Hayek, and a Half-Truth
Someone named Jesse Larner has an article in the winter issue of Dissent on Friedrich Hayek. He decided to make a study of Hayek, he writes, “much as, in my twenties, I decided I really ought to read the Bible. Influential, whether I like it or not.”
How brave.
Larner makes some half-hearted gestures of respect for Hayek so he can seem as if he came at the Liberal in good faith. He then delivers a long series “gotchya” non sequiturs that are supposed to leave us pitying the poor uninformed Austrian for the yawning gaps in his thought.
When Larner complains about the brain-dead Right, however, he may have one gotten thing partially, oh-so-superficially right. You still see right-wingers out tilting at Communist windmills, he says, refusing to adjust to the new reality of “the thoughtful left.” Some of us may be a bit dubious about the “thoughtful left” part, but it’s true that neocons are apt to paint less-than-full pictures of political reality. Nothing new to writers at this site who, led by Dr. Gottfried, are trying to come up with nuanced explanations of how the neocons came about, and how to overcome them.
Larner doesn’t sound eager to find a Right that is willing to expose and question the Left fully. Of course, we hope such a movement is provided for him anyways.
Comments
much as, in my twenties, I decided I really ought to read the Bible. Influential, whether I like it or not.”
How brave.
<< For a lost generation, better late than never, right?
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Well, he, Larner, does have a point. Its the right that embraced the neo-cons in order to cure Americas ‘moral problem.’
Truth is, there was no moral problem, it was all made up by the neo-cons thru media magic - IE Straussianism. Its much like Orwellianism. You can make people believe the damndest things when information about the real world is constricted to Liquid Cyrstal Diode and Cathode Ray Tubes placed in homes and businesses.
Big Brother does not watch you...you watch it.
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“...he may have one gotten thing partially, oh-so-superficially right...”
Followed by a bit of conservative self-criticism, no matter how grudging? No. It’s the neocons. It’s always the neocons.
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“The right-wingers have never quite known what to do with the kibbutzim.”
Walter Williams likes to say that his household runs on marx’s dictum from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
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Ernst Junger, never known as a coward, made the decision to read the bible while in Paris during
wwII. The results are unknown.
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Hmmm… I can only think that this reviewer read my piece on Hayek through such a thick fog of ideology that he literally was not able to discern the meaning of my words. He certainly does not describe the content of my article, nor its intention. I hope that any readers of this page will give it a fair shake: http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=992
I am especially puzzled—although it’s a minor point—by his implication that I thought myself “brave” for reading Hayek. I think it’s pretty plain that what I was saying was that it behooves me—or any member of society—to try to understand the main currents of thought that have shaped that society, regardless of what one thinks about those thoughts.
And for the record, I am delighted by any honest criticism of the left by the right, or of the right by the left, left by left, or right by right. That’s what democracy’s all about.
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Mr. Larner, speaking as one right-wing reader at this website, I agree with your comment a hundred percent. You obviously wrote a thoughtful piece on Hayek which deserves a real response rather than the snide put-downs it got here. The writing at Takimag varies quite a bit in both viewpoints and quality, so please don’t judge either based on Mr. MacLaren’s lame non-response. I hope that someone here will actually review your article.
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I link to Mr. Larner’s piece in my post, which is hardly a review. But I second his invitation for people to go and read it, since re-readings have only enhanced my confidence in my own initial characterizations. On the minor point--I doubt Mr. Larner’s spirit of civic and intellectual responsibility comes through as strongly as he hopes in his remark about Bible and Hayek-reading. Perhaps I am wrong.
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