Dismantling bad ideas through debate, exposing their flaws, and addressing the root psychological and economic causes of extremism isn’t “doing nothing.” It is doing the actual, difficult work required to maintain a democracy.

This hasn’t worked out anywhere it’s been tried.

It is rising because of corporate capture, oligarchy, and the systematic destruction of the working class. When a society’s institutions fail its citizens, and those institutions then attempt to censor and suppress the resulting public anger, desperate people turn to extremists who promise to tear the system down.

This is a result of ‘too much free speech.’

By cheering for censorship and street violence, you aren’t fighting the rise of authoritarianism. You are helping to create the exact polarized and violent environment it needs to thrive.

Polarization is already happening by people more well funded and better educated than you. Expecting to educate a populace vulnerable to that overnight shows your ignorance of history and naivety towards the reality you’re in. The truth is that without consequences, these “polarizing” ideas flourish.