May 23

Our modern political apparatus seems to be a bit plodding at times. Personally, I yearn for simpler times when a person could see immediate results from their actions. There was a time when national political agendas were dealt with in very expeditious ways. Take for example the Second Defenestration of Prague, which took place at Prague Castle on the 23rd in 1618, when two Imperial Governors, Wilhelm Graf Slavata and Jaraslav Borzita Graf von Martinicz, and their scribe Philip Fabricius were simply tossed out of the Castle’s windows. The three tumbled 50 feet on to a large pile of horse poop. This act ushered in the Thirty Years War. Apparently, the people of Prague were getting lazy with the passage of time, because in the First Defenestration of Prague, on July 30, 1419, seven of the town’s council members were tossed out windows onto the raised spears of the assembled rabble. Messy? Generally speaking, quite messy. Effective? Perhaps. There can be no denying of the fact that these tactics produce plainly observable results in a timely manner. Nevertheless, upon quiet, sober reflection, I think that I am safe in saying, without fear of contradiction, that defenestration of political rivals probably isn’t a particularly good idea. Unless, of course, someone double dares you to do it.