What we don’t understand, we fear.
What we fear, we attack.
When we attack, we don’t just attack the “thing;”
we also attack the people who support the “thing.”
When we attack the people, we must “win.”
When we must “win,” our attack shifts to the people who favor the “thing.” Reason, understanding, listening to learn, empathy, and compromise have no place in our mind our our heart. Those qualities are seen as weakness – or worse – signs of our own ineptitude.