, which seems to be the usual result of such revolutions. I do get unnerved by the vitriol I see spouted on the Internet. It starts with the childish taunts of Rethuglicans and Dumbocrats and it descends from there. I worry sometimes that the vicious echo chambers that are so easily created on the Internet will lead the more unbalanced folks to start taking the nasty talk to the next logical step. So far, that hasn't happened, possibly because people are always braver in their talk when they're anonymous and among fellow travelers. But I keep worrying a nasty day will come. I remember back in college one of my poli sci professors use to argue that the American Revolution was a misnomer, because an uprising only counted as a revolution in her book if you had a complete upending of the social order. Based on that definition, she was right; the founders were the existing colonial leaders, after all. But what bothered me was she clearly had that sort of semi-Marxist, romantic view of revolutions, in which class and money are everything, the old regime must be wiped out completely, etc. I guess when you’re living in your tenured position in the ivory tower, you can’t quite see the gutters running with blood, which seems to be the usual result of such revolutions.

I do get unnerved by the vitriol I see spouted on the Internet. It starts with the childish taunts of Rethuglicans and Dumbocrats and it descends from there. I worry sometimes that the vicious echo chambers that are so easily created on the Internet will lead the more unbalanced folks to start taking the nasty talk to the next logical step. So far, that hasn’t happened, possibly because people are always braver in their talk when they’re anonymous and among fellow travelers. But I keep worrying a nasty day will come.

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