The Red Pill

More thoughts on Hitler and Mussolini and whether they were Left or Right wingers.

Jonah Goldberg: Conservative study reveals academic bias: "According to the media summary put out by Berkeley's crack press office (and later pulled from its Web site), all 'conservatives' share the same basic psychological wiring. They give four examples of four conservatives who share these attributes: Hitler, Mussolini, Rush Limbaugh and Ronald Reagan.
Now, this whole thing is what I like to call a pinata of asininity - bash it from any angle and from any distance and you will get some reward. But let me pick a few points.
First of all, Hitler and Mussolini weren't conservatives. Or at least, the idea that Mussolini and Hitler were 'conservative' as we understand the term in the United States and Britain is very, very much in dispute among political scientists and intellectual historians.
For example, Hitler always claimed he was improving upon Marxism and socialism ('Nazi' does stand for National Socialism, you know). Mussolini was born into a socialist family, was a leading socialist journalist and thinker and was admired by Lenin. When Mussolini broke with the Socialist Party about WWI, he declared, 'You think you can turn me out, but you will find I shall come back again. I am and shall remain a socialist and my convictions will never change! They are bred into my very bones.'"