![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3146\/3000835217_fa05048162.jpg?resize=500%2C292\" "\\"Sarah")
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[digg-reddit-me]One of my friends asked me this question. Actually, he accused me of despising her (which I admit to) and postulated that feminists and liberals hate her so much because she stands for “a sort of \u00a0‘reincarnation’ of the traditional post-war female that scares the bejesus out of liberals for a variety of reasons.”<\/p>\n
I can’t speak for every liberal, or every progressive, or every feminist – but I can speak for myself – and I tell you, it is not Palin’s \u00a0status as a reincarnation of the traditional post-war female (a description which I incidentally don’t find that fitting)\u00a0that leads me to despise her. It is that she found herself to be a very capable demagogue. Frank Rich in <\/a>The New York Times<\/a><\/em> explained it well this Sunday:<\/p>\n The essence of Palinism is emotional, not ideological… The real wave she\u2019s riding is a loud, resonant surge of resentment and victimization that\u2019s larger than issues like abortion and gay civil rights.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Palin constantly positions herself as a victim of the conspiracies of the elite. As interviewers lob her softball after softball<\/a>, she points out the few outliers and claims she is a victim of a giant conspiracy. As a local blogger files a frivolous ethics complaint, Palin claims she is being targeted for persecution by Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama<\/a>. A similar logic of collective victomhood makes its way into\u00a0every speech she gives; she constantly sets up a dynamic of “us” against “them” – the “Joe Sixpacks” versus “the Hollywood\/NY elite” and the “real Americans” against those “who [see] America…as being so imperfect…that [they are] palling around with terrorists [who]…target their own country.”\u00a0What this accomplishes is what\u00a0Cass Sunstein in the <\/a>Spectator<\/a> <\/em>describes as the dyanmic of self-reinforcing moral outrage<\/a>:<\/p>\n Political extremism is often a product of group polarisation and social segregation is a useful tool for producing polarisation. In fact, a good way to create an extremist group, or a cult of any kind, is to separate members from the rest of society. The separation can occur physically or psychologically, by creating a sense of suspicion about non-members. With such separation, the information and views of those outside the group can be discredited, and hence nothing will disturb the process of polarisation as group members continue to talk.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sunstein does not link this to Palin – but it is clear that she is playing with this exact dynamic<\/a>. This stands in stark contrast to John McCain who, to his credit, realized how dangerous this dynamic was and tried to calm his crowds down<\/a>; and it stands in contrast to Barack Obama who has deliberately taken an approach that minimizes this dynamic of escalating moral outrage<\/a> – challenging his audiences when they seem to be dehumanizing<\/a> the other side. Palin though escalated her rhetoric. Her crowds became more extreme – in the way that like-minded groups do<\/a>, especially when united against a nefarious and dehumanized “them.”<\/p>\n Why do I despise Sarah Palin? Because she is a demagogue, and more important, because she is an effective one.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n