I'm trying to educate my (R)-Fundy sister. She used to be really cool.

[Populist_Prole]

4. I hate to say this ( really ) but it's that so many are intellectually lazy today

Unable or unwilling to recognize nuance, to think things through, to connect dots they are perfectly capable of connecting if they wanted to. This plays right into the hands of identity politics. Picking a side and circling the wagons. Feels good to them. The only way some will stop doing this is if they get burned by their own "side".

You know what kills me? ALL of my closest friends are turning rightward and I find them harder and harder to be around. Hell, I used to be to the right of them less then a few years ago. They were pretty apathetic about politics then, basically "informing" themselves with 10 minutes a day of watching talking heads. Not stupid, but very politically, civic-ly ignorant. Now they're getting rabid. Don't know how much longer I can maintain friendships with them.