One of the myths of political extremism is that it’s like some dark bird that spreads its wings to prey upon the innocent mouse of the meadow. But a better metaphor is the lancet liver fluke, a parasitic flatworm that infects cows and pigs. Snails eat the fluke’s larvae and secrete the waste onto blades of grass where they are consumed by ants. The infected ants then climb to the tips of blades of grass at night like so many miniature wolves mutely howling at the moon.
This makes it so the ants are more easily consumed by cows or pigs and then the flukes can complete their life cycle in the bellies of these beasts. Political extremism doesn’t spread by attacks from above, but by willing participation from below. Some voluntarily consume feces. Others offer themselves up like sacrificial insects.
Consider that Chinese support for Xi Jinping hovers at an astonishing 80%, and while a recent study found support for Xi is 30 percentage points lower when respondents are surveyed anonymously, that still means half the country supports Beijing’s blend of red fascism. This is possible not because they’re scared, but because they’re good. In my conversation with the political scientist Wilfred Reilly, he observed that if leftist utopian goals were achievable, they’d have the moral high ground.
The problem is, humans cannot bring paradise into this world because this world is inhabited by humans. Utopia is a beautiful dream, but things get ugly when people try to force the dream into reality through flesh and bone. That’s how well-meaning college kids who want to support Palestinians end up echoing Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin with the familiar chorus, “by any means necessary.”
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