I really appreciate your input, Daniel.
There's a philosophical segue there. Any of us could have succumb to any negative influence in the proper circumstance. The ingredients are there just by virtue of being human. The trap of right or wrong is one of those scary, selfish, hateful influences. By putting the option out there to label someone as "wrong" you make it possible to rationalize causing them harm for it's own sake (even if it is not physical harm, accusing someone of being a piece of shit is definitely not about helping them not to be). Surely it can't be right to hurt someone for being wrong, and it must be wrong to not admit that there isn't a person alive who is only right.
Starting at something so black and white is a terrible idea. Even if it seems clear. "Nazis are bad" comes to mind. Those people didn't decide to be awful by themselves, and a great many probably resisted until the party gained enough influence that they couldn't peacefully live their lives any longer. They were told that people were their enemy, that they were irredeemably evil and corrupt, and that their suffering and destruction were going to make the world a better place. With overwhelming pressure from a crushed economy, insistence from authority figures, and fear for their futures and the futures of their friends and families, they tapped into an animalistic, tribal, destructive mindset that we are all capable of.
Watch children. They gang up and pick on the weaker ones together with no feeling of compassion or remorse. They also experience life without the baggage that most adults carry around every moment.
That doesn't doom them to be awful humans. It does quite the contrary. They realize how bad they can be and eventually repent. It's the ones who never experience the tribalism that have trouble living their lives.
Of course, all of this is super generalized and without sources cited. BUT if you think and feel through the processes that people could experience, it's easy to imagine yourself standing across any aisle.
I would go a step further. They should not be allowed. Leave that out. It is afterall a tree forum.
I can dig that. I can also appreciate philosophy more than politics. It ties in with urban forestry very neatly.
@flushcut
It's not about demanding that anyone change their view. It's much more about having the decency to share the tools you have with your fellow man, that they might also be as close to the truth as they can manage. I'd hope that if you know that you know something better than I do that you'd share it with me.