Dismissing the opposition

(In a recent debate on the treaty of Waitangi Muerk and I noted that I/S at NoRightTurn follows a policy of dismissing and demonizing his political opponents rather than trying to understand them as I noted

"The problem is it is clear that you are so dismissive of other opinions that if you were wrong there would be no way you could tell."

There is no need for him to agree just to understand.

Muerk provided a very interesting article on a similar topic. How the supporters of the political elites (and the political elites in private spend so much time be-littling sectors of society that cannot be used to support causes.

In the Sixties, critics of populism pointed the finger at 'hard hats' and 'materialist' working people. Today in the USA, such attitudes are expressed through terms like 'Nascar Dads', 'Valley Girls, 'Joe six-pack' or 'rednecks'... The pathological roots of backward attitudes is to be found in the poor quality of parenting experienced by Lakoff's stereotype conservative.

In the UK, Nascar dads have a different name. They are dismissed as 'chavs', 'white van men', 'Worcester Women' or 'tabloid readers'. Since these are people who cannot be mobilised for progressive causes, the best course of action is to try to isolate them and minimise their influence upon society.

It is not just the left that works in this manner of course but at times one side will demonize another and at other times the opposite will be predominant. It would appear that it is the left that is busy doing most of the demonizing and the least amount of understanding.