As I noted on this date two years ago, but think bears repeating, “frank exchanges of views” on political subjects, as diplomats say, is not a recent phenomenon. The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities reminds readers that on this day in 1768:
James Otis, Jr. gave a characteristically fiery speech to his fellow legislators in Boston. He referred to the British House of Commons as a gathering of “button-makers, horse jockey gamesters, pensioners, pimps, and whore-masters.” The colony’s royal governor denounced Otis’s tirade as the most “insolent. . . treasonable declamation that perhaps was ever delivered.” Otis’s speech in June 1768 was one of many that attacked Parliament for its efforts to squeeze more revenue from the American colonies. His insistence that “a man’s house is his castle” and later that there be “no taxation without representation” remain etched in our collective memory long after his name, and his role in the events leading up to the Revolution, have been forgotten.
For more on historic parallels to today, including Women of the Tea Party, use of the filibuster to thwart progressive legislation, class warfare on the right, and the “best days behind us” theme, click here. (Otis, incidentally, would have been within BMG’s Rules of the Road insofar as his criticisms were aimed at public figures and not personal attacks on fellow BMGers.)
Esteemed BMGer Christopher commented in 2009, “Anybody want to take a stab…at translating the Declaration of Independence into “tweets”? We could have fun with this.” A great idea, of course, and Slate actually did it. In 2010, the site published the winners of their contest to rewrite the Declaration of Independence in a single tweet. Their favorite: “Bye George, we’ve got it.”
So be bold, commenters, and conquer.