I mainly agree with this point, but my issue is framing Bannon, Carlson, Ingraham and all the rest in the same category at all. I would argue Carlson and Ingraham both fall in the Nihilist "whatever makes us the most money we'll talk about", and Bannon falls in the "white nationalism needs to make a comeback and I can escape to Russia if…
I mainly agree with this point, but my issue is framing Bannon, Carlson, Ingraham and all the rest in the same category at all. I would argue Carlson and Ingraham both fall in the Nihilist "whatever makes us the most money we'll talk about", and Bannon falls in the "white nationalism needs to make a comeback and I can escape to Russia if I need to. I don't think Carlson and Ingraham are explicitly pro-Russia, they are pro-rile up the viewer base so we make more money off of advertiser's.
D'Souza and Kirk I would argue are much stupider than the others listed above.
Can't disagree, only note that the category to apply depends on what we're worried about. If the category is intellectual brilliance, then definitely we have players on the varsity and players in high school and players in church leagues. A person betraying his country for money and a person betraying his country because he is working for the enemy is in both cases person betraying his country. And a dumb guy can wreak as much havoc, given the chance, as a genius. Gavrilo Princip was by no means a rocket scientist.
I've been reading Anne Applebaum's "Twilight of Democracy," which I think is excellent.
There is a case to be made that authoritarianism is really the state of nature, the return to the mean without intervention, and that democracy is something that requires active defense and maintenance. It seems that the far Right is in the driver's seat on the Right, and that this perspective frames the world in a stark way of those who are patriots, and those who are degenerate traitors. Hence the affection for Putin and Orban. They perceive them as defending conservatism against the hoards. It doesn't matter if rights are being trampled, essentially martial law needs to be called to address the imminent threat of the Left. This is war, and they will do whatever needs to be done to achieve their aims. To stand on principle in this extremist environment is to make yourself irrelevant and an enemy of the Right. Being irrelevant or ejected from the tribe is the worst fate that many can imagine. To embrace extremism is to inject yourself into influence, power, and money.
I mainly agree with this point, but my issue is framing Bannon, Carlson, Ingraham and all the rest in the same category at all. I would argue Carlson and Ingraham both fall in the Nihilist "whatever makes us the most money we'll talk about", and Bannon falls in the "white nationalism needs to make a comeback and I can escape to Russia if I need to. I don't think Carlson and Ingraham are explicitly pro-Russia, they are pro-rile up the viewer base so we make more money off of advertiser's.
D'Souza and Kirk I would argue are much stupider than the others listed above.
Can't disagree, only note that the category to apply depends on what we're worried about. If the category is intellectual brilliance, then definitely we have players on the varsity and players in high school and players in church leagues. A person betraying his country for money and a person betraying his country because he is working for the enemy is in both cases person betraying his country. And a dumb guy can wreak as much havoc, given the chance, as a genius. Gavrilo Princip was by no means a rocket scientist.
Fair point
I've been reading Anne Applebaum's "Twilight of Democracy," which I think is excellent.
There is a case to be made that authoritarianism is really the state of nature, the return to the mean without intervention, and that democracy is something that requires active defense and maintenance. It seems that the far Right is in the driver's seat on the Right, and that this perspective frames the world in a stark way of those who are patriots, and those who are degenerate traitors. Hence the affection for Putin and Orban. They perceive them as defending conservatism against the hoards. It doesn't matter if rights are being trampled, essentially martial law needs to be called to address the imminent threat of the Left. This is war, and they will do whatever needs to be done to achieve their aims. To stand on principle in this extremist environment is to make yourself irrelevant and an enemy of the Right. Being irrelevant or ejected from the tribe is the worst fate that many can imagine. To embrace extremism is to inject yourself into influence, power, and money.