The use of state power to wage these culture war fights may be the most concerning thing going on in our politics right now, and DeSantis has excelled in this. This piece is a good analysis of his illiberal policy choices.
What's interesting, though, is that often his targets aren't something that he's creating himself, like Joseph McCart…
The use of state power to wage these culture war fights may be the most concerning thing going on in our politics right now, and DeSantis has excelled in this. This piece is a good analysis of his illiberal policy choices.
What's interesting, though, is that often his targets aren't something that he's creating himself, like Joseph McCarthy or, for that matter, Trump. As you document, people like Chris Rufo, the Daily Wire presenters, Rod Dreher frequently are the ones who find stuff to complain about and formulate intellectual arguments against -- and then these items gets picked up DeSantis and his political operation as fodder for a stunt or an awful illiberal policy.
There is also a second set of intellectuals who carry water for people like Rufo and Dreher by reposting, echoing, praising the latter, while ostensibly still defending the principle of pluralism and democratic governance, usually in the self-styled role of courageous outsider. The "Intellectual Dark Web" had this role for a bit, before many of them sank into the swamps of pure crankery, but people like Wesley Yang, Matt Taibbi and, occasionally, Andrew Sullivan, still do this.
We can only fight back against DeSantis and politicians like him by winning elections or winning in court. There's no conversation possible with Trumpy "intellectuals" like Rufo or Ben Shapiro, because their arguments are all iron-clad nonsense. Which leaves the second set of intellectuals who are not so shameless as to be impervious to intellectual embarrassment; in the right forum (i.e., not social media), one can, in fact, make arguments that have consequences, because they don't want to appear foolish, and so what matters, then, is finding that forum and making the argument effectively.
I'd be interested in hearing your view on this second category of writer/talking head. I'm also curious if you've thought about what forums are working or could work for this purpose (of course, this is one of the animating concerns of this publication)?
The use of state power to wage these culture war fights may be the most concerning thing going on in our politics right now, and DeSantis has excelled in this. This piece is a good analysis of his illiberal policy choices.
What's interesting, though, is that often his targets aren't something that he's creating himself, like Joseph McCarthy or, for that matter, Trump. As you document, people like Chris Rufo, the Daily Wire presenters, Rod Dreher frequently are the ones who find stuff to complain about and formulate intellectual arguments against -- and then these items gets picked up DeSantis and his political operation as fodder for a stunt or an awful illiberal policy.
There is also a second set of intellectuals who carry water for people like Rufo and Dreher by reposting, echoing, praising the latter, while ostensibly still defending the principle of pluralism and democratic governance, usually in the self-styled role of courageous outsider. The "Intellectual Dark Web" had this role for a bit, before many of them sank into the swamps of pure crankery, but people like Wesley Yang, Matt Taibbi and, occasionally, Andrew Sullivan, still do this.
We can only fight back against DeSantis and politicians like him by winning elections or winning in court. There's no conversation possible with Trumpy "intellectuals" like Rufo or Ben Shapiro, because their arguments are all iron-clad nonsense. Which leaves the second set of intellectuals who are not so shameless as to be impervious to intellectual embarrassment; in the right forum (i.e., not social media), one can, in fact, make arguments that have consequences, because they don't want to appear foolish, and so what matters, then, is finding that forum and making the argument effectively.
I'd be interested in hearing your view on this second category of writer/talking head. I'm also curious if you've thought about what forums are working or could work for this purpose (of course, this is one of the animating concerns of this publication)?