this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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That's an important realisation. The people who fall for them and do their bidding might be dumb, but the people pulling the strings are anything but dumb. They are just plenty of evil and very skilled at manipulating dumb people. This is what makes the far right so dangerous.
They're not stupid, but they're not particularly clever either. They're just mediocre people pumped up by our adveseries to believe they can be something important and special.
Of course, Geert Wilders believes he's brilliant. Just like Trump. They are never going to accept to themselves that their reason for being there is that their grandiose thoughts about themselves are only matched by their mediocracy, which is the exact set of traits that makes them so easy to take advantage of.
I agree it's dangerous to dismiss them as stupid, but it would be a mistake to assume they're particularly clever. They're just dangerously mediocre.
The people behind those talking heads full of nonsense are the clever ones. Just look who is going to profit from one of those deranged fascists running amok. Follow the Money trail, who is bankrolling them? Big businesses don't give a shit about democracy, but they do love lack of regulation and government control, to maximally exploit their workforce.