ome might say I'm exaggerating

[roseline371274]

Voltaire: the alpha and omega of any public debate. You take him out of his Pokéball and, poof, you accuse everyone of violating his memory. And therefore of being a crypto-fascist.
SBut honestly, who's the biggest liar? The one telling the story of Léa with the flowery beard, or those who very learnedly explain to you that yes, yes, doing two hours of lessons in middle school on a certain subject transforms children from phone number list the status of infamous assholes to that of brilliant republicans? Especially since it's currently taught.

And yet, I don't particularly have the impression of being surrounded by particularly engaged citizens. Oh yes: if you hurt a cat on Facebook, then they're ready to finance two companies of mercenaries to come and beat up the person responsible. On the other hand, if you set fire to a Jordanian pilot in a cage on YouTube, they just ask if we could avoid talking about it on TV, it's mealtime, thanks, I was going to have more ham.

So, yes, the Enlightenment is a major topic. But no, Voltaire won't save anyone.

First, because he's dead, and it's a hell of a lot more complicated. Second, because teaching history in France involves writing a lesson before demanding that it be learned, regurgitated by heart, and thank you, goodnight. The teacher is free to try to do something more intelligent, but that's not what his superiors ask of him. His superiors demand correct answers to questions like "  How many times is the letter V in Voltaire? " And if the kid writes "  Trois ," he's still given half the points because he managed to write "  trois  " correctly.