In National Review Online over the weekend, I discussed the unrest at Middlebury in the context of Herbert Marcuse's theory of "discriminating tolerance." A prominent member of the Frankfurt School, Marcuse offered a flawed model of tolerance that, I fear, fosters a breakdown of public debate.
Marcuse must have been in the air last week, because Stephen L. Carter also had an interesting critique of Marcuse over at Bloomberg View.
(And if you're in the mood for more on Marcuse, you might check out George Kateb's extended comments on him from a 1970 issue of Commentary.)
