Australia

I'm not sure what you're trying to debate here. Manufactured/fake outrage has been a key right wing tactic for years now, you would have to be extremely ignorant about modern politics to be unaware of this.

We are not talking about the feelings of innocent individuals - that is a smokescreen created by the right to engage their base. Again, this is textbook modern right wing politics. They redirect everything into a personal attack on their voting base, even when the statement they are reacting to was clearly directed at a system or institution. Look at these quotes:

Langton's original quote:

"Every time the no case raises one of their arguments, if you start pulling it apart you get down to base racism – I’m sorry to say it but that’s where it lands – or just sheer stupidity.”

Ley's response to the quote:

Marcia Langton, a member of the referendum working group appointed by the minister, has accused no voters of opposing the referendum because of base racism or sheer stupidity.

The Australian's original response:

“No voters branded ‘racist, stupid’ by prominent voice campaigner Marcia Langton”.

They are changing the comments from an attack on the campaign, which is run by political organisations, into direct attacks on individual voters. The Australian retracted its headline and ran corrections in later articles because it knew that directly lying about this put it at legal risk. This is not "genuine" outrage. It is calculated, manufactured, fake outrage generated by conservative politicians and media to confuse and agitate the general public.

They decided to fake their own outrage when they decided to pretend the accusation is more inappropriate than the behavior that drove the accusation.

As an participant in the national dialogue it is absolutely my responsibility to identify when people are not being honest in conversation and to respond to that and not to their superficial presentation.

I don't decide if they're genuine or not I decide if I believe they are genuine or not. I don't have to presume they are acting in good faith or with honest intentions. They have not earned that benefit of the doubt.

Outrage at the accusation of racism would require an understanding that racism is abhorrent. From the likes of Dutton, many of the figureheads of the reactionary No campaign, and from the commentators amplifying this supposed outrage from The Australian’s pages we have years - often decades - of behaviour and speech which suggests they do not possess that understanding.