The political right moved from attacking postmodernism to weaponizing it

Evidence

It is true that the right-wing folks who borrow from postmodernist thought do not seem very interested in its nuance. If they need a tool, they will use a boning knife as a hammer. Indeed, thirty years ago conservatives were similarly uninterested in the subtleties of postmodernist thought when they were attacking it as a sign of degeneracy on the left! One might pause here to consider the irony that in just a few decades the right has evolved from critiquing postmodernism—for example, in Lynne Cheney’s Telling the Truth—to the current situation. This is not to say that postmodernists are completely at fault for how their ideas have been misused, even while they must accept some responsibility for undermining the idea that facts matter in the assessment of reality, and not foreseeing the damage this could cause. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 250

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the pattern in The Frankfurt School history where a theory’s political deployment outruns its authors’ intent. — connects to: Questioning science may have been borrowed from postmodernism by right-wing ideologues. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 264; The Sokal hoax backfired by publicizing postmodernist ideas to right-wing readers — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 263

Broader Connections

• Questioning science may have been borrowed from postmodernism by right-wing ideologues. #exemplifies (0.85) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 264