Relativism is the bad faith of the conqueror, who has become secure enough to become a tourist.

                                                 Stanley Diamond

And if I were to tell the story of someone- or a people- whose point of view should I tell it from? Should I tell it from the point of view of those who have already had their say? Or will I try to find out what life was like for the voiceless and then apply my own human empathy? Of couse I should do the latter.

I have never come across a scholar who was as extensive and as thorough as Foucault, as adept at invoking cold hard facts and documentation to illustrate what reality was like for the poor and disenfranchised, or for madmen and the condemned who were particulary at risk in this category. Voiceless entities.

"An edict of the King, dated June 16, 1676, prescribed the establishment of an "hôpital général in each city of his kingdom."

Directors, appointed for life, exercised power throughout Paris: (1967 p.40)]"They have all power of authority, of direction, of administration, of commerce, of police, of jurisdiction, of correction and punishment over all the poor of Paris, both within and without the Hôpital Général"

Argue with that. What do you suppose it was like for those people? It just might be that I care and you don't. To each their own. I know Jim does. It's what his whole life has really been about. Although I don't think he ever expected an internet stranger to happen along and sum it up just like that :-)