It sometimes seems that modern progressive-left approaches to crime and social order are based entirely on the belief that everyone who breaks the law is specifically Jean Valjean as played by Hugh Jackman. Not the one in the book, not even the one in the film, but the one they saw in a GIF meme on a self-righteous post on Tumblr back in 2013 or whenever.
On the bright side, France after the revolution of 1830 was where you could buy all the daguerreotypes of sexy grisettes with bared ankles that would fit in your steamer trunk for the trip home to Dysenteryville-on-Avon.
Also, I have to point out that the moral of the bread-stealing incident is not "bread-stealing is always perfectly morally justified," but that "grace can forgive wrongdoing!" After the Bishop saves Jean Valjean from going back to jail, he tells him, "Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil but to good"--not "Hey man, good work with that stealing stuff. Right on!"
Interestingly, Vidocq also appears in 'The Black Tower' by Louis Bayard (the guy who wrote 'Pale Blue Eye' which became a movie starring Christian Bale) which is set during the Bourbon Restoration (After the Fall of Napoleon but before Les Mis) .
Hot take: Les Miserables and Victor Hugo are overrated because of people who've only seen Les Mis or read the abridged editions of the book.
When you read the whole thing, you find out that A. Hugo had a giant man-crush on Napoleon Bonaparte and B. He was very much in the "can't make an omelet without breaking eggs" crowd, fully endorsing the Revolution's crushing of the Vendee and Chouan revolts (during which the government in Paris killed somewhere between 300-400,000 peasants), on the grounds that they were merely acting out of parochial interests (read: they were staunch Catholics) rather than for the good of France. And don't even get me started on his whining in the forty pages he spends on the Battle of Waterloo about how it just isn't fair that the stolid, boring British beat the gallant, noble, and dashing French.
“One day more, another day another destiny!” I loudly sing as I shovel toiletries into a garbage bag and flip off the CVS worker
It sometimes seems that modern progressive-left approaches to crime and social order are based entirely on the belief that everyone who breaks the law is specifically Jean Valjean as played by Hugh Jackman. Not the one in the book, not even the one in the film, but the one they saw in a GIF meme on a self-righteous post on Tumblr back in 2013 or whenever.
Can you blame them? Hugh Jackman's been stealing hearts since his Australian musical theater days...
Heart theft is no joke.
What if you engage in a monomaniacal quest for revenge against a giant leg-biting whale as a form of radical praxis?
You'll get cancelled by PETA
"Rationalizing theft because of my tale is like rationalizing animal abuse because Fred Flintstone used a bird as a record player."
Thank you!
The bird always looked pretty happy.
Ok in fairness, he only used the bird's beak as the *needle* on a record player.
On the bright side, France after the revolution of 1830 was where you could buy all the daguerreotypes of sexy grisettes with bared ankles that would fit in your steamer trunk for the trip home to Dysenteryville-on-Avon.
I guess there are *some* ways that their world is like ours.
Also, I have to point out that the moral of the bread-stealing incident is not "bread-stealing is always perfectly morally justified," but that "grace can forgive wrongdoing!" After the Bishop saves Jean Valjean from going back to jail, he tells him, "Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no longer to evil but to good"--not "Hey man, good work with that stealing stuff. Right on!"
Interestingly, Vidocq also appears in 'The Black Tower' by Louis Bayard (the guy who wrote 'Pale Blue Eye' which became a movie starring Christian Bale) which is set during the Bourbon Restoration (After the Fall of Napoleon but before Les Mis) .
Hot take: Les Miserables and Victor Hugo are overrated because of people who've only seen Les Mis or read the abridged editions of the book.
When you read the whole thing, you find out that A. Hugo had a giant man-crush on Napoleon Bonaparte and B. He was very much in the "can't make an omelet without breaking eggs" crowd, fully endorsing the Revolution's crushing of the Vendee and Chouan revolts (during which the government in Paris killed somewhere between 300-400,000 peasants), on the grounds that they were merely acting out of parochial interests (read: they were staunch Catholics) rather than for the good of France. And don't even get me started on his whining in the forty pages he spends on the Battle of Waterloo about how it just isn't fair that the stolid, boring British beat the gallant, noble, and dashing French.
That is some range of peasants, from 300 to 400,000. Gotta be in there somewhere.
I have a hard time Jean Valjean actually wrote this since he's aware of the Flintstones' record player. "Eh, it's a living..."
Nice one!
Is it only fictional characters who believe the US still has a social safety net?
I believed it on April 15, and I am not fictional.