Today’s quiz comes from the deep dark recesses of English Literature.
“Oh what a tangled web we weave / When first we practice to deceive.”
Who said it?
A) Shakespeare, “Macbeth,” Act 3, Scene 2 – written in 1606.
B) Sir Walter Scott, “Marmion,” Canto 6, stanza 17 – written in 1808.
C) Ida Tarbell, “The Standard Oil Monopoly,” – written in 1904.
D) Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s “Mission Statement” – revised 2017.
And the answer is…
This quote occurred to me while I read the latest Facebook muckraker piece by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker. And I, like everybody else, attributed the quote to Shakespeare, who could have said it, but didn’t. Better luck next time you get a crack at Today’s Quiz.
Bottom line, if you (like me) love piling on when somebody attacks Mark Zuckerberg – currently the world’s 4th richest man – have at it. You may even like the Lepore piece, though I don’t recommend it unless you also dig Ida Tarbell’s scathing expose of Standard Oil/Rockefeller, to which Lepore compares current-day Zuckerberg/Facebook. Me personally, I don’t see it. But maybe that’s just me? There are plenty of other reasons for getting off Facebook. I don’t need a Guilded Age comparison to help me along that particular road. But hey, if you still need convincing, you can read all about it, here. Enjoy – for what it’s worth.