Extremism

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Extremism is a term used to describe the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common standards of ethics and reciprocity. It is usually considered by those to whom it is applied to be a pejorative term. It is typically used in reference to political and social ideologies seen as irrational, counterproductive, unjustifiable, or otherwise unacceptable to a civil society. The term connotes the illegitimacy of certain ideas or methods.

The terms "extremism" or "extremist" are almost always exonymic—i.e. applied by others rather than by a group labeling itself. Rather than labeling themselves "extremist", those labeled as such tend to see the need for militant ideas or actions in a particular situation. For example, there is no political party that calls itself "right-wing extremist" or "left-wing extremist", and there is no sect of any religion that calls itself "Extremism."[citation needed]

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[edit] Radicals as extremists

The term "extremist" is used to describe groups and individuals who have become radicalized, in some way, even though the term radical originally meant to go to the root of a (social) problem. The term "radical" is a somewhat less negatively-connoted label sometimes used by radical individuals or groups to label themselves.

The terms "extremist" or "radical" are often used to label those who advocate or use violence against the will of the larger social body, but it is also used by some to describe those who advocate or use violence to enforce the will of the social body, such as a government or majority constituency. Ideology and methodology often become mixed under the single term "extremism".

The idea that there is a philosophy of extremism is thought by some to be suspect. Within sociology, several academics who track (and are critical of) extreme right-wing groups have objected to the term "extremist", which was popularized by centrist sociologists in the 1960s and 1970s. As Jerome Himmelstein states the case: "At best this characterization tells us nothing substantive about the people it labels; at worst it paints a false picture." (Himmelstein, p. 7). The act of labeling a person, group or action as "extremist" is sometimes claimed to be a technique to further a political goal—especially by governments seeking to defend the status quo, or political centrists.

On the other hand, according to George and Wilcox, the use of the "extremist" label has been historically applied to both the extreme right and extreme left, but they claim that some academics on the left wish to change the frame of reference to one in which only the far right, but not the far left, lies outside the pale of societal acceptability.

[edit] Uses of the term in mainstream politics

John Fitzgerald Kennedy paraphrased Dante by saying "The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in time of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality" (from Dante, Inferno, The Divine Comedy).

Barry Goldwater said, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue" at the 1964 Republican Convention in a phrase attributed to his speechwriter Karl Hess.

Robert F. Kennedy said, "What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."

[edit] Extremism defined

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Researcher Laird Wilcox identifies 21 traits of a political extremist in the Hoaxer Project Report:

  1. Character assassination
  2. Name calling and labeling
  3. Irresponsible sweeping generalizations
  4. Inadequate proof for assertions
  5. Advocacy of double standards
  6. View of opponents and critics as essentially evil
  7. Manichean (bipolar) world view
  8. Advocate some degree of censorship and repression of their opponents and critics
  9. Identify themselves in terms of who their enemies are
  10. Tendency toward arguments by intimidation
  11. Widely use slogans, buzzwords and thought-terminating clichés
  12. Claim some kind of moral or other superiority over others
  13. Doomsday thinking
  14. Tendency to believe that it is justified to do bad things in the service of a supposedly "good" cause
  15. Emphasis on emotional response, as opposed to reasoning and logical analysis
  16. Hypersensitivity and vigilance
  17. May claim some kind of supernatural, mystical or divinely-inspired rationale for their beliefs and actions
  18. Inability to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty
  19. Groupthink
  20. Personalization of hostility
  21. Assumption that the system is defective if they don't win

(full article here)

Eric Hoffer and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. were two popular political writers during the mid-20th century who helped define societal definitions of political extremism. Hoffer wrote books such as The True Believer and The Passionate State of Mind about the psychology and sociology of those who join fanatical mass movements. Schlesinger wrote books such as The Vital Center, championing a center of politics within which mainstream political discourse takes place, and underscored the need for societies to draw definite lines regarding what falls outside of this acceptability. In this way, both Communism and Fascism were defined in the postwar western democracies as extremist movements, as were other groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The term was also used at times to describe groups which held views outside of the mainstream but which did not advocate militant or violent action, including: The John Birch Society, the Black Muslims, and the Nuclear Disarmament movement.

[edit] Other terms

The term subversive is a somewhat obsolescent term which was often used interchangeably with extremist during the Cold War period, although it does not quite mean the same thing.

Fringe or "lunatic fringe" have also been used as synonyms for extremist.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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