CommenTerry, February 7th, 2007
When I was growing up, I used to hear a saying that went something like this: "California is a like box of cereal - what ain't fruits and nuts are flakes." Now, I don't know if that's true in regard to California, but it most certainly applies to the world of political extremism as it exists on today's World Wide Web. Indeed, it is a bastion of irrational thought.
Political extremists on every side of the political spectrum occupy blogs and sites all over the Web. Particularly during election seasons, the Internet seems to be overrun with them. These extremists exhibit certain qualities that give them away for what they truly are. They are rarely able to disguise or suppress these characteristics, so they usually don't even try. They can't help it. They are extremists and that's what they must be, for better or for worse. Here are some of those characteristics of political extremists:
1) They could never write an even-handed article about a candidate from their end of the political spectrum and one from the other end. In a case like this, extremists would view one candidate as completely good and the other as totally evil. They can't resist the urge to deify one while demonizing the other. In reality, of course, there very few completely good people this side of Mother Teresa and very few totally evil people that are not locked away behind bars. But try telling that to a political extremist.
2) They hawk statistics that seem to "prove" their extreme viewpoints correct. However, they are selective believers in statistics. They will hype any set of statistics, no matter how far-fetched, if it is in line with their personal belief system and/or agenda. However, they will reject or ignore any set of statistics, no matter how reasonable, that does not conform to their ideology.
3) They are generally paranoid themselves and often shamelessly promote unsubstantiated fear and paranoia as a tool of their trade. They will also use the insecurities of like-minded individuals to motivate them into some type of action. For example, they might try to exploit people's natural fear of terrorism to scare them into voting for a particular party or candidate.
4) They often resort to obvious exaggerations, while maintaining a perfectly serious tone. For example, they might say something like, "The Senate will become a socialist body if Joe Blow is elected." In reality, Joe Blow might not even favor socialism, and even if he did, no one person could have but so much influence in the Senate, as he or she has just one vote out of 100. Or another might say a particular candidate "hates poor people" because he favors welfare reform. Also, we'll often find modern political extremists likening their opponents to "terrorists."
5) They'll often intentionally mischaracterize or misinterpret a statement made by someone from the opposite end of the political spectrum and then blow it way out of proportion. Then they'll capitalize on it to raise money for their cause.
6) They seem to have a misplaced or exaggerated sense of urgency about various issues. For example, they might send out emails to people of similar political persuasions and urge them to "send money now, before it's too late" or "act now or disaster is imminent."
7) They tout conspiracy theories. To them, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, especially if it's something they don't agree with. Someone always has a "secret plan" to accomplish such-and-such that they are opposed to or is in some way plotting against their pet causes. In addition, they will often insinuate that most of the bad stuff that's happened in the past was planned out well in advance by the opposition.
8) They will fanatically hold on to their dogma, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Rather than to admit possibly being wrong, they would be willing to argue that black is actually white and day is actually night.
9) They believe that one is either in favor of their particular world view or against it, leaving no room for neutrality. To be 99% in agreement with them is tantamount to being opposed to them.
10) Despite their extreme views and actions, they don't think of themselves as extremists and have difficulty identifying other extremists in their own camp. Of course, they can easily recognize extremists in other camps. The way they see things, they and those who follow along with them in lock step are the normal ones and everyone else needs to reform or rethink their positions.
