POL101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Refugee Shelter, Congress Of Vienna, Grenade
Document Summary
International system - why would certain sections of intellectual opinion ingratiate themselves to those who would slash their throats? (ex. why would left wing intellectuals defend anti- intellectual communist ideology in the 20th century) The practice of maoism/stalinism/trotskyism leads to mass suffering, but according to certain left-wing intellectuals they could believe a certain ideal exists (communism in practice isn"t actually what it was intended to be) An intellectual job description for a professor requires an inherent desire to criticize, and to view all societies, including their own with a deep degree of mistrusting skepticism. When living in a liberal, democratic society it is difficult to find better societies, which makes sense as to why certain idealists would not be supportive of their own society. Mccarthy"s anti-communism is a good example of fascism/authoritarianism in the us in terms of suppressing political dissent (people didn"t die on nearly the same scale as in the gulags, concentration camps, etc. )
