guest post by Basilisk
Interestingly, Tanster’s Napoleon project has generated a lot of PR shills trying to control or derail her. PR shills are mercenaries, in the employ of a person or group. This then begs the question, why is anyone so worried about Napoleon Bonaparte and his legacy that they would pay agents to interfere with someone trying to learn and share the truth about him?
My theory is that they are afraid now of the same thing they were afraid of then.
Tanster’s project has shown everyone that Napoleon was incredibly popular. He was loved by his soldiers and his people. Napoleon fought for the rights of the working man. He created a fair and impartial justice system that protected everyone, rich or poor. He built infrastructure, public schools and hospitals. The French people elected him First Consul for Life by an overwhelming majority.
But it wasn’t just the French who loved him. All over Europe he inspired idealism and respect for mankind. Napoleon sought to strengthen Europe so that it could stand up to the economic monopoly the English government imposed on the world with its indomitable military might. England feared that if Napoleon stepped on its shores, their people would flock to him. For ten years England fought Napoleon with every dirty trick it could muster because of that fear.
Nothing has changed. The victors write the history books. The English government eventually won so they got to tell us who Napoleon was. Their books are tainted with their propaganda. Students today are coming away with the impression that Napoleon was the same as Hitler. That couldn’t be further from the truth. They were nothing alike. Napoleon used limited military conflicts to achieve diplomatic ends to build a powerful unified coalition to stand up to England.
That is what we are learning from the Tanster project. She is reading the books written by the people who were actually present with Napoleon. They are showing us what he really said and did, not the twisted lies that are in our history books. We are learning the truth about Napoleon.
So why does that scare them? Why are they paying agents to subvert Tanster’s work? Fear. The fear that the real Napoleon will inspire the People to recognize their oligarch masters for exactly what they are, slave owners who couldn’t care less about us.
