See the endless arguments about how the Nazis were “socialist.” Because they couldn’t possibly be liars. I like to counter by pointing out that they killed labor organizers, and asking whether the Juche Regime is “democratic,” and the Holy Roman Empire was “Roman.”
And I’m not convinced that these institutional strengths persist. The Soviets were terrible at military deception ops in 1941, but brilliant by the time they recovered Kyiv in '43 or Minsk in '44.
Eichenwald is problematic, and this isn’t new info, but fuck people who think that McDs and Walmart are anything but evil.
Still at it…
Hordes of authoritarian white liberals in the comment thread.
I’m a fan of both [1], but I’m not unhappy to see them fight. This is stuff that needs to be thrashed out.
Coates’ response in this thread, BTW:
https://twitter.com/tanehisicoates/status/942517503586058240
[1] I’m mostly Team Cornel in this one, though.
That’s, like, a new record.
He’s certainly being constructive in highlighting his relevant work versus one of the many that chastise their detractors for not having full encyclopedic knowledge of their works (usually including twitter rants not just published work). I’ve nothing to gain or lose being on either side, but I generally see Cornel as extremely persuasive which makes it harder to evaluate for sure.
Neatly summarised.
Thread:
Motivated by a current Twitter kerfuffle where folks are trying to deflect West’s critique by arguing over the definition of neoliberal.