Neoconservative critics weaponize history to discredit antiwar intellectuals

Evidence

Lilla suffers from a transcontinental ahistoricism that leaps easily from ancient Greece to contemporary Iraq. He traverses the distance between Plato and Saddam Hussein without the slightest hesitation or concern—and with a single-minded determination to discredit any public intellectual who has ever taken a public stand against any atrocity committed by the “Western liberal democracies”. — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 249

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the term ‘transcontinental ahistoricism’ for the rhetorical leap that erases historical specificity.