Structural disenfranchisement breeds a vengeance thirst toward vaguely-defined enemies that opportunists exploit

Evidence

Together, these elements helped create a society in which many Americans see millions of snares, laid by a menacing group of enemies, all the more alarming for how difficult they are to identify and pin down. I saw a disturbing thirst for vengeance, a willingness to punish enemies and vanquish evildoers that is then easily twisted by opportunists. These things were in the country around me, in my own life—shadows that seemed to grow longer and longer, even as people became increasingly aware of the destructive power of conspiracy theories and began doing their best to fight them. Still: we are the suspicious and the conspiracists are us, and there are more of us all the time. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 34

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘menacing group of enemies difficult to identify’ maps directly onto vault claims about threat-scanning and prejudice psychology in authoritarian populations. — connects to: Ideologies that succeed in hard times generate enemies even if they start without them — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3976

Broader Connections

• Ideologies that succeed in hard times generate enemies even if they start without them #corroborates (0.70) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3976