"If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will hang him."
Cardinal Richelieu (Alledgelly)
A lesson this generation will have to learn again.
Cardinal Richelieu (Alledgelly)
A lesson this generation will have to learn again.
Anon paraphrasing Cardinal Richelieu (Alledgelly)
That's the point. It serves to show the perils of judging people by what they say, particularly if single offence against some perceived norms becomes a standard for punishment.
And there's another quote from that same period: "like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children" (Jacques Mallet du Pan).
The man cement centralised power within France by through a multitude of authoritarian methods.
And so in my opinion it's the motives behind such a statement that are important.
1) Language is imprecise. We do not communicate with the idea that our words have a unique, specific meaning. This means that you can do things like quote my statements out of context in order to change their intent.
2) People are not perfect. You can almost always find some "fault" in even the best people. People should not be punished for a "fault" unless it does measurable harm to someone else.
This is different from what the parent poster is implying. It's about the dangers of authoritarianism. No plants or justification are necessary.
At least they'll have a firm understanding of just how sexist light speed is.