I suppose this is the sort of thought animating capital-C capital-N Christian Nationalists[0] in the Old Country? (albeit presumably, there, with more of a proddie than a catholic justification?)
IIRC, Isaiah Berlin suggested[1] that de Maistre was worth reading, because although he was a loon, he is no fool[2].
[2] by way of supportive evidence, he did help prepare Pound for capital-F Fascism
[Edit: some clarifications for modern readers:
> ... the nation which itself bears so great a name, since it gave its name to frankness, ...
Here, of course, de Maistre means the french and France.
etymologically similar: Ferengi, political franchise.
> ... inhabited by pickpockets and street girls.
In the days when (a) the institution of matrimony was between men of 35+ and girls of 15+ (leaving boys and younger men with a couple of decades of fending for themselves), and (b) OnlyFans would not be invented for at least another century (those days having ended ca. 1918), prostitution (especially of the sort that did not require ascending staircases) was much more common. ]
A more direct link: https://archive.org/details/catholicpolitica00menc/page/60/m...
I suppose this is the sort of thought animating capital-C capital-N Christian Nationalists[0] in the Old Country? (albeit presumably, there, with more of a proddie than a catholic justification?)
IIRC, Isaiah Berlin suggested[1] that de Maistre was worth reading, because although he was a loon, he is no fool[2].
[0] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/10/27/views-of-the...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Berlin#Counter-Enlighte...
[2] by way of supportive evidence, he did help prepare Pound for capital-F Fascism
[Edit: some clarifications for modern readers:
> ... the nation which itself bears so great a name, since it gave its name to frankness, ...
Here, of course, de Maistre means the french and France.
etymologically similar: Ferengi, political franchise.
> ... inhabited by pickpockets and street girls.
In the days when (a) the institution of matrimony was between men of 35+ and girls of 15+ (leaving boys and younger men with a couple of decades of fending for themselves), and (b) OnlyFans would not be invented for at least another century (those days having ended ca. 1918), prostitution (especially of the sort that did not require ascending staircases) was much more common. ]
Lagniappe: https://youtu.be/JLMuZ517jfk?t=120