5. One interesting thing here is that @jbouie is looking at Enlightenment as historian does (as a complex, evolving, time-bound thing). His right-wing critics are treating it as an etherial, ahistoric talisman offering perfect wisdom on individualism, freedom, democray
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17. Now, Brooks claim might be defensible if it at least acknowledged all the ways Locke was not a champion of "human equality" etc. (he denied natives had land rights, was complicit in slavery, had very hedged view of Catholic civil rights, etc.)
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18. Brooks himself seems to know grand claim he's making is, in scholarly terms, bullshit. That's why he had hedge: "That belief, championed by John Locke, or a story we tell about Locke, paved the way for human equality": "a story we tell about Locke." LOL
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19. Now,
@jbouie is an extremely careful & conscientious writer with a much better grounding in scholarship than most journalists. The stuff he tweeted out was very mainstream intellectual historyShow this thread -
20. The guy who went after Bouie is Ben Domenech, a very dubious character, who was able to send chittering flying monkeys, almost all of who argued in bad faith or ignorance, to harass Bouie for a whole day. That's twitter for you.
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End of conversation
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