Lede

The real danger is not stupid extremists, it is clever extremists handed real power by people who think education alone will save democracy.

What does not make sense

• We blame illiteracy while people with two degrees and a gallery-opening portfolio cheer for politicians who talk like drunk pub trolls.
• Education is sold as a magic vaccine against extremism, yet plenty of radicals have more letters after their name than most MPs.
• Far-right parties bang on about defending “freedom” while pushing laws that quietly crush other people’s rights.
• Immigration is blamed for everything from low wages to dodgy potholes, while the system that actually set the rules quietly pockets the profit.
• Commentators still act shocked that young, online, highly educated voters slide into far-right politics, as if Telegram channels check your GCSEs first.

Sense check / The numbers

1. Research on violent extremism shows many radicalised individuals have completed secondary or higher education, so the idea that “only the uneducated become extremists” does not hold.
2. A 2024 Swedish survey analysis of over 41,000 people found graduates from technical and agricultural fields were roughly twice as likely to back the radical right as graduates from sociocultural fields, proving it is not about IQ, but values and identity.
3. Classic work on terrorism and political violence shows little clear link between low education and participation in extremist violence, again breaking the cosy story that “better schools fix hate.”
4. A YouGov survey across seven Western European countries in 2025 found majorities in all of them think immigration over the last decade is “too high” and poorly managed, a mood heavily exploited by far-right parties.
5. The UK, Germany and others now see mainstream leaders echoing far-right talking points on deportations and migrants, lifting long standing “firewalls” against cooperation, and shifting the centre of politics toward authoritarianism.

The sketch

Scene 1: The Overqualified Extremist
Panel description: A quiet university office. Shelves stacked with books labelled “Ethics,” “Democracy,” and “Human Rights.” A bespectacled lecturer, three degrees on the wall, proudly wears a badge saying “Deport Them All.”
Dialogue:
Student: “Professor, do you really support this party?”
Professor: “Of course. I have read enough to know whose rights to ignore first.”

Scene 2: The Blame Catalogue
Panel description: TV studio with a huge touchscreen labelled “National Problems.” Icons for housing crisis, low wages, NHS queues, climate chaos. The presenter taps “Immigration” on every single one.
Dialogue:
Presenter: “So, what is the cause? Immigration.”
Producer offstage: “We have not even told you the question yet.”
Presenter: “Does not matter. Still immigration.”

Scene 3: The Ballot Box Therapy Session
Panel description: Polling station at night. A voter stands in the booth, holding a ballot like a tissue. Behind them, a faint silhouette of a smug politician whispering.
Dialogue:
Whisper: “You feel scared and angry. Tick my name and I will punish someone for you.”
Voter: “It feels wrong.”
Whisper: “Feelings are not facts. But they do win elections.”

What to watch, not the show

• The emotional economy: fear, humiliation, loneliness and resentment are mined more aggressively than any North Sea oil field.
• The blame machine: years of political and media messaging that quietly trains people to see migrants as the patch for every crack in a failing system.
• Education as fig leaf: schools and universities are told to “prevent radicalisation” while the wider culture normalises hateful narratives.
• Mainstream drift: once “respectable” parties borrowing far-right language to chase votes, then acting surprised when the far right itself surges.
• Power without empathy: the real problem is not the angry opinion, it is when that opinion holds the police budget, the border, and the judge appointments.

The Hermit take

Extremism is not a literacy issue, it is a love issue: who you see as human, who you think deserves safety, who you are willing to sacrifice.

When we ignore that, we do not just elect idiots; we hand our future to people who treat other humans as scrap parts in a broken system.

Keep or toss

Verdict: Toss

Keep the focus on emotions, dignity and shared rights.
Toss the lazy myth that a bookshelf full of hardbacks automatically protects anyone from cheering for the next well spoken bully in a nice suit.

Sources

• Education and extremism research overview – https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/6/2320
• World Bank, Role of Education in Prevention of Violent Extremism – https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/448221510079762554/Role-of-education-in-the-prevention-of-violent-extremism
• Krueger and Maleckova, Education, Poverty, Political Violence and Terrorism – https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w9074/w9074.pdf
• Valldor, Field of study and radical right support – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X24001133
• Schäfer, Education, generation and radical right voting – https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01402382.2025.2466122
• YouGov survey on immigration in Western Europe – https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/26/western-europeans-say-immigration-is-too-high-and-poorly-managed-survey-finds
• Anti immigration rhetoric in Brexit era – https://journals.openedition.org/osb/5821
• Good Law Project on Reform UK and anti migrant agenda – https://goodlawproject.org/news/dodgy-statistics-and-fringe-beliefs-the-groups-behind-reforms-anti-migrant-agenda/
• UK Prevent duty guidance on radicalisation risk – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-prevent-duty-safeguarding-learners-vulnerable-to-radicalisation
• RUSI, Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism through Education – https://static.rusi.org/pcve_education_final_web_version.pdf
• The kids are Alt right? Age and far right support – https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/128007
• CDU, AfD and broken firewall on far right cooperation – https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/01/30/germany-s-christian-democrats-lift-firewall-against-far-right_6737594_4.html
• Merz deportation rhetoric and backlash – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/21/friedrich-merz-accused-of-using-dangerous-rhetoric-on-immigration
• Keir Starmer, Farage and far right rhetoric row – https://apnews.com/article/2788160fd8cc084c7f032c46a5a31776
• NSPCC guidance on radicalisation – https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/safeguarding-child-protection/radicalisation
• Educate Against Hate, routes to radicalisation – https://www.educateagainsthate.com/radicalisation-and-extremism/