Did you read the article? I think it does a pretty good job of explaining what the author means by that phrase. The author articulates her concept of a “far center” (as opposed to far right and far left), which she describes as people who take liberal values to reactionary extremes, valuing civility over justice, etc.
The far center is for free speech and bourgeois institutions; it is against cancel culture, student protests, and radicalism of any kind. Yet it rejects the idea of a shared ideology or politics. Instead, its members see themselves as independently sane individuals — concerned citizens who wish only to defend civil society from the unbearable encroachments of politics. So the far center is liberal, in that its highest value is freedom; but it is also reactionary, in that its vision of freedom lacks any corresponding vision of justice.
The controversial columnist is exiting the New York Times “Opinion” section this spring as part of a wave of job cuts. In 2022, after a decade of editing the Book Review, Paul joined “Opinion,” where she quickly gained a reputation as a liberal contrarian determined to court the rage of the online left. Over three short years, Paul has breezily claimed that free speech is under assault by woke activists, that gender medicine is mutilating a generation of children, and that America has become a dark, dystopian place where freethinkers get canceled and nobody reads books anymore. Through all of this, she has proudly donned the mantle of a beleaguered liberal, rejecting any suggestion that she has collaborated with the victorious right. “If people on the fringe are accusing me of ‘making straw-man arguments’ or ‘both-siderism,’” Paul said in 2023, “then I know that I’ve done something right.”
Yeah, a good bit of the article is dedicated to pointing out that there are a whole swathe of public “intellectuals” who describe themselves as Liberals but are shallow and regressive in their actual ideas.
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Intolerable side of liberalism? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
Did you read the article? I think it does a pretty good job of explaining what the author means by that phrase. The author articulates her concept of a “far center” (as opposed to far right and far left), which she describes as people who take liberal values to reactionary extremes, valuing civility over justice, etc.
That’s not liberalism. That’s libertarianism.
Libertarianism is Liberalism, classical liberalism specifically.
An archive link would probably help if you want people to actually read the article.
Wow what an absolute hero. 🙄
Yeah, a good bit of the article is dedicated to pointing out that there are a whole swathe of public “intellectuals” who describe themselves as Liberals but are shallow and regressive in their actual ideas.