I think the problem might be two-fold.
First you have the pros, like the politicians described in the original article. They are masters of this sort of fakery. But their actual policies and actions are frequently directly at odds with even their most vaguely positive statements. For instance, they go on about the value of the Middle Class, while supporting policies (both major parties) that are actively destructive to it. They are not motivating better behavior by successfully faking virtue, they are obscuring harmful behavior. Not to mention the harm from focusing on a “Middle Class” that hardly exists anymore, and is mostly composed of people better described as Working Poor. Who are then conveniently completely ignored.
Secondly, us plebes love to feel special and just slightly more virtuous than the next person. When we concern-troll others, which we all do, it allows us to avoid – yet again – dealing with our own shit. I’ve gone on any number of thoughtful, heartfelt rants against people scoring cheap points or being needlessly, cynically sarcastic. Although reasonably well-intentioned, all I’ve really accomplished is to give myself a little pat on the back for being so damn decent; it doesn’t curtail the nastiness, and it prevents me from grappling with my own hypocrisy. Namely, that my critique of their “hating” is often its own smug form of “hating.” But beyond that, we allow ourselves to be bewitched by the professionals and stifle our natural rage in deference to their false conception of “civility.” We neuter ourselves, and allow them to continue to get away with their harmful bullshit.
