Topic: Philosophy
Seeking balance in politics and activism Moderation in politics will ensure that the best solutions will be found, and we must resist the urge to go to extremes.by Dale Husband
(liberal)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
For starters, I wish to state that in an issue like politics, extremism among some individuals is inevitable. There are two reasons for this. First, many people mistakenly apply religious impulses to politics and thus attempt to be consistent with a certain political viewpoint, even at the expense of ignoring or denying clear empirical evidence that is against it. Quite simply, it is easier (if you are intellectually lazy) to just blindly follow a dogma of some kind that happens to appeal to your ego than to dig for the truth, apply consistent logic to all issues, and thus have a perspective that is subject to change and moderation over time. Second, extremists on any issue tend to work the hardest for their chosen causes and thus tend to rise to leadership positions within political organizations as well as single-issue pressure groups, by virtue of their extensive track record of having done so much for their causes as well as appearing to be experts on the issues they represent.This explains why so many otherwise worthy causes, such as animal rights, get so absurdly corrupted by groups that claim to represent them, such as PETA or ALF, and people who might be motivated by natural compassion to support animal rights are repelled by seeing extremist groups like the aforementioned ones claiming to be the best examples of those causes' representatives. Let me assure you, they are not and I would be quite happy to see them destroyed without thinking for one second that this would be damaging at all to the cause of animal rights. If you, by your words or actions, make a cause look loony, that's the best way to ruin it, and you might as well just oppose the cause altogether.
Here's another example: I myself oppose most gun control laws, but I refuse to support the NRA. I favor civil rights, but condemn the ACLU. The people running both those organizations make a mockery of their causes by forgetting the human needs that those causes were intended for and just sacrificing those needs for the causes themselves. Sorry, but the last time I checked, we did not practice human sacrifice like the Aztecs did centuries ago, so I see no need to sell out to the NRA and ACLU on everything they do. If they do wrong, it is incumbent on genuine supporters of human rights and the right to bear arms to tell both those organizations to either reform themselves by seeking more realistic and credible positions, or they can just go to hell.
One way to discredit yourself is to attempt to paint all the members of a certain group with the same brush, totally forgetting that as human beings we are individuals as well as social animals and thus there is variation in any group that enables the group to adapt to changing circumstances as well as to resist extremism that is the group's own worst enemy.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of Dale Husband only and do not represent
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Good article Dale and definately a lot of truth. Extreme organizations are often just that, extreme. But other times they are reactions to the incorporation of radical ideas into the mainstream. A good example is those who are called "radical environmentalists". It is accepted for corporate interests to take whatever they please from the resource base, usually paid for or subsidized by the government. Pollution, toxic chemicals, etc. all are considered a "normal" part of our lives. While the actions of opposing groups may be considered "radical" or extreme, the status quo actions are rarely questioned. When we are not given the choice of a "moderate" solution, groups often resort to fringe solutions. A revolution, like the one our country was founded on, is an extreme example of this.
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