Eliott Mamane is a student and aspiring journalist.
On RMC this Friday, November 12, the writer and lawyer Charles Consigny ruled that, if "
for years, the political correctness of France Inter was the obligatory word
", there was now "
a new doxa embodied by the extreme right , that of the editorial writers of CNews, Éric Zemmour or those around Marine Le Pen
”. The same day, the right-wing intellectual was congratulated by the president of
Mediapart
. By thanking Charles Consigny "
from the bottom of his heart
", Edwy Plenel indeed recalled on Twitter the need "
to say no together to the shadow that wins
".
In
Liberation
this Monday, November 22, it was Daniel Schneidermann's turn to greet the "
start of a reaction
", noting that even among right-wing people "
can awaken flashes of consciousness
". However, his frequent disagreements with Christine Angot when he was a columnist for
We are not lying
leave little doubt as to the rather conservative and frankly liberal positions of Charles Consigny. The latter having immediately assured in "
Les Grandes Gueules
" that he did not change sides (let us recognize that the papers he devoted to Eric Zemmour as a columnist at
Le Point
a few years ago were as complimentary as they were nuanced), it is about understanding what constitutes the dominant discourse in the media space.
We can notice a division between right-wing intellectuals who accept, like Eric Zemmour, a dose of liberalism to support their conservatism and those who, on the contrary, make liberalism the guiding element of a conservative commitment.
Eliott Mamane
In her book
La Gauche contre le Réel
, published in 2012 by Fayard, journalist Élisabeth Lévy set out the differences of opinion between the few "
reactions
", differentiating herself for example from Eric Zemmour: "
When I hear him speak of the 'Abortion, I'm back on the left
". But above all, she noticed that the word was opened more readily than before to the conservatives, who are no longer systematically referred to the extreme right. A decade later, the success of the news channel CNews validates the observations of the now managing editor of
Causeur
.
But the right does not enjoy a new hegemony: above all, there has been a rebalancing of the ideological connections of the various media players.
Nevertheless, this widening of the word highlights differences among the conservatives.
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Questioned by Ruth Elkrief on September 27 on LCI, Eric Zemmour admitted for example that the “
only advantage of Europe
” was to constitute “
a large market
”. It is thus his realism, a political philosophy of conservative inspiration which adopts a point of view centered on the State and especially its power, which pushes it to support a European integration generally qualified as liberal. Charles Consigny, meanwhile, does not hide his europhilia. After Manuel Valls announced his competition in the municipal elections of Barcelona, the columnist of "
We are not lying
" hailed the "
courageous
"
act
and the "
very strong European gesture
"From the former Prime Minister in Laurent Ruquier's program on Saturday, September 29, 2018. But in the same sequence, Charles Consigny indicated that he preferred the PMU bar in Évry, as a resort, to"
Barcelona where all the sores are rush
”.
Beyond the anecdote, we can notice a division between right-wing intellectuals who accept, like Eric Zemmour, a dose of liberalism to support their conservatism and those who, on the contrary, make liberalism the guiding element of a conservative commitment.
This is for example the case of the writer Laetitia Strauch-Bonart who intends to defend individual freedoms thanks in particular to conservatism, but who, in a recent program of "
24h Pujadas
" on LCI, did not hesitate to recall the "
framework Maurrassien
”surrounding the ideas of the former collaborator at
Le Figaro
.
The right should not be locked in turn in a devastating inter-self that would accentuate the “netflixization” of opinions described by Jérôme Fourquet.
Eliott Mamane
In short, "the extreme right" is in no way hegemonic in the media space - we can also discuss the classification of Eric Zemmour in this political spectrum -, but the arrival a few years ago in the public debate of intellectuals hated by the progressive left has upset the benchmarks.
Anyway,
we are beginning to notice significant differences among these “
reactions
” that we tended to present as a united block: Charles Consigny's intervention at least has the merit of shattering this myth. Especially since if pluralism seems to be acquired in the media, the progressive magisterium still reigns in a number of institutions, such as schools or higher education, as evidenced by the special file of
Figaro Magazine.
of November 12 and the various controversies linked, among other things, to inclusive writing at the university.
In
L'Empire du bien
, Philippe Muray distinguished between a “
hard
”
consensus
, for example Catholicism in Sade's time or Islamism, and a “
soft
”
consensus
.
Violators of the first type of consensus risk the ordeal of physical violence: "
Its power can befall you, it can lock you up, even kill you
."
The soft consensus, for its part, is a "
despotism
" whose omniscient character in the public space prevents any attack on it, "
without appearing to threaten, at the same time, the peace of the entire human race.
".
If progressivism has been able to embody a form of soft consensus in the media debate, making any opponent a danger for democracy, it is laudable to have upset this hegemony;
however, the right should not be locked in its turn in a devastating inter-self which would accentuate the “
netflixisation
” of opinions described by Jérôme Fourquet.
From this point of view, it is reassuring that a debate can arise between “
reactions
”.