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Christopher Chantrill's avatar

Yep. The Carl Schmitt distinction is really getting legs in our world.

I would say that while the "far right" whackos are not enemies, they are certainly an embarrassment.

Notice that our lefty friends do not have enemies to the left -- or even embarrassments.

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Christopher F. Rufo's avatar

It's concerning to me that the friend-enemy distinction is becoming more attractive to people. It signals, in part, that some of the regular parliamentary politics—i.e., the "loyal opposition" model—is straining.

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Tommaso di Maria's avatar

The friend/enemy part of Schmitt, but also politics as theological warfare, via ideology (gnostic religiosity via "Praxis") is gaining - again.

The 20th C. was full of this idea (Soviet and Italian (Fascist) Marxists, National Socialism). Now we are succumbing - belatedly, perhaps, but still. Schmitt really can be read (as I read him) as a theorist of ideological politics, per-se.

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