re: #7 CuriousLurker

I understand. I see the BBC as the folks who can really ratchet up the hate. They are very good at it, and it happens under most people’s radar.

The striking thing about Wilders is that they spoke to all of these people who knew him—and no one knew him.

Let’s take out the broad brush for just a second. And let’s say that history is a part of psychology, or part of the soul. Europe is a vicious place wearing the mask of the highest civility. Mark Twain was writing about Austrian antisemitism in the 1890s. They made fortunes through theft and slavery. They were barbaric to the natives of their colonies. And they know it. The worse thing you can do is ask a European what their grandparents, or great grandparents did in their lives. Generally, there is trouble.

Where I’m going with this is that Wilders doesn’t have to do very much to get those old feelings to bubble up. And for that matter, neither does the BBC.

I don’t know of a strata in European society that corresponds to the American middle class, the unaffiliated voters. My sense is that this particular group of Americans fled other countries. This part of America is what keeps the extreme groups in our society from becoming mainstream. Right now, the extremists in the US are making noise. They can’t beat the middle class. I don’t think Europe has that buffer.

Now, because I used a broad brush, I could be completely wrong. So this is just my impression, and would be subject to change with a few things… like facts.