Quote #1
Madame de Stael worked to make her salon a new Athenian symposium where those responsible for the government of men could cultivate the wisdom necessary to bring reason and virtue into the art of making policy and writing legislation. Pg 52
Questions #1
• Could you call government policy-making and legislation-writing an "art"
being practiced in Ottawa?
• What is the Athenian symposium?
• Would it be a good thing to revive? Has it already been done?
Quote #2
[under Louis xviii] ...doubts about the political influence of salons centred on two forms of deception, one involving the use of elegant manners by charlatans to give them selves an "illusory importance " and the other concerning the ability of the mediocre to silence merit with ridicule and lower the general political intelligence of society. Pg 100
Questions #2
• If we substitute the name of an "all news channel " or a "cable network" for
the word "salon" in the quote above, does anything specific come to mind ?
• Does history repeat itself?
