A small glimpse into the history of fake news . . .
Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor, has put his signature first on all the articles against Wolsey. They say one strange allegation has been added at his behest. The cardinal is accused of whispering in the king's ear and breathing into his face; since the cardinal has the French pox, he intended to infect our monarch.
When [Cromwell] hears this he thinks, imagine living inside the Lord Chancellor's head. Imagine writing down such a charge and taking it to the printer, and circulating it through the court and through the realm, putting it out there to where people will believe anything; putting it out there, to the shepherds on the hills, to Tyndale's plowboy, to the beggar on the roads and the patient beast in its byre or stall; out there to the bitter winter winds, and to the weak early sun, and the snowdrops in the London gardens.
[from Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall]
1 comment:
Dealing with the same characters but in a sort of reverse characrization, in the movie of Bolt's A Man For All Seasons, Cromwell relays to More a serious charge (a lie) against him by Henry VIII. More's response is a simple "The King knows the truth of the matter," implying that the King knows what the real facts are, as opposed to the "fake news" ones, obviating the need for More to reply further and deepen his trouble by impugning his monarch. An elegant response.
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