Repressive Tolerance in Action
Recent Coverage Captures The Philosophy of Herbert Marcuse
Alexander Macris Jan 8, 2020
The events of January 6th captivated the attention of the nation and the globe. I will not discuss them here right now. If, as Zhou Enlai allegedly claimed, it is “too early to say” the full impact of the French Revolution; then it is far to soon to know the impact of January 6th.
This has not, of course, stopped the political pundits of Left and Right from telling us what they think. Perhaps the most consistent narrative that has emerged is one of right-wing outrage at the left-wing media coverage.
Across the social media landscape, right-wing pundits and populists are furious at the “hypocrisy” of the Left praising last summer’s #BLM “protests” while condemning this week’s DC “insurrection.”
But the Left is not being hypocritical when it condemns the Americans who stormed the Capitol Building. It is following its stated doctrine. Repressive tolerance is that doctrine, and it was developed by Herbert Marcuse in a famous article of the same name. I have twice broached the doctrine of repressive tolerance, once in Why Don’t Leftists Condemn the Violence and once in Total and Limited War and Politics. The reaction to January 6th suggests I should discuss the doctrine again.
For a detailed exposition of repressive tolerance, I refer you to my earlier articles. Here, let’s just summarize the doctrine of repressive tolerance in plain English:
- Tolerance is only to be extended to truth.
- Leftism is objectively true, and anything other than leftism is not.
- Therefore tolerance is only to be extended to leftism.
- Anyone who disagrees with this has been indoctrinated. To the extent that the majority of people disagree, that means the majority of people are indoctrinated.
- Since most people are indoctrinated, leftists must break the indoctrination so that they can grasp the truth of leftism.
- To break the indoctrination, leftists must promote left-wing thought and suppress right-wing thought.
- Promoting left-wing thought is accomplished by changing “established universes of meaning” and actively presenting “information slanted in the opposite direction,” e.g. by political correctness and propaganda.
- Suppressing right-wing thought is accomplished by withdrawing the freedom of speech, press, and assembly for anyone who disagrees with leftists on race, gender, religion, armament, public services, social security, or healthcare, e.g. deplatforming us entirely.
- If necessary to withdraw these freedoms, leftists must operate at such scale that the actions cease to be non-violent and become revolutionary violence.
- Leftists who use revolutionary violence are not to be condemned by any leftists.
In brief, the doctrine holds that left-wing speech, assembly and even violence must be praised and promoted; while right-wing speech, assembly, and especially violence must be condemned, suppressed, and punished.
And that doctrine is being implemented 24/7/365 in the aftermath of January 6th.
Left-Wing Revolutionary Violence is Good; Right-Wing Reactionary Violence is Bad
Herbert Marcuse says:
“There is a difference between revolutionary and reactionary violence, between violence practiced by the oppressed and by the oppressors… If [revolutionaries] use violence, they do not start a new chain of violence but try to break an established one… [N]o third person, and least of all the educator and intellectual, has the right to preach them abstention.”
Sally Kohn, German Lopez, and the rest of the mainstream media all practice what Marcuse preaches:
Violent left-wing protests are justified revolutions because of the past history of oppression. Violent right-wing protests are unjustified reactions to peaceful change.
The causes of left-wing riots must be addressed, because those causes are just. The causes of right-wing riots are unjust, so the rioters should all be locked up. This is repressive tolerance in action.
Slanting Information to the Left is Good; Slanting Information to the Right is Bad
Herbert Marcus says:
It is necessary to break the established universe of meaning in order to enable man to find out what is true and false... The people are indoctrinated by the conditions under which they live and think… To enable them to become autonomous, to find by themselves what is true and what is false… they would have to be freed from the prevailing indoctrination. But this means that the trend would have to be reversed: they would have to get information slanted in the opposite direction.
To help people escape their right-wing brainwashing, we must slant the information to the left. CNN dutifully has enacted this doctrine:
The doctrine of repressive tolerance justifies a different reaction to the facts of left-wing versus right-wing violence - but it also justifies actually slanting the information that the people receive about those facts. It’s necessary to lie a little bit in order to help them see the larger truth.
Conservative Thought is Such an Extreme Danger that its Expression Must Be Banned
Herbert Marcuse says:
[E]xtreme suspension of the right of free speech and free assembly is… justified only if the whole of society is in extreme danger. I maintain that our society is in such an emergency situation, and that it has become the normal state of affairs.
Zuckerberg (or his social media guru) has clearly read and understood Marcuse. He practically paraphrases him: “Extreme suspension of the right of free speech is justified only if the whole of society is in extreme danger…” Because of Trump, “our society is in such an emergency situation.”