Comment by Saline9515

> Maurice Barrès wasn't a Nazi

being involved in the national socialist movement in france would make one a nazi.

> In this quote, he isn't against intellectualism

he was though, so are most fascists. Better to find an external threat, use populism and claim anyone who can see through the lies is a pompous university know-it-all, you know like every single fascist movement has ever done.

> against intellectuals thinking that they form a second society above the plebs

of course, pretending to represent "the people" gives a ton of credance to your argument, sadly his platform reached nowhere and only the absolute losers of vichy france, which made a goverment that last about 15 minutes ever paid any attention. Also just to be clarify, they got into power through violence not by any will of the "people", you know the masses they pretended to represent

> Your ad hominem arguments are ignorant here

Ad hominem are attacks to a person not to content, but I attacked his political career not his person. You used a quote of a nazi to defend anti intellectualism it just not worth examining the myriad of ways it fails, populism never works

> You seem to lack media litteracy

works better when you proofread

> Pritti Patel did nothing

She proposed the nationality and borders act of 2022, which would have barred her own parents from entering the UK when they arrived.

> witnessed its largest immigration flow during the last conservative rule.

rich people love cheap labour, but also the UK is desperate for certain jobs and the locals think they are both too good to do them and too arrogant to learn. Also the highest increase was by and large university students, a group with 0 expense on education, low expense of healthcare, and a massive bill (20-35k per year at uni + living expenses). It is literally the best group for immigration

> Saying things is worthless if not followed by actions.

a number of the bills passed, including the interim agreement with Rwanda, for which the UK paid 200 million to allow them to send asylum seekers to a prision in the middle of nowhere. Because validating the feelings of bigots was worth more in political capital than actually just hiring a few more clerks to process the asylum requests faster so they can either be accepted or denied

> now it's my fault?

its not your fault, but his inclusion was relevant, regardless of his appearance on the wikipedia article

> I agree that free speech is decreasing in America. However, it's still much better in the US than in UK.

no, its just as bad. They just bump their chest louder, but the UK never had anything half as bad as Mcarthysm to give an obvious example

> You just said that you wanted to jail neo-nazis in the previous post.

treason is not speech, and neonazi believes/actions and politics are treasonous to the UK. You cant blitz london and ask for a megaphone

> very good example of the overton window theory.

the overton window is not how far right or far left a country is, its the ideas that are so assumed they dont even get discussed. If you want an example of the Overton window you can use the Atlantic pact, the US being Allied with Europe. That was so basic that everyone in europe and america took it for granted until Trump 3 months ago decided to shit on 50 years of precedent. The Tories in the Uk being extremely right wing has nothing to do with the overton window.

> UK conservatives are centrists at best.

centrism makes little sense as a political theory. Right wing ideologies believe in hierarchies (god over men, rich over poor, men over women) and left wing ideologies believe in reducing or removing hierarchies. Being a centrist at best would be wanting to allow some hierarchies but not others, which is possible but its not a very coherent political stance.

Uk conservatives are monarchists, most approve of the church of england, they are aggresive capitalists and most are in some regard anti any societal structure beyond binary men and women. They are in almost every regard Right wing. Their economic plans are regressive not progressive, so entrenching economic hierarchies over uprooting them.

Calling them centrist is not possible, unless you define being right wing as being far right in which case they are furhter to the left.

> Barrès is not my "friend"

I forgot people who quote nazis tend to ignore metaphor im sorry. I will only use 2 syllable words too just in case.

> I'm citing him for the historical perspective on what an "intellectual" is, in the concept of "anti-intellectuallism".

you cited him, as a defender of anti intellectualism, as if knowledge was somehow incapable of being in tune with "the masses", a populist idea very similar to the ones of early fascist italian writers, later copied by many of the great purges in east asia.

YOu have to be extremely insecure to be scared of smart people. Every country thrives on its capital, on its resources, on its connections and on its human capital. Removing them out of fear will leave your country supremely disadvantaged.

> anyone you don't agree with of being a "nazi".

The dude wrote extensively about his anti semitism, his ethnic nationalism, his will to create a national identity around the concept of removing the jews from france. HE WAS A LITERAL MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY.

> lacks the one regarding the working-class whites being the category that benefits the less from the school system

they are also the voting group that puts education the lowest, the have the highest dropout rate outside of vulnerable groups and they are one of the lowest participants in extra school activities (like helping with homework) with their kids.

Immigrant parents who prioritise education smoke them in results.

i didnt mention that point because its been done to death, culturally poor white families have not culturally prioritised education. In america they have the same problem, most math olympiad kids are either immigrants or sons of immigrants.

> and less in gender-affirming transitions?

the UK education budget is 115 billion per year, the nhs has spent around 50 million a year on gender care.

Maybe you can ask an immigrant kid to help you with the math