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Extremism in the defense of extremism is a vice

12 comments on Extremism in the defense of extremism is a vice

Extremism in the defense of extremism is a vice

: Oliver Willis responds to my post on extremism saying, rightly, that he has moderate opinions and he’s tired of being called an extremist for them. Right. I add in his comments:

Oliver:

The people branding you extremists for having a legitimate political opinion and taking part in the necessary national debate on issues are the extremists themselves. That’s what I’m trying to say: It’s time we turn the tables (or mirrors) and brand the extremists as extremists when they oversimplify and label and, more than anything else, demonize. The evil person is, thank God (and take that literally) rare; the incompetent is not so rare. I don’t agree with or like George Bush or plan to vote for him yet to watch him being labeled — by “my side” — as the devil himself is, at the very least, unhelpful to democracy and to “our side.” So it’s time we repudiate them. You and I agree about some things and disagree about some things but we respect each other and our opinions and we discuss them here and openly. That’s the way a democracy is supposed to work; that’s the only away it CAN work. When the extremists try to divide us and throw us into one corner or the other, we need to fight back and tell them we’re not the extremists, they are.

12 responses to “Extremism in the defense of extremism is a vice”

  1. Hubris Avatar
    Hubris

    Rock on, Jeff. Your perspective on things such as this is what makes your site a great one.

  2. Fred Avatar
    Fred

    Maybe if Oliver didn’t describe himself as a “Bush-hater” and claim that the Iraqi blogs are the product of a White House conspiracy, he wouldn’t be called an extremist. Or, he probably would anyway. A recent commenter called me a “fascist” because I linked to Jeff’s first critique of F911 and argued that Leni Riefenstahl was a better filmmaker than Michael Moore. I didn’t pay much heed, given that he also said that reading Crime and Punishment wouldn’t get me laid this weekend, not something a 35 year old father of two worries about all that much anymore.

  3. Eric Deamer Avatar
    Eric Deamer

    Anyone who works for a man who says this:
    There should be no doubt that the right-wing media’s wildings of 1993 — which led to Clinton’s impeachment four years later — will be replayed over and over again until its capacities to spread filth are somehow eradicated.
    is not a moderate.
    Anyone who agrees with Al Gore’s most recent lunatic ravings is not a moderate.
    Anyone who doesn’t think that mainstream liberals have any obligation to distance themselves from Michael Moore because there are also mean, nasty conservatives out there is not a moderate.

  4. djangone Avatar
    djangone

    Jeff,
    It’s possible to be dead-middle politically, and still find the right utterly repugnant.
    What we dislike doesn’t define our own political stands. It’s what we embrace that defines it.
    Ask Arlen Specter how much he likes Grover Norquist right now. I’m closer to Specter myself than Norquist is, sharing, as I do, 99% of Oliver’s stated political stands.
    Don’t be surprised that the middle is motivated. I’ve never been motivated to become ‘attack dog of the middle’ until this Administration’s logic became so horrid. So I’ll use words like ‘dishonest’ and ‘lie,’ simply because they have a meaning in the dictionary, and if they aren’t used to describe this batch of leaders, they have no business being in the language at all.

  5. Glenn Avatar
    Glenn

    I read both of these posts and thought much the same thing. I added a little wrinkle though.

  6. Hubris Avatar
    Hubris

    There’s a difference between an accusation of lying and an accusation that the subject party is evil.
    I like how Jeff put it in his F9/11 review:
    Moore’s assumption is venality. He assumes that President Bush and his confreres are venal, that their motives are black, that they are out to do no good, only bad, and that the only choices they make in life are between greed and power.

  7. Andrea Harris Avatar
    Andrea Harris

    I don’t think Willis is an extremist. I don’t think he’s a moderate either. I think he’s a dilettante.

  8. djangone Avatar
    djangone

    Glenn,
    Precisely. Thank you.
    You’re definitely getting it. I’m not sure ‘attitude’ is the word you want. Nor ‘Haytah,’ though no doubt it’ll go down next to ‘Free Soil’ as a political movement. :)
    What Glenn’s saying (if he’ll permit me) is that extremes in political stance are different that extremes of rhetoric. Calm conservatives exist, as do calm liberals, as do enraged middle-grounders.
    Personally, I’m a poke-a-stick-through-the-cage center-leftian. A not-calm near-centrist. My wrinkle on Glenn’s wrinkle is that polls show that I’m hardly alone, and that more of us are motivated to anger every time a member of this administration moves his or Condi’s or Karen Hughes’ lips.

  9. scott orrell Avatar
    scott orrell

    jeff,
    Could it be a little “the people’s” fault? I think perhaps Americans are again trying to define themselves (something we’ve always had trouble with).
    I think past self-definitions break down thus:
    pre-50’s — ethnicity
    50’s — race
    60’s — political party
    70’s — Who the hell cares? Let’s do coke.
    80’s — career or “what we do”
    90’s — stuff or “what we own”
    00’s — poltical party (again)
    I just wish we could get back to defining ourselves by stuff. or go back to the 70’s. (mind you, I wasn’t alive for most of these periods)

  10. Reid Avatar
    Reid

    Well, I guess you don’t have to be an extremist in order to express “hatred” of your “enemies.” But just because you’re not an extremist doesn’t mean you’re a moderate.
    Just like the Left and the Right, we’re very exclusionary. You’re not One Of Us just because you say you are. You gotta have credentials.
    Oliver, a moderate? Don’t make me laugh.
    [massive amounts of sarcasm were included in the above, subreferencing an earlier discussion here regarding who is a “liberal.” Some settling may have occurred during shipping.]

  11. Oliver Avatar
    Oliver

    “dilettante”?
    I guess, between wrestling and football…

  12. h0mi Avatar
    h0mi

    A moderate? Yeah, moderates love to cite the wit and wisdom of James Carville: “Drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park and there’s no telling what you’ll get”