In the emotional cauldron simmering before the French Revolution, word spread among poor Parisians that Queen Marie Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI, was told the peasants had no bread. The queen callously replied, "Qu'il mangent de la brioche" - "Let them eat cake." Her words perfectly fit the agenda of young revolutionaries who were determined to do something about the horrible disparity of wealth. The story was akin to gasoline thrown on glowing embers, and French society was changed forever.
The only problem is, the story wasn't true. According to historians, including Antonia Fraser, recent biographer of the Queen, those words were likely lifted from a comment made by a Spaniard, Princess Marie Therese, who married King Louis XIV 100 years before Marie Antoinette was born. In reality, both Marie-Antoinette and her husband, King Louis XVI, were fully aware of the French social problems, and they contributed large sums of their own money to charitable causes. The problems were far deeper than the peasants understood.
Primarily, the Catholic Church had morphed into a powerful and corrupt institution within French politics, far removed from its Christ-centered foundation. It created an incredible conundrum; no earthly king or queen could reform it. Although the bloodthirsty revolutionaries sent both Marie and Louis to the guillotine, nothing of significance happened until real political and economic reforms were instituted under the strong hand of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
Similarly, the gun control crisis in America is pushing our society to react without thought or reason. We blame the president, Congress, the National Rifle Association, gun manufacturers, the mentally ill, law enforcement agencies, school boards, producers of violent video games and movies, and the lack of money in our inner cities. Perhaps sending all responsible parties to the guillotine would appease some on the left, but the problems would continue, as they did for French peasants after they joyfully watched the heads of rich folks roll into bloody baskets.
Like French revolutionaries, though far removed economically, high school students in our community and around the country are taking the gun control matter into their own hands. The narrative is that they are tired of watching incompetent adults debating Second Amendment rights ad nauseam, so they are taking action. Who can argue with youths who are innocently acting to protect their own? Unfortunately, that narrative is no more accurate than the words falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette. Our children are being used as political pawns by a very powerful liberal element which will not rest until your Second Amendment rights are gone.
Consider the words of Alex Wind, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and one of the emerging child stars of the youth gun control movement. In a Wall Street Journal report, he discussed how savvy young people are at manipulating social media to revolutionize the gun debate. He stated the students are stressing "action, action, action. Talk is no more."
However, emotional reactions to despicable and sad events such as school shootings are not solutions. They are Band-Aids. Politicians and community leaders are afraid to address real problems: the breakdown of the nuclear family (especially in minority communities) in which two parents assume responsibility for the discipline, character and moral development of their children; churches, many of which abdicate teaching God's word in favor of a milquetoast gospel that sounds appealing but leads to a spiritual wasteland; the government, which abandoned meaningful care for the mentally ill, the most unfortunate among us; and, all adults who turn a blind eye when our youth display bad manners, immoral behavior and a lack of respect and civility.
Those are difficult targets. One must aim carefully before firing; otherwise, it's a wasted opportunity.
Roger Smith, a frequent contributor to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, is the author of "American Spirit: A Story of American Individualism."