Reply #7: I tend to see their audience as victimized. [View All]

[TahitiNut]

In order to sustain some degree of 'loyalty' to a perceived ideology, such loyalists must suspend whatever rational and conscientious thought they might otherwise be able to sustain. This is the epitome of "dumbing down" ... a regressive heuristic.

Rather than demonize those who're susceptible to this assault on reason, I tend to have sympathy for those who would sacrifice part of their sanity on the altar of blind loyalty. The unreasoning elevation of some purported virtue (like 'loyalty') above one's own responsibilty to nurture and develop one's own "God-given" abilities is emblematic of corruption -- a rot in the body politic.

Those most deserving of the condemnation by people of conscience are not the victims of this assault, but those who would exploit them for their own narrow benefit. Pimps are more ethical.