CHAT: Bastille day [was Re: Le Jour de la Prise de la Bastille]

From:    Tristan Mc Leay <kesuari@...>
> Mark J. Reed wrote:
> > Joyeaux jour férié!
> >
> >  -Jean-Marc (le nom utilisé pour Marcos en la classe de français)
>
> Bastille Day
>
> Very(??) joyous day.
I've always wondered whether the celebration of Bastille day
is a true reflection of the difference in political cultures
between France and the English speaking world, or simply ignorance
of the events it represents.  For me, Bastille Day represents the
death of the Moderate Enlightenment, because after that point
the drive for genuinely needed reforms of the revolution to abolish
absolutism and replace it with a moderate-to-progressive
constitutional regime were quickly brushed aside.  It symbolically
replaced the skepticism of human nature with the Rouseauian idealism,
in which violence used to murder of tens of thousands of people was
licit as long as the ultimate utopian ideals were being advanced...
I just don't get it.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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