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Trigger Warnings: Political correctness and the rise of the right by Jeff Sparrow

by
April 2019, no. 410

Trigger Warnings: Political correctness and the rise of the right by Jeff Sparrow

Scribe, $29.99 pb, 300 pp, 9781925713183

Trigger Warnings: Political correctness and the rise of the right by Jeff Sparrow

by
April 2019, no. 410

Whatever benefits it has brought, aggressive globalisation has also dislocated industries, wrecked communities, and fostered social alienation. Large numbers of working-class, blue-collar, and rural voters (these categories overlap) feel abandoned, anxious, and economically insecure, even when they have, as individuals, held on to well-paid jobs. This offers fertile ground to political candidates who claim to be outsiders or anti-élitists. Right-wing populists exploit the situation with a rhetoric of scapegoating. They blame marginalised groups. Their language and their stated policies veer towards nativism, xenophobia, and assorted kinds of bigotry.

Jeff Sparrow’s Trigger Warnings: Political correctness and the rise of the right is published against this background. Sparrow is understandably concerned about right-wing populism, but he views the responses of left-wing and liberal thinkers as largely counterproductive. To some extent, if we follow his reasoning, well-intentioned left-liberal people have inadvertently helped the likes of Donald Trump.

Russell Blackford reviews 'Trigger Warnings: Political correctness and the rise of the right' by Jeff Sparrow

Trigger Warnings: Political correctness and the rise of the right

by Jeff Sparrow

Scribe, $29.99 pb, 300 pp, 9781925713183

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