A weird thing I've noticed before is that a lot of progressives/leftists (as here) are under the impression that the French Revolution is regarded more or less unambiguously positively in mainstream American discourse, which I would have said was pretty definitely not the case!https://twitter.com/vonchillout/status/1298967777362014209 …
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And that's followed by the Bourbon Restoration. It seems to me that lionizing the French Revolution is the triumph of optics and enthusiasm over results. Who cares if the revolution actually *helps* anyone, because it feels good and looks cool in a movie!
I'm not arguing that the revolution was unjustified, mind you. Revolution is an appropriate response to monarchy or tyranny. Just that, of all of the revolutions to pick, there are so many of them that went a lot better.
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I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough to make the case in detail. I do think "optics and enthusiasm" are not the same as "animating impulses and ideologies" and that there is space for failed rebellions to be good. John Brown's comes to mind.
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You freely concede the revolution was justified, which in a lot of discourses is essentially what's meant by "good." Revolutionary/nationalist movements love lionizing previous efforts even when ultimately unsuccessful! That shouldn't strike us as too strange.
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Insofar as it kicked off the transformation to modern France (a debatable point, I freely concede) then I can also think of ones that went worse. Over the long run, it removed a very tyrannical monarchy with a very liberal modern state. Look at Russia 100 years after 1917 . . .
Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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