Post AQXV005IlPrPhp3ydc by MelissaJPeltier@tooting.ch
 (DIR) More posts by MelissaJPeltier@tooting.ch
 (DIR) Post #APnnUsh1BxqMjnarDs by aallan@mastodon.social
       2022-11-20T11:43:06Z
       
       0 likes, 4 repeats
       
       Musk has used "Vox populi, Vox Dei" to justify reinstating Trump on #Twiiter. But the quote is from a letter from Alcuin to the Emporer Charlemagne urging him to resist such ideas,  "Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit." Which translates as "And do not listen to those who keep saying, 'The voice of the people is the voice of God', because the tumult of the crowd is always close to madness."
       
 (DIR) Post #APnnUu8LppIlCrOCSu by aallan@mastodon.social
       2022-11-20T11:46:59Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Musk is not, of course, the first to use the "Vox populi, Vox Dei" quote out of context to justify dangerous actions. The phrase has been a political punching bag for centuries, notably in the 1700s amid the Jacobite rebellions. Although the use of the phrase in the opposite to the original context has been common since 1327 when the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Walter Reynolds, brought charges against King Edward II.
       
 (DIR) Post #APoWDz9oOrrTnjNZFQ by K8TDidToo@ioc.exchange
       2022-11-21T02:01:56Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @aallan He probably also thinks the Spartans shoulda won.
       
 (DIR) Post #APoWFfeDuHyzsAPK5Y by ArneBab@rollenspiel.social
       2022-11-20T11:58:11Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @aallan What I’m still missing from this debate: what’s the percentage of bots in the votes?
       
 (DIR) Post #APoWFg9m0zDhS1AWGW by straftanz@ravenation.club
       2022-11-20T12:20:32Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       @ArneBab @aallan just pretending that a vote in chamber like twitter is a democratic tool is damaging for the idea of democracy.
       
 (DIR) Post #AQXV005IlPrPhp3ydc by MelissaJPeltier@tooting.ch
       2022-11-20T15:47:38Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @aallan @CamLuvsPuns  Charlemagne was an ancestor.  A wise ruler in many ways…but a deadly, bloody autocrat. It doesn’t take being related, however, to know that CHARLEMAGNE WAS NOT A POPULIST!!FFS.
       
 (DIR) Post #AQXV00pjyl0W1qn41Q by aallan@mastodon.social
       2022-11-20T15:56:53Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @MelissaJPeltier @CamLuvsPuns I really rather doubt anyone from that era would be regarded as anything other than a deadly bloody-handed autocrat today. Over the course of the twentieth century, the meaning of the word populist has also drifted towards a much darker place. Times and words change. It doesn't make Musk's use of the quote anything but the opposite of the original context, which is all I was pointing out. Interpretation of that is left to the reader.
       
 (DIR) Post #AQXV01Kw6lxdabNye8 by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
       2022-12-12T18:50:12Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @aallan @MelissaJPeltier @CamLuvsPuns Alcuin, on the other hand, was the author of perhaps the first comprehensive public-education policy in the world, although what he was able to accomplish in the Europe of AD 800 was quite limited. In fact he was never able to teach Charlemagne himself to write, because his hands were too accustomed to gripping a sword, to make the fine movements required by a pen.