Projection

Annafi Wahed describes herself as a tiny, talkative, Asian young woman who spent four months on Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign staff. To the consternation of her friends she chose to attend CPAC, an annual gathering of politically active conservatives.

As Andrew Klavan tells it, when she set out for the event her liberal friends expressed actual concern for her safety, as if she were descending into a den of violent ruffians.

What Wahed found instead completely surprised and confounded her friends' stereotypes. She writes about her experience in a column for the Wall Street Journal (subscription required):

Where some saw a circus, I saw a big tent. I spoke with Jennifer C. Williams, chairman of the Trenton, N.J., Republican Committee and a transgender activist. Twenty feet away, I spoke with a religious leader who opposes same-sex marriage.

While a panelist touted capital punishment, several attendees crowded the Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty booth. Hours after President Trump recast Oscar Brown Jr.’s song “The Snake” as an ugly anti-immigrant parable, several influential Republicans were asking me, a naturalized citizen, how they can support my startup.

In retrospect, I’m embarrassed at how nervous I was when I arrived. I found myself singing along to “God Bless the USA” with a hilariously rowdy group of college Republicans, having nuanced discussions about gun control and education policy with people from all walks of life, nodding my head in agreement with parts of Ben Shapiro’s speech, and coming away with a greater determination to burst ideological media bubbles.

Among liberals, conservatives have a reputation for being closed-minded, even deplorable. But in the Washington Republicans I encountered at CPAC, I found a group of people who acknowledged their party’s shortcomings, genuinely wondered why I left my corporate job to join Mrs. Clinton’s campaign in 2016, and listened to my arguments before defending their own positions....

As I look back on all the people who greeted me warmly, made sure I didn’t get lost in the crowd, and went out of their way to introduce me to their friends, I can’t help but wonder how a Trump supporter would have fared at a Democratic rally. Would someone wearing a MAGA hat be greeted with smiles or suspicion, be listened to or shouted down?

Judging by the frequent behavior of the Left toward opinions they don't like, it's doubtful those wearing MAGA hats would get a polite hearing. Conservatives, including the MAGA hat crowd, have, over the last two years, endured being shouted at, cursed, reviled, spit upon, beaten and ostracized by those who claim for themselves the mantle of tolerance.

Some on the Left have actually called for the imprisonment and even death of those who disagree with them on climate change and other issues.

Matt Vespa at TownHall.com answers Wahed's question this way:

[L]iberals would shout down Trump supporters and conservatives at their gatherings, things will be thrown at them, and they would be called racists. With the exception of Ms. Wahed, today’s liberals cannot share space, have relationships with, or even be near someone who voted for Donald Trump and the Republican Party. We’re anathema. Period.

Yet, it shows how the ideological roots of the two sides yield entirely different results. The values of the Republican Party are grounded in the rule of law, respect for life, the family, and equalizing opportunities. It’s about hard work and the principles of freedom that are grounded in our founding and the Constitution.

There is nothing that’s race-specific about freedom, love of country, and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to make it in America. Anyone can be a conservative, which probably explains why the Left is so aggressive in trying to paint the movement as racist, and call any person of color who identifies as such a race traitor, confused, or someone acting against their own interest. It’s abject nonsense.

Where Vespa says "Republican" I'd prefer to stay with "conservative", and Ms. Wahed is certainly not the only liberal who would treat her political opponents with civility, but otherwise what he says is a pretty accurate description of how vicious our politics has become.

The friends who warned Ms Wahed about mingling with conservatives were not only stereotyping but also indulging a very human tendency to engage in projection. They knew how their side often treats their political opponents and assume that the other side would surely behave the same way.

It's nice that Ms. Wahed found that the stereotype promoted on the Left isn't the reality.