3. Nearly 50 years after his death, Hofstadter continues to shape how educated Americans understand things like social darwinism, populism, conspiracy theories, and anti-intellectualism. Alas, he was wrong about almost everything.
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14. J. Edgar Hoover's paranoid war against radicalism & civil rights had elite support from Palmer Raids till Nixon.
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15. Conspiracy theory that North Vietnam was pawn of Red China (and not motivated by nationalism) was held by elites in JFK & LBJ administration & led to war.
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16. Conspiracy theories that led to Iraq War (Axis of Evil, Saddam-AQ connection, WMDs) all fostered by elites.
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17. If you want to see conspiracy theories go read editorial page of Bret Stephens old newspaper Wall Street Journal on climate change or Vince Foster.
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18. Ultimately, the appeal of Hofstadter is that he provides the comforting idea of a sensible center, relegating discontent & error to the margins. That's a false view of history.
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19. One last point: it's interesting how much of centrist punditry still relies not just on Hofstadter but other Cold War liberals (Niebuhr, Trilling). They remain foundational for a elite consensus worldview.
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End of conversation
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Yeah let’s not. This is a bad thread.
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War on terror
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The Red Scare still lingers; cause for Vietnam & domino theory, nuke build up, infected both parties and undermined labor and socialism.
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None of these are conspiracy theories properly understood. That one misunderstands a particular threat doesn’t make one a conspiracy theorist.
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