The problem is that very few people have the self-awareness required to understand what’s happening to them, especially when extremes are so…alluring. Nuance requires way too much higher-level thinking, and our monkey brains just love ‘thing good, other thing BAD’.

Also, there’s the comfort in belonging to a group of some sort. When there’s so many people who agree with so many of your beliefs, you see the extreme stuff they say and wonder to yourself ‘hm, but what if they’re right about this too?’