One of the most horrid, awful results of the recent spate of right-wing violence has been the sudden reappearance of Jonah Goldberg and his idiotic thesis that fascism is actually a phenomenon of political liberalism and the left. Dave Niewert does the world a service of calling out Goldberg's nonsensical thesis. I can only imagine how painful it was first to read Goldberg's thick pile of crap, then actually treat it with enough respect to call it crap in detail. For all that such a thesis is easily dismissed by a welter of historical evidence, Goldberg is out there, in print and TV, trying to get the message out.
Not just Goldberg, though. It's all over the place. Andrew Breitbart, who runs a right-wing blog, says the von Brunn is closer to a multiculturalist - and most would agree that adherents of the multicultural thesis are of the left - than to any figure on the right. I think the only way to square this particular circle is to construct an argument something like this:
- Multiculturalists stress the continuity of cultural identity over individuality.
- von Brunn stressed the continuity of the white race over the individuality of persons of different races
- von Brunn is a multiculturalist.
Now, the major premise is deeply flawed, a caricature of what multicultural theory is and how it operates. While the minor premise may be true to the extent that a racist sees race as the single determining factor in an individual's life, to equate multicultural theory with racism is not only deeply flawed, but highly offensive. As John Cook writes, "James von Brunn is exactly like a lesbian studies major."
One of the more stupid aspects of the whole "fascists are liberals" nonsense is the conflation of the personal quirks of this or that historical or contemporary political figure and modern political alignments. For example, Goldberg points out, quite correctly, that Woodrow Wilson was a racist. The roots of the party's power lay in the racist south at the time. In many ways, however, Wilson was also a Progressive. To argue, however, that because Wilson was both an adherent to many of the principles of classic Progressive politics and was also a racist that racism is, therefore, an inherent part of Progressive politics, then or now, is ridiculous.
The same applies to other figures. As the title of this post notes, Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, indeed a missionary of the superiority of a vegan diet over meat. Many contemporary vegans tend to drift leftward in their politics - mostly - so, apparently to Goldberg, Hitler was actually a liberal-lefty.
Treating this nonsense as anything other than nonsense is almost impossible. I have made the decision that anyone who comes around here and attempts to make this argument will not be engaged directly. I consider this argument on a part with creationism, another notion I refuse to engage directly. Part of keeping one's sanity in times such as ours is the necessity of drawing lines and creating boundaries. So, if someone reads this and starts typing, "But, but . . . Mussolini liked sprouts! Stalin was gay! They're all lefties!!!" and expect a response, forget about it. I may laugh and call you an idiot. I won't delete your comment. It will just convince me that you are as big a doofus as the people who promote this nonsense.
Virtual Tin Cup
