We need to think a little about what our contemporaries mean when they fret about the ‘far Right’, the ‘hard Right’, the ‘radical Right’ and ‘Right-wing extremists’. I open the newspaper and find these phrases everywhere, and it is common also to find them in academic articles – as if they have explanatory power. Well, no: as usual, these phrases do not explain anything: in fact, they need to be explained. And I have a bit of an explanation.
On April 6th 1967 Theodor Adorno was invited to give a lecture in Vienna. The title was ‘Aspekte des Neuen Rechtsradikalismus‘, or ‘Aspects of the New Right Extremism’. (This was published in English in April 2020 – odd, eh?) I find variants of this argument everywhere, but I rarely see anyone give Adorno credit for them. His argument was that Right extremism was caused by resentment, fear or anxiety created by life in a democratic society. The standard Leftist explanation of this is that it is caused by economic inequality. Those who suffer from economic inequalities should, and would if they were rational (and one has to laugh here), fall in with Leftist politics and the effort to secure economic equality. But they don’t. Instead, they, since they are irrational, get tangled up in concerns about race, gender, nation etc. This is good. It is extremely patronising. Anyhow, read the Guardian and you’ll find this sort of patronising, caring argument trotted out on almost a daily basis.
To read the rest of this article, you need to donate at least £5/month or £50/year to the Daily Sceptic, then create an account on this website. The easiest way to create an account after you’ve made a donation is to click on the ‘Log In’ button on the main menu bar, click ‘Register’ underneath the sign-in box, then create an account, making sure you enter the same email address as the one you used when making a donation. Once you’re logged in, you can then read all our paywalled content, including this article. Being a donor will also entitle you to comment below the line, discuss articles with our contributors and editors in a members-only Discord forum and access the premium content in the Sceptic, our weekly podcast. A one-off donation of at least £5 will also entitle you to the same benefits for one month. You can donate here.
There are more details about how to create an account, and a number of things you can try if you’re already a donor – and have an account – but cannot access the above perks on our Premium page.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.