Charles Krauthammer just today came out with an editorial that Democrats have become so closed-minded that they are becoming more and more reliant on speech totalitarianism.
That is, not just rejecting all other points of view, and shutting down all opposing speech, but attacking the people who say things that do not conform to their rigid mindview.
They want to hurt people who disagree with them. They want them fired from their jobs and blackballed. They want them considered insane and institutionalized, or at least put in prison. They do not even dismiss the death penalty for those who disagree with them in any way.
Think about that. If you disagree with them, they want you to be put to death. Executed or murdered. They accept both alternatives.
It is said that the most fanatical are those who doubt their own beliefs, so savagely attack others who also express doubt. But this is almost beyond fanaticism. It is a tantrum, a willingness to destroy the entire world because reality itself disagrees with your ideas.
Perhaps they figure that if they destroy everything then they will win. That annihilation will finally prove that they were always right about everything.
Cognitive dissonance on display. When facts challenge deeply held attitudes, it causes mental discomfort. The sane way of dealing with it is to change the attitude. You can also ignore or avoid the facts. What Krauthammer describes is yet another way of dealing with cognitive dissonance—denial. “... a willingness to destroy the entire world because reality itself disagrees with your ideas.”