People who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them.
Eric Hoffer
The bootlicker presents himself most often as a staunch defender of personal freedom when in fact what he craves is a dictator. He chooses to look away from evil or rationalize it. That’s a choice. Evil – banal or otherwise – is a choice and an act.
Of course, the bootlicker’s dictator is a member of his ethnic group.
With time, the parameters of the ethnic group will shrink as its members seek “purity.” Bootlickers love “purity.”
At any given time, approximately 40% of the population is made up of bootlickers. That estimate rises and falls based upon circumstances, but it represents a consistent phenomenon more apparent in democracies because opinions can be expressed. Even when the bootlicker class is relatively dormant, they are present.
What to do? There is no point in engaging with a bootlicker. You will not convince them of anything they do not already believe. They live in a self-righteous fantasy. Their views are more like a mental illness than opinions. And they emanate an energy that is toxic to anyone but other bootlickers. Avoid them. And, when you cannot avoid them, deal with them carefully. Best to think of them as human-shaped monsters.
…….. talk only with those worthy of thy communication – do not give pearls to swine; be friendly to all, but not familiar with all; for many are, as the Scripture mentions – wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Francis Barrett, The Magus