In 1965, Herbert Marcuse (another Frankfurter) wrote a well-read (among those in academic circles) essay on the Authoritarian Personality. In it, he justified the suppression of conservative speech and called for access to cultural platforms on the grounds that the views of right-wing intellectuals reflected the rule of an oppressive and already dominant social class. Marcuse identified “revolutionary tolerance” as “tolerance that enlarged the range and content of freedom.” Unfortunately for you and me, Marcuse’s argument has exerted a seminal influence in academic circles and provides a powerful justification for blacklisting conservatives in the name of equality and freedom. The same argument would also justify the exclusion of conservative texts from academic reading lists, which is an all too common practice on liberal arts campuses.
Sadly, and in a not so veiled attempt to counter all of this, aspects of this lack of tolerance have also taken over demonstrably right-leaning news organizations, such as Fox News and much of talk radio, but to a much lesser degree. And, although the right has no equivalent to “the authoritarian personality” in ITS bag’o’tricks, this is still a disturbing phenomenon. It makes you wish that journalists would just learn how to do their jobs and report the news — rather than constantly attempting to make news?
The upshot, as the 1960s unfolded, was that these belief systems and theories, Critical Theory, Repressive Tolerance, and the Authoritarian Personality, had done more to destroy what Americans had spent almost 240 years building up than almost any other movement in American history. And I can’t forgive the people who created them or who foster and protect them.
Next week, “Multiculturalism: My Tribe is Better Than You’re Tribe – Plus, You’re a Jerk!”
Image: Source: Sigmund Freud; uploaded by Viejo sabio; author: C�sar Blanco from Mexico; Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
