Challenge to the Western liberal system
shared by olive1grey on Apr 18
15
views
0
faves
0
comments
Back in October, Mr. Douthat, you proclaimed that over the past few decades, "The Western system — liberal, democratic, capitalist — has been essentially unchallenged from the inside...its ideolog...
ical rivals discredited or tamed" - for example "fascists [relegated] to online message boards" as you put it.
What say you now? Now that Steve Bannon, lead practitioner of fake news and faux facts and re-branded 'alt-right' sensibilities (formerly known as neonazism, white supremacy and fascism) has become lead whisperer in Donald Trump's ear? Now that the Trump administration is a Tea Party (re-branded from the Koch Daddy John Birch Society) hosted by a cabal of billionaires whose only book assignments are The New Testament, "Atlas Shrugged", "The Art of the Deal" and Ann Coulter's "¡Adios, America!"?
I would think you ought to be directing your mixtape reading lists to them, not us. They need it more. Though I do give you props for including the late Christopher Lasch's 1979 NY Times bestseller "The Culture of Narcissism", a book I have been thinking about a lot lately. This is the first time I've ever heard Lasch described as a reactionary before, but it's very Douthattian to see him as such. Of course, should that book fall into the hands of today's conservatives, his bleak but prescient view which was meant as a warning will only be seen by his 'ideological rivals' - the Trumpist 'winners' - as a blueprint for success.
Enjoy their challenge to the Western liberal system.
Source
http://resea...tings.net/Category
EducationGet a Quote
