On your second point, I think I'd agree with you. I am fine with being described as an intellectual descendant of Kropotkin and Goldman. Most modern Piers Morgan fans would interpret it as an insult if you described them as the intellectual descendants of Julius Evola.
This is partially because of antiintellectualism (Leftist kids are constantly telling each other to read theory, it's an in joke because of how common it is, and there is no equivalent to this on the Right) but I would argue that a bigger part of it is, as Altemeyer argued, conformism.
Many on the Right see being normal as good, and therefore they feel they must describe their ideas as being innately normal; for them to admit that their ideas are in a specific intellectual tradition is to place them outside of the mythical "normal, mainstream, common sense", which is profoundly uncomfortable for a conformist.
This isn't true for everyone on the Right, but it is true for many of them. Piers Morgan is not going to self-describe as a fascist; I believe he doesn't consider himself to be a fascist even in private.
Passenger
npub1s0…n7dfq
2025-12-21 09:29:26 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…wf83
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