It’s actually not that difficult to understand why people whose foundational worldview is “I feel safe and comfortable when I’m part of a homogeneous in-group that defines the terms of public life” would feel like they’re under siege by the (reasonable) demands from out-groups.
When people say that they feel like their freedoms are being taken away when freedoms are granted to others, this is what they’re referring to: the freedom to live in a social bubble where they don’t have to grapple with differences they find unsettling or threatening.
Here’s the thing: we all feel more comfortable in homogeneous groups that dictate the terms of interaction. Some of us grow beyond it to become capable of more engaging outside our bubbles, and some of us don’t. This mindset is in all of us to some extent and is never going away.
Some way, some how, we’re going to have to find a way to incorporate that mindset into our world in a way that allows people who jump off the developmental train at that stop to participate positively in public life instead of burning everything down so they can rule the ashes.
