Marcuse's 1965 essay in "Critique of Pure Tolerance" comes in for a thrashing of sorts in the Haidt -Lukianoff "Coddling of the American Mind." But on re-reading in the age of Erdogan, Orban et al, Marcuse's worries that "democracy has become a meaningless sham" and that 1/
careful response is required, require attention: "The withdrawal of toleration of speech and assembly from groups and movements which promote aggressive policies, armaments, chauvinism, discrimination on grounds of race and religion, or which oppose the extension of 2/
public services, social security, medical care, etc." is indeed extreme. But Marcuse, alert to the challenge posed by Erdogan et al. 6 decades in advance, gave us something real to argue about, while Haidt / Lukianoff coddle Charles Murray, & join in ignoring his critics. 3/
