Ahistorical thinking is more than an American problem. In Montpelier, France in 2018 I stopped to guffaw at a French Government plaque affixed to the “Jean Jacques Rousseau Nursery School.” Why hillarious? Rousseau, the father of Communism by extension, fathered a number of children with his mistress — all of which were carried off to orphanages as newborns, thus demonstrating Humanism’s anti-human bias.
Here’s another piece of ahistorical thinking that will make you guffaw as well. Voltaire being praised in France and other places, even here in America among conservatives, as a defender of free speech. Why hilarious? That guy if anything did far more to help set up the cancel culture situation with his treatment of the Jesuits and also of various Christian groups, including setting the foundations for the dechristianization of France, and even playing a direct role in the formation of Marxism, than he ever defended Free Speech. Meaning Voltaire is as self-serving in free speech as the 1960s Free Speech movement helmed by Marxists. Oh, and did I mention that Voltaire had sex with his own niece? Even Rousseau never stooped THAT low.