How Critical Theory is Challenging Liberty from Both Sides | Lib Lib Report

On the Common Roots of the Illiberal Right and the Illiberal Left

Welcome to the Lib Lib Report, i.e. the Liberal Libertarian Report, where we talk about news and current affairs from a liberal libertarian point of view. We aim for a practical pro-liberty politics encouraging things like free speech and free thought in the here and now, while looking for more libertarian solutions moving towards the future.

Recently, I have been talking quite a lot about the similarities between the illiberal Left and the illiberal Right. Today, I want to go deeper into exploring this similarity. We might even find out that they are basically the same thing, to a great extent.

Let's start with this quote: "Conservatives understand that culture war means discrediting their opponents and weakening or destroying their institutions. Progressives should approach the culture war with a similar realism. Civility and decency are secondary values. They regulate compliance with an established order and orthodoxy. We should seek to use these values to enforce our order and our orthodoxy, not pretend that they could ever be neutral."

Sounds like something written by a critical theory inspired illiberal Left activist, right? In fact, it's a quote taken from Sohrab Ahmari's famous 2019 article 'Against David French-ism', with 'conservatives' and 'progressives' switched around. The rest of that article also contains themes often found in critical theory-sympathetic texts, like how liberal neutrality is ultimately impossible and will eventually lead to your enemies taking away your freedom. In other words, Ahmari and his fellow travelers actually think like the critical theory Left, but in reverse. Call it the critical turn in conservatism, if you like.

And this resemblance is no accident either. At least some of the people in the illiberal Right have a history of being on the Left, where they are likely to have encountered the critical theory worldview. Ahmari himself admitted to having studied and 'adored' critical theories in college, in his recent article 'The problem with anti-woke liberals' (Unheard, 2022). In that article, he also called the 'marketplace of ideas' a liberal idol. Again, this sounds exactly like something that an ardent supporter of critical theory might have written. What I think is, Ahmari and people like him never really left the critical theory worldview behind when they left the Left, they simply turned it around to serve the Right's political goals now that they have become disillusioned with the Left. Therefore, much of the illiberal Right could be basically an inverted version of the illiberal Left.

The worrying thing about the illiberal Right is that, like the illiberal Left, they are beginning the influence real world events. And the kind of influence is similar too: curtailing free speech, and using raw power to override the market. The recent plight of Disney in Florida illustrates this point. In the beginning, they were just going about their business, when the state passed the 'Parental Rights in Education' legislation, also commonly referred to as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill. Some on the Left were unhappy that Disney didn't speak up against it at first, despite opposing the legislation. This eventually led to the Florida Democratic Party canceling plans to hold their fundraiser at Disney World, after some people threatened to boycott the event.

Afterwards, Disney publicly took a position against the legislation, which angered the Right and led to calls to boycott them from the Right. Going even further, the Republican administration and congress eventually decided to take action to punish Disney, by revoking arrangements granted to them many decades ago, the House passing the legislation in less than five minutes with no debate, despite potential for massive job losses and as well as greatly increased and inefficient government. All this for a company having a stance on a piece of legislation! This was clearly a case of using unchecked state power to punish legal, private speech, with likely adverse consequences on the people too.

If all this is a glimpse into what an illiberal society will look like in the future, I am truly afraid. Everything is politicized, not taking a position is subject to punishment, and taking a position, any position, is also subject to punishment. The illiberal dystopia is basically a place where everyone has to walk on eggshells all the time, or else they might become collateral damage of the culture wars. If the illiberals on both or either side win, free speech and freedom of conscience will basically become history. It's why we must work hard to uphold liberalism, and push back against both the illiberal Left and the illiberal Right. Knowing that they are both products of the power-obsessed critical theory worldview allows us to effectively argue against both at the same time, using basically the same arguments, and standing on the same principles.