For some reason, the History News Network has decided to go on the attack against Liberal Fascism (the book, not the belief system), two years after it was first published. Jonah responds.
9 thoughts on “Historians Gone Wild”
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For some reason, the History News Network has decided to go on the attack against Liberal Fascism (the book, not the belief system), two years after it was first published. Jonah responds.
Comments are closed.
That was a great article, thanks for linking to it.
I am constantly amazed at people who are quick to slap the fascist label on the American right. Protip: If the person is advocating a reduction in state power and admires tradition, they’re going to have a hard time being a fascist.
If these “historians” are in the pay of a university which accepts federal funds, then they have a conflict of interest.
Speaking of, Howard Zinn kicked the bucket. Talk about a polemicist!
As a quick trip to see “Inglorious Basterds” will remind you, Nazis and their Fascist brothers have long been the modern west’s gold standard for evil. Before Jonah Goldberg, National Review used to protest what they called “The Hitler Continuum”. This is where the conservative/libertarian right were linked by the left to this evil since it had been placed there by, amoungst others, Stalin. What the book “Liberal Fascism” did was credibly link the 30s progressive derived contemporary “liberal” doctrines to this evil. Which has now become a fairly powerful tool for the Tea Party element. This, of course, just won’t do, especially to the academic left. So time to whip up some noise.
I thought Jonah defended himself admirably.
The reason Liberal Fascism is getting attention now (long after its publication) is that Glenn Beck has been touching on many of its central ideas on his wildly popular TV show lately, particularly in regard to fascism’s relation to American progressivism (modern liberalism). He even had Jonah (introduced as author of LF) as a guest and commentator during his recent documentary on communist atrocities.
Are these historians saying that Goldberg made up all the quotes from fascists and fascist sympathizers that are in the book? That was the amusing part of the book: reading the quotes and seeing how eerily similar they are to the pronunciamentoes of modern day “liberals.” I guess they’ll claim Goldberg took these quotes “out of context.”
Bill Maron
Howard Zinn is dead? Yay!! First I’ve heard of it and none too soon. May he burn in Hell with Stalin and the rest of his heroes.
Howard Zinn is dead?
Yep
Let the hagiographies begin!