That’s a good point, Luke. And these protests peter out so quickly that they come and go without anyone noticing beyond a news story or two. Even the Occupy Movement could not sustain itself long enough to enact lasting change (though it did spark conversations around the world).

The focus can be really key, though, because if there is no clarity, there will be no result.

Great question, Luke! I know most of my examples were of opposition tactics, but I think we see them on both sides. Opposition tends to capitalize on fear of existing prejudices, while incumbents tend to promote fear of the unknown (like the Liberal Party of Canada’s attack on both Stephen Harper’s and Andrew Scheer’s supposed “hidden social agenda”).

But that is a generalized statement. Sometimes you will see incumbents using existing prejudices or the opposition using fear of the unknown as well. Fear is so foundational to so much of our political rhetoric that it seeps into sometimes even the most benign statements.