I'm old enough to remember the Christian conservative mob of the 80's - the Jerry Falwell/Pat Buchanan/Tipper Gore crowd. When they went after you, they were vicious. They were ruthless. They wouldn't stop until they had done everything they could to destroy you. Slowly, people started waking up to the damage they were causing - in particular, sexual deviants (like homosexuals) were at the top of their hit list. Rational people started pushing back. Although it seemed unimaginable in the mid-80's, by the mid-90's, they had been made irrelevant by constant, gentle backpressure.

Now, though, the people that they targeted, instead of rejoicing that their oppressors are finally powerless to harm them, are taking up the mantle of oppressor themselves. There's a sense of "giving them a taste of their own medicine" - and if the actual perpetrators are too hard to find, anybody that reminds them of the perpetrators will do.

History suggests that this, too, will ultimately be defeated, but not after a lot of damage is done to very innocent bystanders.