I read the following quote here this morning - it made so much sense to me. I’m not sure it applies exactly to the ‘field’ you’re analyzing, but I thought it was a good template for liberal (non)thought.
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain. ~ Frédéric Bastiat, The Law
One of the first things I realized, when I first began my four years at a very, very "Liberal" (in the modern sense) college, was that Leftist thought is never grounded on reality. As Kipling put it, it is windborne & cloudborne. They start with their biases & wishlists, or outright compulsions, and then seek to verbally rationalize them.
William Flax
The pretense that drives collectivist/egalitarian politics, educational theories, social agitations, etc., impacts virtually every issue of particular interest to American Conservatives. It supplies the rationale for the grievance industry; for schemes to build new world orders; for the demonization of those who achieve & succeed; for coveting the fruits of their success; and for the sort of offensive terminology that impugns the motives of normal people, who simply want to live as their forebears in a free society.
Once you see the pattern of denial--that is the denial of reality--that fuels the Leftist efforts in virtually every field, you will begin to perceive how to better attack them on a wide panoply of fronts.
William Flax