Dennis Prager argues that people protest because politics fills a void left by disrespect or isolation, and that political identity can replace personal morality. He contrasts what he calls the left's focus on systemic issues with conservative emphasis on individual goodness.
For people who feel disrespected, unseen, and alone, politics is a seductive form of social therapy. Yes, that's right. Then you become important. Tear down racist America. The only time that they get together with a lot of people was at demonstrations, was at riots. People who feel isolated and under threat flee to totalizing identities. That's right. Politics appears to give people a sense of righteousness. A person's moral stature is based not on their conduct but on their location on the political spectrum. You don't have to be good You just have to be liberal or you just have to be conservative. Yes, he wanted— he wants to be even-handed, but that's not true. We don't believe that on the right. We believe you have to be good. It's not enough to be conservative. I have said this all of my life. What the left has done is macroized morality. You don't have to be good, you have to have the correct left-wing social position. Then you're good. And that's what's happened.
Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat
