What an interesting thread! Thank you all for sharing your ideas!
Interestingly, I've been noticing a new movement appearing in my country. I think that since my country is small, these little things are easier to distinguish but I know it's been the case in other place too from what I read on the news. Basically, just this last month alone I came across two fresh nationalist-conservative groups. One seems to be quite benign and concerned mostly with sovereignty and moral development, in a reflective and respectful way. The other one seems to be a bit more fuelled by anger and resentment, they talk using emotional "logic" and tend to be a bit more radical in their propositions. It seems too that their leader has his seat in Congress, but I'm not sure. Now, this might not be a big deal, but I've never seen this kind of movement amongst the young here in my country, so it really surprises me as a result of the craziness we're seeing in the left nowadays, especially because the people in it are people that were previously left-leaning.
I mentioned elsewhere that my country is quite conservative, it's a country where people openly and massively reject LGBT ideology and what passes as "sexual education" for them. However, feminism has been having a lot of publicity and influence just recently and there has been a "which hunt" where they publicly framed highly educated leftist men who were called the "progressive machos" by them. Their idea was that the left should be purged of men who where still not compliant with their radical feminism. Pretty amazing indeed... but it also talks of how the left is actually destroying itself.
This "which hunt" was so heavily rejected by the average population after some periods of debate on social media that it vanished. But unfortunately feminism has had its impact on empathetic leftist men who became fearful of being accused and publicly humiliated. They have influenced the universities and, incredibly, women from opposite parties who hated each other now support each other under this feminist flag... of course, both leftists and right-wing women who want power benefit from imposing this agenda on a short term.
Now, they are trying to push two laws, one about gender parity in government positions (so that incompetent women are given a free pass to positions of power just because they're women, which is absurd), and one law that would legalise abortion. The debate on the abortion issue has been intense and it was a clear example of a conservative population reacting to a minority forcefully imposing their view on the majority. Insults and nonsense on both side covered up the few deep and intelligent opinions about the issue. And then it started: people calling for violence against those who were threatening something considered so sacred for them. A desperation to protect the morality that holds their life in place, I guess.
I was thinking today about how this intolerance has exacerbated BECAUSE the left is attempting to impose this view. Before now, people didn't really cared much about these issues, now they are disgusted by it, so they're actually achieving the opposite of what they would want. And since there are ideologically possessed individuals on both sides, one can only expect that a few can turn things into nastiness very fast. And people in the middle are being forced to "pick a side" or remain silent... or speak up with a high risk of being publicly harassed.
It's very sad to see it indeed. But I tend to understand now why people are so infuriated with these leftists, although I don't condone their violent reaction. The left cries loudly when someone reacts but they don't seem to notice at all how violent their imposition is to conservative traditional Catholic people who represent the majority in the country. This truly shakes them to the core...
This is consistent to with what Haidt says. Conservatives even understand the leftist arguments, yet they continue to be disgusted by it, the left doesn't understand these Conservatives... And they don't try either.
I think this is the kind of thing that could start happening in many different countries. Actually it's been happening already. This abortion issue, for example, has been in the news in many different LATAM countries the past month. And I suppose they are all dealing with similar social controversy, varying in degree according to each country's reality.
Talk about the hysteria being pumped up to unbelievable levels! Łobaczewski was right, again.