Sure but at some point performative becomes reality. When you perform a certain way your actions are not on a stage. If you beat someone in a mob you can later say that your actions were just performative but there will still be a very real bloody person on the streets.
Discussion
That's true. For some people, they do take on the underlying beliefs of the extremists, becoming extremists themselves. But I believe that if you were able to sit everyone down one-on-one and question them not about their political identity, but about their views on specific issues, the result would be a majority objectively landing somewhere in the space between far-left and far-right. Extremism may be their outward identity, but querying their specific beliefs would reveal more nuance, and a complex identity that can't be lumped into either extreme.
I like your optimism and I won't argue with you.
Oh there's no argument here. Just a friendly discussion and sharing of perspectives. I can't claim my beliefs as a fact because I don't have the data, but they are based on my personal interactions with a variety of people. I'm just extrapolating and applying my subjective experience to the larger population. I could easily be totally wrong.
I did not feel like it was anything other than friendly I am just saying there is maybe no point going back and forth since who knows where peoples minds are at. From my experience people got pretty wild during covid. More than just a performance. I think I also have a poor perception because I live in a city that is very left.