by Carrie
Wed Aug 24th, 2016 at 02:29:58 PM EST
Cross-posted on The Court Astrologer.
In his satire Candide, published in 1759, Voltaire pokes fun at the way the Portuguese Inquisition persecuted jews who had falsely converted to Catholicism:
After the earthquake had destroyed three-fourths of Lisbon, the sages of that country could think of no means more effectual to prevent utter ruin than to give the people a beautiful auto-da-fe; for it had been decided by the University of Coimbra, that the burning of a few people alive by a slow fire, and with great ceremony, is an infallible secret to hinder the earth from quaking.
In consequence hereof, they had seized on a Biscayner, convicted of having married his godmother, and on two Portuguese, for rejecting the bacon which larded a chicken they were eating[7]; after dinner, they came and secured Dr. Pangloss, and his disciple Candide, the one for speaking his mind, the other for having listened with an air of approbation.
Fast-forward to 2016, and Sarkozy's extremism is indistinguishable from Voltaire's satire.
Frontpaged - Frank Schnittger
Nicolas Sarkozy declares candidacy for French presidential election (22 August 2016)
He wants to ban the Muslim headscarf from universities and public companies, limit the French nationality rights of children born to foreign parents, and ban pork-free options in school canteens, meaning Muslim and Jewish children would no longer be offered a substitute meal.
It comments itself, really. Banning pork-free options means no vegetarian menus? Mandatory pork in every dish? Maybe this is not a knuckle-headed dogwhistle but Keynesian stimulus for the pig-farming industry?
Oh, and, by the way...
That's the French police forcing a woman to take of her veil on the beach in Nice (see
HuffPo France). It appears the project to roll back Western social progress is well past 1789 and is rushing towards the 17th century. Religious wars cannot be far off.
