RUTHFULLY YOURS

We all know what authoritarians are when it comes to politics, don’t we? They are the people who enjoy telling others what they can and can’t do or say. They are reactionaries, the ‘hang ’em and flog ’em’ types. At worst, they are ‘fascists’, a word deployed to describe the most heinous authoritarians. This epithet accords with the long-standing assumption that the nastiest folk in politics are right wing.

Anyone who’s been paying attention to the news since the ‘great awokening’ of nearly 10 years ago will appreciate that this stereotype is now hopelessly outdated. As the recent inquisition of the Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson (regarding a reputedly ‘offensive’ post on social media) has laid bare, the forces of authoritarianism today have their origins most assuredly in the ‘progressive’ or ‘woke’ left. The urge to bully wrongthinkers and silence the views of others now invariably comes from those who think of themselves as most compassionate.

American psychologist and sociologist Luke Conway has been observing this development for some time. Like countless others who write about this topic, he is of the traditional centre left. While he hasn’t so much moved to the right, he has seen how the left in the US and beyond has drifted to the extreme. Seduced by voguish and outlandish narratives about race and gender, it has adopted an absolutist mindset that has little patience for disagreement. Conway’s new book, Liberal Bullies: Inside the Mind of the Authoritarian Left, does exactly as it says on the tin, so to speak. It explains how today’s autocratic spirit derives from erstwhile liberals.

‘You will see authoritarian leftists censor, bully, silence, harass and destroy their enemies’, says Conway. Conway points to the example of Mumford & Sons co-founder Winston Marshall, whose decision to speak out against Antifa in 2021 led to his social ostracism and eventual departure from the band.

Many actresses, baseball personalities and Google employees ‘have all been fired for expressing conservative views’, Conway writes. This is not to mention the countless number of ordinary men or women in the street who, if not being sacked for their opinions, now keep quiet about them lest they be met with unforgiving judgement.

The picture in 2024 is grim, particularly in universities and the public sector at large. The compulsion to bully for the sake of progressive values is enforced without pity – by individuals, institutions and the state.

What has caused liberals to become the main motors of authoritarianism, a state of mind once associated with puritan and moralistic conservatives? After all, progressives have always considered their tribe synonymous with allowing people to think for themselves and live whatever life they choose. They forever champion ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’. Surely a ‘liberal bully’ is a contradiction in terms?

This is why hyper-progressives can’t accept their behaviour for what it has become. They can’t even understand the concept of a left-wing authoritarian, writes Conway. They’re in denial. He quotes a telling article from Salon, which asserts: ‘Yes, dictators sometimes cloak themselves in “socialism”. But tyranny, here and elsewhere, is always right wing.’ To paraphrase a famous Mitchell and Webb comedy skit, left-liberals don’t even realise they have become the bad guys.

The reason for the left’s drift into authoritarianism is, of course, the result of the expansion, conquest and tightening hegemony of woke ideology over the past decade. This seductive dogma views the world strictly in terms of right and wrong. It’s a simplistic, highly moralistic doctrine that has no room for, or understanding of, shades of opinion. It is underpinned by a logic that heretics and evil-doers cannot be reasoned with or talked to, but instead must be silenced and crushed.

People beholden to ideologies have their minds furnished with ready-made solutions, which they see no reason to discuss. This is why the self-righteous grow angry with doubters. Simple minds don’t like uncertainty. That is also why left-liberals today are so obsessed with banning ‘misinformation’. They don’t comprehend that there are more questions than answers in the world.

Indeed, cleaving to their iron-clad certainties over the years has resulted in a form of mental atrophy and intellectual apathy among liberal bullies. They are so reliant on dogma that the result has been ‘cognitive rigidity’. They take refuge in simple language. Their use of juvenile, Manichean rhetoric lays bare a mind that no longer questions the world, but just barks at it. Alastair Campbell’s posts on X spring to mind here.

This is why liberal bullies have got away with their behaviour for so long. They rule by fear and opponents are duly cowed. Their triumphs in silencing dissent in the cultural sphere has only emboldened them further and made their behaviour worse. This has not only rendered them ever-more power-hungry, but also ever-more stupid. Conway explains: ‘Research in social psychology shows that critical thinking often decreases in the majority when the minority is silenced.’

What can be done to fight back? Indeed, if wokery is on the retreat, as many have recently claimed, do we even need to fight back now the tide has turned? Many declare that the Democratic defeat in the most recent US presidential elections has dealt identity politics and hyper-liberalism a mortal blow.

It is debatable whether woke is moribund. An endless stream of stories this year alone suggests woke has become tacitly normalised, not eradicated. Still, Luke Conway proffers sound advice on how to beat it, and his tone in this fascinating book is optimistic. Citing research and polls taken of those from all persuasions, he shows how conservatives and liberals are far more suspicious of each other than they need be. In overcoming undue preconceptions we can arrive at civilised solutions – but if only we talk to each other more.

We must engage in respectful disagreement. The ability and willingness to disagree is the very essence of democracy. The desire to impose a stable, permanent consensus is its very antithesis. ‘We have to work together’, Conway urges. ‘That doesn’t mean we stop arguing. In fact, it means the opposite of that. We should argue – and argue vigorously.’

The worst possible solution to any social matter is to bludgeon, coerce and shout orders. Ideas must be exchanged through explanation, persuasion and encouraging people to think – not telling them what to think.

Patrick West is a spiked columnist. His latest book, Get Over Yourself: Nietzsche For Our Times, is published by Societas.