Salon writer argues that there's no such thing as left-wing authoritarianism

Ben Shapiro has a new book out called “The Authoritarian Moment,” and it argues that the real threat of authoritarianism is coming from the Left and not the Right. Liberal critics disagree, of course, but most of them would rather attack Shapiro than his argument.

Salon writer Cody Cain wrote a really shallow piece about how there’s no such thing as left-wing authoritarianism no matter how much Republicans claim there is. Someone at Raw Story thought it was worth picking up and republishing, or maybe they were just looking for a ratio.

Republicans claim to fear left-wing authoritarianism — but there's no such thing https://t.co/h5IXdhF8Mi

— Raw Story (@RawStory) August 14, 2021

Cain writes:

In fact, lying is the only way the right wing can win elections. After all, its policies are profoundly unpopular with ordinary people because the right-wing favors the 1% rich over the 99% working and middle classes.

How in the world could 1% of the population ever win elections over the 99%? Simple. The 1% bamboozles the 99%. To win elections, the right must conceal its true intentions from the voters and instead engage in manipulative tactics, like lying and fearmongering.

We told you it was shallow.

During and after the Cold War, the right undertook a relentless campaign that rages on to this day of falsely smearing Democrats and the left as the cause of authoritarianism, like the horrendous dictatorships of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler in Germany, Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela.

In fact, the right so maligned the concept of “socialism” and the profoundly influential thinker Karl Marx that “socialism” remains a poisonous word to this day, often wielded as a weapon against Democrats and liberals.

Actually debunked. This theory only exists because people only researched right-wing authoritarianism, resulting in circular logic that lefties version must not exist because they never looked.
This is why you shouldn't trust partisan "news."https://t.co/UMSn58lTX3

— Kaiser 🌸 (@tcmp72) August 14, 2021

This publisher is exploiting a mentally disabled writer to gin up outrage clicks. This is shameful "circus freak" style publishing.

— wooga (@thewooga) August 14, 2021

"Our glorious left-wing rulers are infallible. Their policies are popular, and there is no such thing as left-wing authoritarianism! Glory be to the left!" pic.twitter.com/cadBdhq0ZO

— Fred (@FredZembo) August 14, 2021

is this not the worst article you've ever read? truly, it reads like a high schooler wrote it, never having experienced life and only seeing the world thru Steven Colbert, Samantha Bee and Jon Oliver

— classical liberati (@TruthOverTeam) August 14, 2021

Did a child write this crap?

— Truth 🇺🇸 (@theRealTrueFan) August 14, 2021

This is one of the dumbest posts on Twitter. Delete your account.

— OnlyReadHeadlines (@JeepHokie23) August 14, 2021

This piece really is one of the worst we’ve read, and it made it not only to Salon but Raw Story as well.

Related:

USA Today journo shaming people for sending mean tweets to intern whose 1st published piece was authoritarianism at its UGLIEST backfires https://t.co/VNH0ExVyCf

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 29, 2021