Blame game
It is a fact that people find it hard to accept responsibility for their own life circumstances and find it easier to point the finger at others. In a similar way a group of people or a nation find it hard to accept the current state of their group or nation is due to their past decisions or actions. Right wing politicians use this fact by exaggerating how bad things are and then go on to say how much better your life could be, or how much better the nation would be if only “they” or “it” could be stopped and of course they are the only ones able to act tough and sort things out, usually with an increase in violence and a reduction of civil liberties. Right wing politicians provide an alternative reality which takes away personal responsibility and places it firmly on, not you or your group, but on “others” who must be removed before things will improve. Many find this attractive because it plays into our learnt tendency for tribalism.
Here in the UK we had Brexit. The right wing promoted this as a “cure all” for the nations problems. If only we left the EU we could take back control, do our own trade deals, pour money into the free healthcare systems and industry would surge ahead. The cause of the nations problems was not poor government policy or a lazy, elderly nation that is unproductive and greedy for ever increasing welfare hand outs, but all those European bureaucrats with their open borders, that ripped us off and passed laws to hold us back. Hence the solution, they told the voters, was to leave Europe and all would be well.
Brexit happened years ago now and the right wing hardly mentions it today. That is because Brexit has failed to deliver any major advantages and has caused many disadvantages. So what has the right wing done - it has moved on to someone else to blame. This time it’s the migrants which are ruining the country. They are the political scape goats that now have to be stopped because they are the cause of the all the nations problems. They ignore the fact that migrants are hard working, do low paid physical jobs us Brits don’t want to do, bring cultural variety and really appreciate living here. Instead the Right wing blame this minority group and insist they are stopped. (Extreme right wingers even promote the false idea that immigrants are mostly male sexual predators raping young white innocent women to stir up hatred against them.)
The fact that our economy is flat lining because of lack of investment, poor productivity, high regulation; because our population is mostly over 50, and because 1 in 4 is classed as disabled and hence claiming state benefits, is also conveniently ignored. The nations problems are not due to us the voters or the people we elected, but because of “others” ie migrants.
And what would happen if migration were stopped? Would the country and voters personal circumstances greatly improve? Of course not. It would be just like brexit. They would just stop blaming migrants and move on to another set of “others”. Only this time it would be “others” of their own nation ie their political opponents, the press, or the judges. And after them they would blame someone else, perhaps you.
And this exposes the false assumption behind the Right wing agenda. The reasons for our problems are internal not external. “Others” are not to blame, we and the people we vote for are responsible.
Tribalism
The far right also exploit peoples (especially mens) bias to identify with a group. Humans are social by nature and live and work in groups or tribes for mutual benefit. The problem is that this tribalism, which in the past had strong roots with a particular family, clan or geographic area, no longer fits with globalisation, where a highly interconnected and interdependent world means that we all benefit from cooperation and trust with every other tribe on the planet. Like it or not, we are moving towards being one great big tribe now.
Many people don't like it and the right wing exploits this by giving voice to those fearful and made insecure by the demise of national power, a merging of cultures, new ideas and the weakening of tribal identity. So there is lots of flag waving, pretending to be Christian nice people (when they clearly don't love their neighbour) and calls to patriotism to defend their culture which is by default "superior" because they are part of it. This all seems harmless at first but by highlighting their tribe, divisions are accentuated which lead to "them and us" policies and ultimately to hate and violence towards peoples not of the tribe.
Does this make the world a better place? It might make the tribe feel stronger for a while, but the world has moved on and no tribe can survive on its own any more. Those with a global outlook are those who are the most successful today. The far right cannot turn back the clock or even stop it. As we are seeing in America, Trumps policies get you nowhere.
