Stupid, shouty and ranty

I'm in a bit of a quandary here. People I respect are saying I shouldn't call Ukipists stupid and xenophobic and that I should acknowledge their concerns. See, the inherent problem here is that Ukipists ARE stupid and xenophobic and their concerns in the main are "informed" by media outlets whose profit margins depend on turning non-stories into scandals.

Not only do people not bother to fact check what they read, they don't even bother to read beyond the headlines. (and yes, on occasion I get suckered in by this too). So we have shouty, ranty, stupid people, who are angry at politicians for ignoring their stupid, shouty ranting... because ...they are stupid, shouty and ranty. But then elections come along.

We then descend into a bidding war to see who can institute the most stupid policy possible to placate people who simply can't be placated simply because being stupid, shouty and ranty is party of their whole identity - and without it, they have absolutely nothing to call their own.

This is not to say that politicians always get things right. It's just that if stupid, shouty and ranty people set the agenda all the time, they will be ignored on the very few occasions when they are right. In effect these stupid, shouty and ranty people are fifty percent of the problem.