I think you kind of missed the point of the article.  The point is not that liberals look at conservatives that way.  The point is that liberals look at the lower class that way.<p>Liberals have become more of an &quot;in crowd&quot; that <i>thinks the right things</i> and feels better than others because they think the right things.  But the people that they claim to be trying to help don&#x27;t think those things, so the liberals look down on them - look at <i>the people they claim to be trying to help</i> in a very condescending way.  That makes it hard to really help them, because there&#x27;s no genuine empathy.<p>Conservatives, on the other hand, claim that those people are big enough to help themselves if the system would just get out of their way.  That may not be empathy, and it may not work in the real world, but it&#x27;s looking at people as competent grown-ups rather than ignorant or stupid people who need &quot;the knowing ones&quot; to tell them what to think and do.