Right Wing politics are based around hierarchy, the idea of being above other people. Rich > poor, American > immigrant, me > you. In order for right wing propaganda to work on idiots like this, they need to make it seem like the people who aren’t falling for it are below them in some way. This narrative that intellectuals are either brainwashed or knowingly brainwashing other people compensates for the noticeable difference in smarts and makes that imagined reality that much more tempting. They’re not “uneducated”, they just naturally knew better than to get brainwashed because of their massively superior true American brain! Fascism needs to be flattering in order to be convincing because it has nothing else except fear to offer.
Right Wing politics are based around hierarchy, the idea of being above other people. Rich > poor, American > immigrant, me > you. In order for right wing propaganda to work on idiots like this, they need to make it seem like the people who aren’t falling for it are below them in some way. This narrative that intellectuals are either brainwashed or knowingly brainwashing other people compensates for the noticeable difference in smarts and makes that imagined reality that much more tempting. They’re not “uneducated”, they just naturally knew better than to get brainwashed because of their massively superior true American brain! Fascism needs to be flattering in order to be convincing because it has nothing else except fear to offer.