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I agree with you 100% on the "backfire effect", and I think it's not really difficult to understand the mechanism behind it. But I don't think the US is really

I agree with you 100% on the "backfire effect", and I think it's not really difficult to understand the mechanism behind it. But I don't think the US is really much different in that regard than anyone else, the differences there are maybe cultural at best, but in any case superficial. E.g. when I was looking at a flat in Germany, a landlord told me he subscribes to many newspapers, including the Süddeutsche Zeitung, but only to "monitor the left". That person identifies clearly with the right, and it doesn't matter how he phrases it.

Lhiw 5y ago
They don't clearly identify with the right though, that's the point. They might always vote that way but they're not spreading their identity around and you attacked Ng who they vote for isn't an attack on their tribe. And also one anecdote is hardly evidence. In my country I'm not a green or a Labor or a national. I vote green, I vote Labor, or I vote national. That is entirely different from saying "I'm a Greenie" or "I'm a conservative". Votes can change next year, identities can't.