NYT Op-Ed: Napoleon Isn’t a Hero to Celebrate

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[–]NeoRail 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

It's always ironic to see the old liberal slogans turned on the ones who first created them. Napoleon is the greatest and perhaps even the only martial hero of liberalism, yet he too is not woke enough and has to be cancelled. Nothing about this is surprising to me, since I have already seen a lot of people "cancelling" the Bolsheviks themselves for being far right evil racist imperialist colonisers and so on. It is still amusing to see leftists turn on their own history, though.

[–][deleted]  (5 children)

[deleted]

    [–]NeoRail 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

    I don't think Caesar needed plebiscites to legitimise his rule. Napoleon did much to advance the cause of liberalism. His declaration of the French Empire only served to bolster the stability of the French state which could not sustain itself in a Republican form yet. It also pissed off all the European monarchs, which served his purposes well.

    [–][deleted]  (3 children)

    [deleted]

      [–]NeoRail 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

      Plutocracy isn't "the traditional way of doing things", is the point and moreover if anyone secured the rule of money in France, it was Napoleon.

      [–]Jesus 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

      He secured it for the betterment of the people in France.

      [–]NeoRail 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

      Liberals use this argument about Europe today, too.

      [–]EthnocratArcheofuturist 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

      I wouldn't call Napoleon a liberal to be honest.

      [–]NeoRail 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

      He wasn't a liberal on principle, but he did take up the liberal cause out of pragmatism.

      [–]Jesus 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

      Liberalism back then is not liberalism today.

      [–]NeoRail 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

      I disagree.