On the 14th of July in 1789, a crowd of nearly one thousand protesters stormed the Bastille in Paris, France, a major event in the French Revolution, commemorated annually as “Bastille Day”.

In the months running up to the uprising, the people of France were facing a dire economic crisis, food shortage, and increased militarization of Paris on orders of King Louis XVI. The Bastille was an armory and prison, perceived by many as a symbol of royal authority in the city.

On the morning of July 14th, a crowd of approximately one thousand people surrounded the Bastille, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of its cannon, and the release of the arms and gunpowder stored there.

After negotiations stalled, the crowd surged into the courtyard of the Bastille and were fired upon by troops in the garrison. In the carnage that followed, ninety-eight protesters and one defender of the Bastille were killed.

Governor Marquis de Launay, fearing his troops could not hold out, capitulated to the crowd and opened up the Bastille doors. He was captured and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. While the crowd debated his fate, the badly beaten Launay shouted “Enough! Let me die!”, kicked a pastry cook in the groin, and was then promptly stabbed to death.

As news of the successful seizure of the Bastille spread throughout the country, revolutionaries established parallel structures of power for government and militias for civic protection, burned deeds of property, and in some cases attacked wealthy landlords.

King Louis XVI first learned of the storming the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. “Is it a revolt?” asked the King. The duke replied: “No sire, it’s not a revolt; it’s a revolution.”

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  • SSJMarx
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    2 months ago

    It’s wild that there are some things in our society which just blatantly favor the rich with absolutely no plausible deniability at all. Like the stock market - everybody knows that to make money on stocks you have to have a lot of money to start with, and if you have enough it becomes basically impossible to lose. It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into researching, you could be the best stock trader on the planet but if you only have fifty bucks to play with you will never be able to make it work.

    • Woly [any]@hexbear.net
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      2 months ago

      You ever look at the GME subreddit? There’s a hole cult of people who know that the game is rigged against them, and they still think they’re going to somehow beat it and become the new 1%.

      Guess it’s easier to take refuge in that fantasy than face reality.

      • SSJMarx
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        2 months ago

        The whole crypto sphere is like that now, too. They know that it’s just a series of rugpulls and scams, but they all hope to be the ones who don’t end up holding the bag on the next one.

      • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        2 months ago

        Gambling addiction comes pretty much pre-built into anyone who’s online nowadays. The feed is another slot machine and the occasional good post is the prize and it’s super easy to move people from that to the harder stuff. The world is more of a casino than ever but you don’t get served free drinks to keep you playing anymore, they just shoot you if you don’t gamble.