| I am Austrian. We suffered the history. We know where this goes. This is figured out, the only alternative is the descent into fascist totalitarianism. > the very quote you supplied argues for “intolerance of intolerance” as a kind of a last resort, once things turn violent. As it already did on Jan 6th and in Charlottesville. We've seen all of this before. Instead of brown shirts, we have red hats. The ideas and the approach are the same. > Second, as a practical matter, it’s not at all clear what constitutes intolerance. If you think the state has standing to adjudicate intolerance, then I can’t imagine you’ve been paying attention to the kind of routine social errors that are labeled intolerance on social media. The notion that it’s a legitimate function of the state to weigh in on these banal disagreements is risible. All of these minor quibbles are irrelevant. There's a violent fascist movement forming and growing stronger by the day. The Beer Hall Putsch [0] already happened on Jan 6th, the "cultural bolshevism" [1] bogeyman has been slightly rebranded to "cultural marxism" and is being used for propaganda purposes all over the place again. A new Big Lie [2] has been set up in the form of "Trump won!". Mainstream conservatives are behaving like Von Papen. [3] Obsta Principiis! If we don't nip this in the bud right now, we will soon see the new version of the Enabling Act [4] and all the horrors that followed. I understand you might lack the perspective as you most likely don't have the same history to compare it to. Please heed the warning of somebody who does. These things sneak up on you and you won't be able to realize it until it's too late. This excellent excerpt from Milton Mayer's They Thought They Were Free talks about this phenomenom, I implore you to read it. [5] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Hall_Putsch
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Bolshevism
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Papen#Bringing_Hitle...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933
[5] https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html |