How about a really systematic exploration of other contemporary collaborators with totalitarian regimes whose propaganda you would like to tout to unsettle readers? Or, would that disturb the shocking effect of your bold free thought on your readership?His response is illuminating. Among the various 20th century thinkers he highlights as "collaborators" to evil regimes are Susan Sontag and Eric Hobsbawm. But even more interesting are his readers' responses. Here's "Bill" commenting on the purpose of the question:
This is an unthinking post.Discussions of the validity of the question aside, it seems to me that MR's readers are by far the smartest and well-reasoned readers anywhere.
It is unthinking because it doesn't define collaborator, and relies on guilt by association.
It would be a better post if it asked: what were the ideas that x person agreed with that y person had. And, would be fairer and more objective if it did. And, it should make a distinction between means and ends.
I'm interested in Berchmans' and Esquire's responses to this question.
I think someone should write a book on this and call it something like "Liberal Fascism"...
ReplyDeleteWait, someone already did that?? :)
What exactly are you asking me to respond to, VM? The question posed in the Marginal Revolution post? The same one you say whose validity we should put aside?
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem is that it seems unfair and sad to label Susan Sontag, whose work encompassed a broad range of criticism, simply for her political views (which, needless to say, I didn't enjoy). Who can forget, for instance, her famous essay on camp? Or the need to develop a new "erotics of art" that confronts the new joy and pleasure of experiencing a text?
I'm not saying she shouldn't be slammed, like Sartre, for being a little too fond for the U.S.S.R. But what qualifies for collaboration needs to be defined; I doubt the Soviet Union benefited all that much from the rather obscure support it received from elite intellectuals like Sontag and Sartre.
For what it's worth, Cowen -- not all of us are on first-name basis with him, VM -- also lists American Founders and other "Western Intellectuals" who supported slavery and imperialism. Very, very bold statement there.