• GnastyGnuts [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 days ago

    I forget where the quote is from, maybe Jakarta Method? But it talks about how reactionary types view freedom as “the right of powerful men to do as they please, even to hurt others.”

    • BanSwitch2Buyers [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      I’ve heard someone on here or left-twittersphere say reactionaries view the law as a constraining of others but a freeing of themselves, which overlaps with your quote. I definitely think there’s something to it.

      • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        Wilhoit’s Law:

        Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

        -Frank Wilhoit (the composer, not the Ameican history scholar)

        (No ^seriously ^please ^stop ^misattributing ^this ^quote ^to ^the ^wrong ^Frank ^Wilhoit. ^I ^know ^it’s ^odd ^that ^a ^musician ^and ^not ^a ^historian ^came ^up ^with ^such ^an ^apt ^description)

      • tripartitegraph [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        Domenico Losurdo really explores this contradiction in Liberalism: A Counter-history. All the big liberal thinkers in the 18th and 19th century loved to preach about “freedom” and “liberty” and whatnot, while defending the necessity of chattel slavery.
        Really interesting read, would highly recommend.

    • BeamBrain [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      Not the quote you’re thinking of, but Lenin said something similar:

      Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.