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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (224339)	3/15/2007 1:55:55 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

"Extremism, like moderation, is in the eye of the beholder but is usually defined as substantial distance from what normally goes on. I did not see anything in the original post you replied to that indicated extremism. Of course literally it can mean something like at the extreme end of ideas or opinions. In the radical sense it means something a little different. It refers to people who are willing to corrupt dogma or ideas to further an agenda. It refers to people of normal intelligence who compromise reason and a principled conscience for fear of being diminished or outcast from a group they identify with. People who are willing to sacrifice a principled identity of self and who may act like bullies who fear loss of status or power, or who are seeking validation as a group member are the most likely to lean furthest to extremes. This is most apparent when the position being bolstered fails some test of credibility as in the examples I provided ('Peace Freaks' who don't care if Iraq disolves into violent chaotic genocidal conflict, or 'War Hawks' who don't care more about raising their social caste than social evolution).