I'm sure Nexxo is going to say somthing brilliant that makes my thoughts look dumb by comparison, but... It seems to me that this popular movement towards identity and protectionism is a reaction to change in society. Every time you see a society in a time of uncertainty and change these sorts of "us first" movements pop up. in-group / out group identity, yada yada. Still, it seems to me that the key to reducing hate is to moderate change and to try to insure that it's benefits are spread across the society as a whole.
One of the real draws of far-right thinking is the security "that I am right" and "I am moral" and "you are wrong." Moderate viewpoints both open up doubts in your own position and questions about theirs, both of which are not popular with the masses. In fact, if you ask most average people, they're pretty polarized on at least one issue. More often than not, it's on more than one, and a great amount of people can be classified as far-right or -left. The fun thing is to show them just how bad they are-get them to admit to a socially unacceptable belief, and watch their faces. They KNOW it's not acceptable to thik that way, but they do, damn it, and there's nothing you can do to change it. Heresy, generally defined, is an idea carried too far. Both polar extremes would do well to remember that.
Nope, you're pretty much spot on, I think. It is indeed about ingroup outgroup tribal dynamics. Ingroup-outgroup differentiation is all about competition. You develop a group identity to allow you to easily identify (sic) who is part of your group (and thus, who is entitled to access your group's resources and support and can be trusted) and who is not (and thus, who is a competitor for your resources and cannot be trusted). In times of perceived hardship, when competition for available resources becomes tough, there is very strong ingroup-outgroup differentiation. Of course, group identity involves a lot of attribution biases. We are morally better, entitled, civilised, more trustworthy; they are morally evil, undeserving, barbarian, deceitful... Part of the course in generating that warm, cozy ingroup feeling. Culture, language, dress, religion, all are tools in this. People, being group animals, have a strong need to belong and will submit to the group to a remarkable extent in order not to risk isolation and death by being cast out, no matter how crazy the ritual, how awkward the custom, how costly or energy and resource consuming the habit. They will even act totally against their nature, feelings and common sense, twist their thinking and beliefs, and cast out or kill their own if that person steps out of line and the group demands it. Leaders of course know this, and make grateful use of such dynamics because they rather like the idea of totally submissive people. So to really get that submissive ingroup dynamic going, you need to identify (sic again) an outgroup to differentiate against: a group that can be perceived as lesser mortals and hostile competitors, a scapegoat. There does not have to be a logic to it: any group will do. Just convince people that it is after their country, their jobs, their women. Wind them up and watch them go. Muslims are the new Jews, Eastern Europeans are the new Asians and Jamaicans, Westerners are the new... well, we've always been the Heathen barbarian invaders, actually. But you get the idea.
This is concerning, the world seems to be moving towards extremism. My feeling is though, that there are enough people with liberal views in the EU to counter it. Groups like the far-right have a tough time getting off the ground anyway, because by the nature of their views the majority of them are going to be stupid. So not only would they have to find someone intelligent to lead them, but they'd surely need something of as great a magnitude as the depression of the 1930's to convince any serious number of people that they "had the answer". The world does seem to be doing its best to abandon rationalism. This is what happens when your government keeps telling you the world is going to hell and you're about to be bombed into oblivion every single day, even though it's absolutely fine, I suppose. People get scared, and scared people are stupid people.
