Many on the left are doing what they’ve done with devastating success in the past: pushing rural, white working-class voters into the arms of the far right.
By Becky Bennett
There may be no more memorable expression of contempt from the past than Hillary Clinton’s deplorables. But from social media and cable TV commentators, liberals and progressives can find an ongoing stream of insults, in which they’re invited to participate. The approach of humiliating rural Trump supporters continues to play out regularly on camera, as interviewers question decked-out “rubes” at political events about their views, to reveal that they stupidly or naively believe outlandish things and can’t rationally explain why. The purposely humiliating videos go viral, generating scores of comments on the interviewees’ ignorance.
Expressing contempt for people with differing views undermines democracy by denying one’s own obligation to have an open mind, by shutting down participation, and by preventing problems from being solved. Progressives are more prone than other groups to “conformity bias,” which is the tendency to take their cues from their group, rather than exercising independent judgment — for instance, they might comment approvingly or share memes belittling rural conservatives to reinforce their sense of belonging.
It doesn’t have to be this way. And Etelson is clear that the left can’t continue playing the contempt card and expect to win another critical national election any time soon.
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