First of all, his numbers are WILDLY inflated, and I do mean wildly. The French revolution, for instance, didn’t “kill 2 million people”: most historians would agree that direct deaths from the Revolution (including the Terror) were around 30,000-40,000. He’s off by a factor of 60… He is also WILDLY off for his Russia and China numbers but I won’t go there 😏
Secondly, calling Napoleon a “facist totalitarian dictator” is laughable, if only because fascism is a 20th-century ideology with racial hierarchy at its core.
Napoleon was a classical emperor - brutal at times, but no different from countless emperors before him. By this logic, every Ottoman sultan or Roman emperor was also a ‘fascist totalitarian dictator,’ which either makes the term meaningless or makes Napoleon not the first, which means his affirmation is false either way. Plus, fascism requires strong racial components which Napoleon completely lacked - he was promoting meritocracy and civil equality under the law in Europe, not ethnic supremacy.
Thirdly, yes revolutions tend to be bloody. But guess what: sometimes peacefully requesting for the powerful to voluntarily dismantle the entire system that benefits them doesn’t work out. Strange, isn’t it? Marie-Antoinette wasn’t exactly famous for her empathy toward starving peasants.
Lastly this is such a weird take coming from Pinker whose entire brand is about the supposed triumph of Enlightenment values, of which the French Revolution was the defining political expression.
This may make a little more sense when you consider that his other “brand” is his claim that Liberalism is fundamentally peaceful and rational: you can understand how he isn’t quite comfortable with the fact that the Enlightenment values he champions were won with blood, not debate.
This is quintessential liberal hypocrisy - wanting change without conflict, revolution without revolutionaries. Liberals like Pinker want to live in a world created by revolutionary violence while condemning that violence as barbaric.
https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1965767084530606453
This is such a ridiculous take in so many ways.
First of all, his numbers are WILDLY inflated, and I do mean wildly. The French revolution, for instance, didn’t “kill 2 million people”: most historians would agree that direct deaths from the Revolution (including the Terror) were around 30,000-40,000. He’s off by a factor of 60… He is also WILDLY off for his Russia and China numbers but I won’t go there 😏
Secondly, calling Napoleon a “facist totalitarian dictator” is laughable, if only because fascism is a 20th-century ideology with racial hierarchy at its core.
Napoleon was a classical emperor - brutal at times, but no different from countless emperors before him. By this logic, every Ottoman sultan or Roman emperor was also a ‘fascist totalitarian dictator,’ which either makes the term meaningless or makes Napoleon not the first, which means his affirmation is false either way. Plus, fascism requires strong racial components which Napoleon completely lacked - he was promoting meritocracy and civil equality under the law in Europe, not ethnic supremacy.
Thirdly, yes revolutions tend to be bloody. But guess what: sometimes peacefully requesting for the powerful to voluntarily dismantle the entire system that benefits them doesn’t work out. Strange, isn’t it? Marie-Antoinette wasn’t exactly famous for her empathy toward starving peasants.
Lastly this is such a weird take coming from Pinker whose entire brand is about the supposed triumph of Enlightenment values, of which the French Revolution was the defining political expression.
This may make a little more sense when you consider that his other “brand” is his claim that Liberalism is fundamentally peaceful and rational: you can understand how he isn’t quite comfortable with the fact that the Enlightenment values he champions were won with blood, not debate.
This is quintessential liberal hypocrisy - wanting change without conflict, revolution without revolutionaries. Liberals like Pinker want to live in a world created by revolutionary violence while condemning that violence as barbaric.
Napoleon wasn’t really a “classic” emperor, he was the first one that was a lib
The first liberal emperor. What an insult that is.
europe has never forgiven him
Yeah I was coming to say this.
To be fair the french put like haitian prisoners into the bowels of ships and gased them.
Don’t need to be a fascist to be genocidal. Just european