For decades, I’ve watched friends and neighbors go down this diseased path. Every time I’ve said something like, “You know, if you left-types keep ridiculing and reviling poor white people, they’re eventually going to explode and do something drastic just to watch you squirm” or “If you right-types keep using immigrants as a political prop you can revile for political points, you’re going to get people killed, way more than reasonable for any benefit you think you are getting from it”, everyone in question has dismissed it. All that matters is going along with your tribe. Even after this gave us Trump and a border “war” that was simultaneously getting people killed *and* doing a poor job of tightening the border, I was ignored.
Well, as it turns out, whether you call yourself “liberal”, “conservative”, “progressive”, “MAGA”, “Democrat”, or “Republican”, doesn’t remotely matter compared to how superior you feel *about* calling yourself “liberal”, “conservative”, “progressive”, “MAGA”, “Democrat”, or “Republican”. Your tribal bullshit is destroying our nation!
“We were intrigued by how both liberals/Democrats and conservatives/Republicans can exhibit similar psychological patterns, particularly regarding political conflict,” said study author Marta Marchlewska, an associate professor and head of the Political Cognition Lab at the Polish Academy of Sciences. “Central to this phenomenon is political collective narcissism, characterized by an inflated sense of superiority about one’s own political group. This mindset fosters blatant dehumanization, leading individuals to view opponents as less than human and to strip away empathy.”
