ChristyK
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thread 1/7
This morning I feel very energetic and eager to spend the day reading history. My current topic is the French Revolution and one of the fascinating aspects to it is the question of how people went from advocating freedom of speech and liberty for all to executing so many people.
09:33 AM - Jul 10, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 2/7
One of the funny things reading history is how words change. In Canada there's still talk of the "freedom convoy" that took place over a year ago by people against Trudeau. They call him a traitor and dictator. The meanings of those words - freedom, traitor, dictator, etc - have changed.
09:36 AM - Jul 10, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 3/7
I remember a while ago when I was obsessed with 1820s - 1840s British history, and how sometimes I would feel uncomfortable because the language the radicals then were using is echoed now by those espousing political views I dislike. The meanings and references change over time.
09:39 AM - Jul 10, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 4/7
That is part of why I think it really important to study history. We need the reminders that the language, alliances and obsessions of our own time are very temporary. We need to be able to step outside the fishbowl, so to speak.
09:40 AM - Jul 10, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 5/7
Charlotte Corday assassinated French Revolutionary Marat. In a letter to her father she had written: "I have avenged many innocent victims, I have prevented many other disasters. The people, one day disillusioned, will rejoice in being delivered from a tyrant."
10:08 AM - Jul 10, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 6/7
Reading about Corday's confidence in her actions and her attempts at justifying Marat's death I think about Hamlet's hesitation. We might judge the fictional hesitating to kill the usurper to the throne, but how does it compare with Corday?
10:11 AM - Jul 10, 2023
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ChristyK
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thread 7/7
Or with what this lone protestor in a northern Ontario city was urging? (His shirt urges people to kill a Canadian politician.)
10:12 AM - Jul 10, 2023
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