"Marie Antoinette and the Stories We Prefer To Tell"

Like many, I was . . . underwhelmed by the Opening Ceremonies for the recent Olympic Games in Paris (although, as a longtime heavy-metal fan, I liked Gojira's rendition of "Ah! Ça Ira”, notwithstanding the song's connection with the French Terror). And, I was similarly unimpressed by the gaslighting engaged in by the many commentators (including Catholics who should know better) who played the "ackshully" card with respect to the irreverent depiction of the Last Supper.  

As it happened, I was listening to the the multipart podcast series, by the (excellent) "Rest Is History" team, on the lead-up to the Revolution, which included an entire episode on the extent to which Marie Antoinette became, largely without justification, and in no small part because of the republicans' misogyny and nativism, an object of public odium. Then, to see the (bizarre) decision by the French organizers of the Games to celebrate her murder-by-mob (and, by extension, the general enterprise of Killing-for-Year-Zero) . . . it was quite a thing.  And, this essay, by Joseph Toates, is a very interesting reflection on that decision:

The execution of Marie Antoinette and the treatment of her family is nothing for France to be proud of. Her punishment is the first evidence of a revolution run amok. The spirit of her trial was public vengeance and it can barely be considered a legal proceeding. Her child, age seven, was forced to testify under duress and in prison to incestuous rape by his mother. The effort put forth to bring this particular charge against Marie shows that the trial was not solely about her conduct of affairs of state, but rather about humiliating her publicly. Marie refused to answer the charge in the courtroom, saying it was beneath her dignity as a mother. Killing Marie was not an act of justice. It was extrajudicial public revenge and an act worthy of, if not outright condemnation, then at least very careful reconsideration. The imprisonment and death of her son is a clear example of cruelty and abuse to an innocent child for the sake of convenience and as an act of family retribution.

There is, I'm confident, a connection between the themes/aims of this blog -- i.e., between "Catholic Legal Theory" -- and both (a) Toates's (and many others') reminders of the (very) dark side of the French Revolution and (b) his reflections about the way political/legal regimes choose to (mis)represent their pasts.