Propagandists do like to co-opt narratives. It's a natural vector for sympathy. In terms of US politics, this has affected both of the main parties over the years. Singling out the GOP here is itself a false narrative. There are surely people in that party who are co-opted, but that is only part of what's going on. The Dems also have their useful idiots.
Speaking of WWII, Joe Kennedy (John's father) was quite useful to the Nazis.
I hope you will agree that we should not distract ourselves by, I believe not intended, false equivalency and whatabouttisms. The situation is too serious.
- We were talking about how conservatism has the weakness that it is particularly prone to siren songs of authoritarians.
- There are more bad things happening in the GOP with respect to the democratic constitutional state, but that is hardly a relief. The Dems might have their own idiots, sure, but there is no equivalency here.
- Perhaps I should not take the bait, but John Kennedy, the president, was not an anti-semite, unlike his father indeed, who was not president.
Leftist and progressive movements are equally prone to authoritarianism. We should be on guard against extremists on both sides of the political spectrum.
Revolutionary `neq` progressive, especially not in our time.
If your read up on Lenin and the Revolution no serious human rights advocate today would vouch for that.
But the early USSR was both authoritarian and progressive, with the suppression of nobility privileges, strong improvements to women's rights, legalization of homosexuality, etc.
> no serious human rights advocate today would vouch for that.
This is close to a no true Scotsman argument; virtually no older-than-30y.o. political movement would check all the boxes to be qualified as such.
Hardly. Authoritarianism is what happens when ‘the right things don’t happen’ on their own based on ideology, so they need to be forced.
Like seizing farmland from landowners and forming collectives to farm them instead (USSR).
Or forcing affirmative action despite no identifiable discriminatory actions. Which is literally openly happening right now in the West in tech and other areas.
It’s about forcing reality to confirm to an idealized ‘right’ way, despite objections or resistance - including often ignoring if the final situation/state even works. Example: Chinese Great Leap Forward and rural steel ‘mills’, USSR and collectivism, etc.
Speaking of WWII, Joe Kennedy (John's father) was quite useful to the Nazis.