It fits in with the contemporary mainstream on this site, unfortunately. Whenever politics comes up on HN, it invariably brings all the cranks out to play.

Wait until you discover that Alex Karp is a (Neo-)Marxist…

Philosophical insights and methods can be used for politics of any color.

I do agree that its wrong to say that Habermas would be responsible(!) for any of that though. As if thinking up stuff would make you responsible for the misuse of those ideas down the road.

1. "Responsibility" was indeed too strong. Involved in the chain of causality, maybe.

2. I'm not blaming Trump's rightwing fascism on social theorists. I wondered whether a backlash against overbearing postmodernism enabled Trump's election victories. Sorry if you find that question vile and banal; I find it rather consequential and important to avoid further fascists.

In all honesty that’s not even the worst part.

He signed that “never again” letter, completely buying into the exceptionalism of one group over all others… They kind of threw the baby out of the water and moved into Heidegger territory quickly. They seemed to put “who” over “what” very, very hastily. One would expect an enlightened mind to understand the difference and maybe phrase his concerns a bit more “inclusively”. But let’s be honest, it wasn’t a mistake.

Anyway, we’ll take the good parts and move on.

RIP.