Embracing McCarthyism

Supporters of the Critical Race Theory moral panic happily take up the legacy of persecution.

Yesterday on Twitter I compared the current Critical Race Theory (CRT) moral panic, with its frequent invocations of the myth of Judeo-Bolshevism in the form of allusions to the Frankfurt School, with the McCarthy era targeting of “red professors.” I posted a cover from The America Legion magazine from 1951 to illustrate the point.

The tweet got a lot of response, mostly positive. But there was a distinct minority of anti-CRT obsessives who, interestingly, didn’t dispute the comparison but rather embraced it. There argument was that McCarthyism was justified and so is the campaign against so-called Critical Race Theory.

A few examples:

Puma 🇵🇪 @CallaoPuma

And they were right to do so

Jeet Heer @HeerJeet

The original war against Critical Race Theory & (((Red Professors))). https://t.co/TPJkROBPW3

地獄ケーキ(pre-debut Vtuber)🍰🇺🇸🚞 @JigokuCake

Should've listened to those guys. Maybe then we wouldn't have all of our institutions filled with deranged cultists and ethno-narcissists.

Jeet Heer @HeerJeet

The original war against Critical Race Theory & (((Red Professors))). https://t.co/TPJkROBPW3

Auron MacIntyre @AuronMacintyre

McCarthy was right https://t.co/FvgSEtttVj

Jeet Heer @HeerJeet

The original war against Critical Race Theory & (((Red Professors))). https://t.co/TPJkROBPW3

Jeremy Carl @jeremycarl4

Imagine thinking we wouldn’t have been better off had we rid our university faculties of Communists https://t.co/Ln8K8e22PA

Jeet Heer @HeerJeet

The original war against Critical Race Theory & (((Red Professors))). https://t.co/TPJkROBPW3

I don’t want to make too much of this. Likely these tweets were all directed my way from a common source. And I doubt most people who take up the cudgel against CRT would so explicitly say they are practicing McCarthyism. Still, it’s worth noting that there are at least a faction among those scare mongering CRT who understand the closest parallel to what they are doing is the anti-left cultural purge of the 1950s. And they are pleased at the prospect of bringing back the McCarthy era.

As the say goes, when people tell you who they are, believe them. We should fully believe that some on the right are ready to unleash a new McCarthyism with CRT as the bogeyman de jour.

Yesterday’s Post

I mistakenly made yesterday’s post for subscribers only when I wanted everyone to read it. You can find it here.

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