As I stated before, resorting to childish behavior like mockery to make their point usually makes the people witnessing it think that the people who support that viewpoint are childish. Thus making most adults more adverse to that viewpoint than they were before. Mockery hurts support of the point in question both among the subject of the mockery, and those witnessing it.
You are in a bubble of like minded people, your anecdotal experience does not apply to all people.
> The only kinds of people that react positively to witnessing mockery are the types of people that political movements would do their best to avoid: people that take pleasure in witnessing the denigration of others.
That's well near half or so of the voting base; try and step outside your own limited experience, everyone isn't you. Trump supporters for example very much respond to mockery, they liked that Trump mocked the other republican candidates in the primary and were swayed to vote for him based on what appeared in their eyes to be a strong performance in the debates with his peers.
Frankly, you're giving people too much credit and failing to recognize that much of the population isn't very mature. Of course it's childish, that doesn't mean it doesn't work. You don't live in a country full of mature adults.
Ask yourself this: Have you ever been on the fence about an issue, but upon seeing that one side heavily mocked the other you decided to side with the former? So far in this thread:
* I have repeatedly stated that I have not witnessed this. * I asked you if you have ever experienced this, but you have not provided a response.
If this is a bubble, then it seems like we're both in it. Or, perhaps more likely, this judgement is incorrect.
> Trump supporters for example very much respond to mockery, they liked that Trump mocked the other republican candidates in the primary and were swayed to vote for him based on what appeared in their eyes to be a strong performance in the debates with his peers.
Yes, but the only people who responded positively to this are were other Republicans. In the grand scheme of things, Trump has been a disaster for the Republican party. They managed to secure the presidency, but as an immense cost in terms of Republican reputation. They have become so unpopular that they lost the house in the midterm election, something that rarely occurs given Republican advantage in the midterms.
And the reason why is largely because of what I described: people look at Trump's mockery and general behavior and find it difficult to associate themselves with what the party has become. Plenty of high profile Republicans have become alienated from the party. If we actually think critically about US politics in the last 3 years, the Trump campaign and presidency actually supports my conclusion about the lack of efficacy of mocking behavior: Trump's mockery rallied the subset of Republicans that support his behavior, but alienated those that did not, and stimulated Democrat opposition on top of that.