#scolding — Public Fediverse posts

The Scold’s Bridle

The Scold’s Bridle, sometimes called the Gossip’s Bridle, or the Brank’s Bridle, was a form of punishment and public humiliation in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. It was a device placed over the face and into the mouths of women whose words offended men.

They were brutal instruments. Sometimes they were an iron framework and sometimes they were a mask. They had a bridle-bit that was placed into the mouth, often with a spike that went through the tongue. Their purpose was to silence the women, and they worked.

There have been times when I have heard someone nagging or berating someone else and thought, “Damn. I wish they would just shut up!” And I have sometimes wondered what it must be like to live with constant haranguing, but I have never once considered that permanently silencing the scold might be a solution.

Today we don’t have Scold’s Bridles. Instead, we have executive orders that silence individuals, male and female, whose words offend someone in high office. The person in power gets to decide who can speak.

It doesn’t matter if most of what they say is benign or true or simply practical advice. If any spoken or written words criticize or question the leader’s words or actions, the critic must be silenced not because the words are scolding or nagging but because the leader feels berated and his ego cannot withstand that. To save face, he bullies.

Hence we see efforts to silence particular news organizations and even a children’s television show. They become silenced not with mechanical bridles but with the firing of employees, the dismantling of agencies that run them,  and the removal of funding. But make no mistake, these are Scold’s Bridles.

When enough people are silenced through executive orders, others are silenced through fear so that ultimately the only voices we hear or read are those in support of the leader. In effect, the scolds are being permanently silenced, one by one. Their tongues have been spiked.

Even so, the rest of us see this and we remember it. We record it. We talk about it among ourselves. The silencing of voices will go down in history as shameful and regrettable, and over time the memories of those who witnessed it will matter more and will endure. We have seen how it played out in the past and in other lands, so we know how this story ends. Silencing is temporary and, ultimately, counter-productive.

#criticizing #ExecutiveOrders #fear #leaders #leadership #mask #nagging #ScoldSBridle #scolding #silencing #Society

"He's #lying": #President #JoeBiden #blasts #ConvictedFelon #DonaldTrump's #political #ploy over #HurricaneHelene.

Former President Trump on Monday tried to take #political #advantage of the devastation from Hurricane Helene — and drew a #scolding from #President #Biden, who called #Trump a #liar.

— Trump's mouth was open right?

https://www.axios.com/2024/10/01/trump-biden-lying-hurricane-helene