In the last analysis, there are so many True Believers on both sides that the insults and smack talk between them has moved into the 8th grade in its downhill intelligence, teachable rating.
Almost hilariously - if it were not deeply sad - the most vilified people are actual centrists, owing to their distance from emotional involvement in politics - the primary similar feature of the personalities and mass movements in this thread.
"The less justified a man is in claiming excellence for his own self, the more ready is he to claim excellence for his nation, his religion, his race or his holy cause."--Eric Hoffer, The true Believer
According to Hoffer, the early converts to any mass movement come from the ranks of the "frustrated," that is, "people who..feel that their lives are spoiled or wasted." The true believers' "Faith in [their] holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for [their] lost faith in [themselves]." He says that we are prone to throw ourselves into a mass movement to "supplant and efface the self we want to forget." He then adds, "We cannot be sure that we have something worth living for unless we are ready to die for it."
The True Believer - Ike's favorite book and author.