Quoting someone else’s comment from another thread:
there is also the matter of the habit that some intellectuals have of shocking the bourgeoisie. If you say that the bad guys think that they’re the good guys and we’re the bad guys, you probably won’t raise any eyebrows. But if you make the statement in a way that implies that you agree with the bad guys’ assessment, or that you are positioning yourself as a neutral party who favors neither side, then you will probably raise some eyebrows. And based on my own experience, an awful lot of people like to present the rather familiar and tired and unremarkable view that the bad guys think that they’re the good guys, in just such a way, so as to maximize their effect on their listener. This seeming undercurrent of support for the enemy is something that can be easily avoided without changing the factual content of what you’re saying, but it is in my experience often not avoided, indeed, it seems to be sought out and nurtured. And then, when the predictable reaction occurs, like clockwork Mr. Epater-les-bourgeois loudly complains about the impossibility of making obviously true statements in front of the the foolish masses.
Quoting someone else’s comment from another thread: