Polarization has a very strong tribal component to it.
Once you get into the &quot;us vs them&quot; mindset you become the member of the &quot;tribe&quot; purely based on the labels instead of &quot;reality&quot;.<p>At some point in time the label can have a strong correlation with the actual reality,then the label becomes more important than what it actually represents.<p>Politicians exploit this constantly, &quot;us vs them&quot; is what unites their respective camps and promotes loyalty.