Posted on 08/31/2017 8:30:15 PM PDT by ctdonath2
I highly recommend y'all spend time with RevolutionsPodcast.com - so far an in-depth analysis of 7 different revolutions dominating Western history.
The segment on the American Revolution is of course a given, to better know where we come from and why our system & culture is as it is.
Of late, I've spend a couple dozen hours listening to the French Revolution, and there's some significant parts that rather rhyme with our current sociopolitical unrest.
- The Left/Right political nomenclature began with the French Revolution.
- Leftists originally sought broad reforms advocating "liberté, égalité, fraternité" - and then proceeded to implement them by executing anyone who slightly disagreed with Robespierre.
- Leftists went so far in their massive sociopolitical changes as seriously soaking the rich (however defined), confiscating property, redistributing wealth, destroying land ownership, stifling the church, and even redefining the calendar into a practically metric system.
(Sounding familiar? I'll leave most of the details to the narrator to address. Go listen.)
Then some interesting points emerge.
- ALL the perpetrators of the Revolution are, one way or another, destroyed by their own successes. This cycles several times, hanging (literally and figuratively) enthusiastic & powerful Leftists by their own rope.
- All of their attempts to bring good to the populace, in flagrant contradiction with basic economic laws, fail spectacularly.
- And in a moment that struck me hard during wrap-up episode http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/2015/09/353-the-consulate.html we see a massive real-world fulfillment of the longstanding observation that "if you confiscate everything and completely level the economic playing field for everyone, everyone will return to their previous economic strata" - about a decade after the revolutionaries began their violent & pervasive implementation of socialism, landholdings & wealth pretty much returned to what they were at the beginning.
(It's this last point that prompted me to write this.)
So, with that as a curt summary, let's remind the Left that their lofty goals of socialist Revolution were tried, as completely as could be expected in a country as similar to ours as could be, and resulted in practically zero "progress" upon the corpses of vast numbers of mundane citizens & hyperproductive leaders. Not just Venezuela, not just Russia, not just China - all of which are dismissed as too different from our case to matter - but France, and really not that different nor all that long ago from where we are now.
Thanks. bookmark.
How does one bookmark?
Usually by simply commenting on a post. Later you can review your “Pings” and find the comment, and go to the post. Using a consistent term (like “bookmark”) lets you search your Pings page easier.
It’s like making a post to yourself. Later, instead of going through the forum’s countless comments, you go straight to the menu at top and hit “pings.” “Now where was that podcast mention? Oh, there!”
On the subject of revolutions, why are many “black” movements, e.g., Black Lives Matter, led by white people? Is it just a bunch of ultra Radical whites looking for a handy stage?
Mike Duncan was amazing on his History of Rome podcast. I mean, it took him into a whole new career direction.
Now the French Revolution podcast was particularly intriguing: the attempted escape and then the execution of the royal family, Talleyrand, Lafayette, Robespierre, the relations with the very young USA.
And similarities to the USA today/ No doubt about it.
I just got worn out keeping up with all his newer series. But he REALLY does a lot of work to make it comprehensible.
Beside the Report Abuse, you should see Bookmark.
Of course, you have to be logged on.
Antifa would have been working for Maximilien Robespierre, who was very quick to judge any dissenting voice as worthy of
the guillotine. Eventually, he too was harshly judged, and in the very same way.
Hence my observation about capital-r Revolution leaders: they may lead, and they will lead short lives ended by their own monster.
If you enjoyed the podcast of the French revolution, you will love this movie dramatizing that revolution. It’s in French with English subtitles - it’s excellent.
Knew that, just thought there was a secret way. Thank you.
The leftists whites are simply using black grievances as a tool to help them achieve their goals. Once they’re done, they’ll throw the blacks (and their grievances) in the trash bin.
it's insane to compare anything about our current political or social environment to the conditions during and (especially) before the french revolution. it's deranged.
the french revolution was ignited by many decades of monarchical misconduct and/or incompetence, fueled by generations of crushing poverty, starvation, and death, all of which culminated (more or less) in the great terror and bonaparte.
the comparison is historically deranged.
Probably. There’s the observation “the issue is not the issue, the issue is always the Revolution”. Those who believe in “perpetual Revolution” (capital ‘r’) likely care little about the announced purpose of revolution, instead just taking on whatever cause d’jour suits their need to feed & sustain the Revolution - so they just go find whatever aggrieved group seems convenient, and fashion themselves as enlightened leaders of said cause.
Hence my recurring observation about the French Revolution: they started with “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”, but wasn’t long until the purpose was to maintain Robespierre in power by all means necessary (which in turn devoured him). This lines up with Orwell’s quote “Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”
So yes, it’s largely a bunch of ultra-radical elitist offspring pursuing, deliberately or not, the state of perpetual Revolution for the sake of the Revolution.
Click on the link right below the article that says “Bookmark”.
And yet our current Leftists proceed on the very same premises, claiming decades of “1%” misconduct, generations of crushing poverty, starvation, and death, and which the Leftist leadership would (in unguarded moments) admit they will achieve via great terror commanded by viciously strict leadership. Whether those alleged grievances _actually_ are as bad as they claim is certainly refutable (genuine bread shortages vs systemic obesity), the political rhetoric has interesting & extensive similarities and follows comparable patterns with predictable likewise outcomes.
Don’t let my exhausted rantings dissuade you as I poorly express the comparisons. The podcast is very worthwhile, and many lessons to be learned that, one way or another, can be applied today.
Ya know, I’ve been using FR for over a decade, and never noticed that.
Well, you mark your territory by electronically peeing, I mean posting, on the thread...
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