Are You An Extremist?

[EyeKhan]

First, housekeeping:

1. No, I'm not sure this belongs in D&D. If it turns out nothing serious comes of it, mods please move.

2. Yes, I know extremism is relative and shifts according to the cultural flow.

Ok, now the topic. Do you think your political and social views are extreme? Some people here seem genuinely extreme, others come off as extreme but I doubt they are. Here's what I think, starting with me:

Me -- not politically extreme, though liberaal. Extremely liberal socially.

Rand -- seems genuinely politically extreme to the right, not sure about social.

Loki -- only seems extreme in how he argues, but does not appear to hold extreme political or social views. Depends on how you categorize atheism, though. Given the religous climate in the US, is atheism extreme?

Fuzzy -- politically moderate. Socially left but not extreme. One thing I can count on is for Fuzzy to tell me anything that seems a big deal in US politics really isn't.

GG -- very liberal politically for the US these days, and socially liberal, but IMHO not extreme.

Lewk -- religous extreme, but oddly libertarian on many hot button social issues. Certainly politically extreme. I'm still not sure how seriously Lewk takes all his more 'out there' positions, though.

Nessus -- Sorry Nessus, but in this context I almost think of you as the Anti-Lewk. And I'm not sure how seriously you take yourself.

Hazir -- liberal but not an extremist.

Aimless-- liberal on both but not what I'd call extreme...

Khen -- like Hazir, I guess. I get the impression he's a little less socially liberal but not sure.

Ziggy -- same. I guess. Maybe I don't see them as extreme b/c I'm mostly liberal myself.

AR81 -- seems politically extreme - what I read of his posts suggests a bit of conspiracy theorizing...

Catgrl -- no idea

Buk -- seems normal to me -- center left on both?

Steely -- left on both I think, but not extreme.

OG -- left on both. Not sure I would call him extreme.

QUESTION: What do you have to support to be Extreme Left? Command economy, confiscation of private assets, worker's paradise? If that's the case, I don't know anyone Extreme Left politically in the US.

Veldan -- not sure, think he's right on politics. Social?

Dread -- bordering on extreme right in politics. Not all that sure on social issues. I know he used to be lefty, way back when, on most things.

Enoch -- seems pretty right politcally -- not sure if extreme applies. Not sure about the social thing.

LDrag -- politically middle of the road I think but socially conservative. Not extreme.

DW -- Socially liberal but center right politically, I think. Maybe center left. But not extreme either way.

Wiggin -- politically moderate, no idea on social.

If I missed you, remind me. Comments requested. Interested in knowing what defines someone as Extreme Left Politicially.

[Nessus]

There's no need to apologize, I also think I'm an extremist, certainly from the US point of view but also possibly my own nation. But you should also bear in mind that I'm also extremely anti-Bolshevik, so there is plenty of Left left beyond me. As to the seriousNess, it's not exactly that which I perceive to be my problem.

[Loki]

I think the bigger problem here is people holding beliefs without being able to justify them. In terms of people having extreme beliefs, I'd say only Nessus and Enoch meet those requirements. I don't think Lewk has too many beliefs that are far outside the mainstream (which is my definition of extreme). Rand does a bit on some economic issues, but not really enough for me to classify him as being extreme. AR81 is just crazy.

[Nessus]

To be fair, Enoch is much, much more polite than I am

[Loki]

It's not accurate to equate extremist beliefs with poor behavior.

[EyeKhan]

I think the bigger problem here is people holding beliefs without being able to justify them. In terms of people having extreme beliefs, I'd say only Nessus and Enoch meets those requirements. I don't think Lewk has too many beliefs that are far outside the mainstream (which is my definition of extreme). Rand does a bit on some economic issues, but not really enough for me to classify him as being extreme. AR81 is just crazy.

Regarding Lewk, I personally believe anyone that chooses Faith based beliefs over good science is an extremist, whether its social stuff like evolution or political like climate change. That was my basis for calling religous extremism.

Also, I had no idea Enoch was extreme - really havn't talked with him much, I guess.

[Loki]

Does it really make sense to call ~50-60% of Americans extremists? Kind of dilutes the power of the term, no?

He's about as extreme a libertarian as you can get without advocating anarchy.

[Wraith]

He's about as extreme a libertarian as you can get without advocating anarchy.

I was about to remind you about Cain, who is certainly more extreme than Enoch, but I realized I'm not actually sure he wasn't advocating anarchy.

[Nessus]

It's not accurate to equate extremist beliefs with poor behavior.

I know, but extremist behaviour has some over-lap with rabidness on that Venn diagram

[Loki]

He also hasn't posted in a while; Guantanamo's internet access must have been revoked.

[Ominous Gamer]

Does it really make sense to call ~50-60% of Americans extremists? Kind of dilutes the power of the term, no?

you can have faith without it being a lewk level of science denying faith. Climate change reached 70% support over this past summer.

[Loki]

I know, but extremist behaviour has some over-lap with rabidness on that Venn diagram

It's a question of how far people's beliefs are from the societal norm. If a society has moderate policies, there's no reason for a moderate to advocate extreme measures. In an extreme society, someone who wants moderate policies would probably be more willing to use force than an extremist.

you can have faith without it being a lewk level of science denying faith.

About 60% of Americans don't believe in evolution.

[Nessus]

It's a question of how far people's beliefs are from the societal norm. If a society has moderate policies, there's no reason for a moderate to advocate extreme measures. In an extreme society, someone who wants moderate policies would probably be more willing to use force than an extremist.

I'm probably not reading this right, but how does this jive with, say, Berija's gardens?

[Loki]

We're talking about your average supporter of an ideology. The people who come to power are generally not average.

[Aimless]

In the default state, before we get together to debate, almost no-one on this forum is an actual extremist besides Nessie and Cain, with Enoch and possibly Steely being distant seconds.

[Veldan Rath]

I'm in the Enoch camp.

[Aimless]

I'm in the Enoch camp.

I was gonna list you as the camp Enoch

[Wraith]

I loled

[Veldan Rath]

I was gonna list you as the camp Enoch

Methinks I can live with that.

Dahhhling!

[RandBlade]

I'm socially liberal but quite content to be called extreme right economically (just not far right please).

I found it interesting that in the OP you classed no lefties as genuinely extreme but considered a couple of rights as possibly so. I'd say you're left-wing (though not extreme) so moderate right probably seems more extreme to you than moderate left.

[Nessus]

I found it interesting that in the OP you classed no lefties as genuinely extreme

Excuse me

[RandBlade]

Sorry

[Nessus]

This thread is only as useful as we are fair

[Enoch the Red]

Enoch -- seems pretty right politcally -- not sure if extreme applies. Not sure about the social thing.

Not sure exactly what you mean by pretty right politically, but I'm socially very liberal. I self identify as libertarian, though honestly that's probably more general than I'd prefer.

I think it would be fair to say my politics are extreme. I don't think I've made any secret of my support of policies that are far out of the mainstream. However, I'd like to think that while my politics might be extreme, my personal approach and the manner in which I express myself are not. I wouldn't consider myself an extremist for those reasons, but that might be a distinction without a difference.

I'd be remiss if I posted in this thread without quoting Goldwater.

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

[Hazir]

What kind of liberal am I supposed to be? Traditional or American (which I already consider extremist, just so that you know). The only real-life American politically active liberals I have met were of a kind that I couldn't resist some real life trolling and start to extoll the virtues of the Bush presidency (W, not senior). I Always love the way their faces freeze as they are simply not used to Europeans of my type say something like 'Well, in the end it's very likely that Bush will turn out to have been one of the best presidents your country ever had. For starters he didn't start a nuclear war when a majority of Americans would have supported turning several muslim countries into glass desserts'.

I will have to stress though, that even though I use the word liberal as a Brit would use it, my liberalism is not some sort of dingbat borderline UKIP liberalism (I still haven't figured out how the combination functions in somebody's head, but we have a living proof of it here every day). It's more of a old-skool, slightly paternalistic liberalism.

[Loki]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ewart_Gladstone

[RandBlade]

As much as you like to accuse me of it, I oppose UKIP. Not just support the Tories, but oppose what UKIP stands for.

For the first time today I voted in a supplementary vote ballot. First choice was Conservative, would never vote Labour again unless it was between them and the BNP so the remaining choices were Lib Dem, UKIP or an independent. Was a difficult decision but in the end chose to go with the Liberals instead of the independent. Didn't even consider UKIP.

[Lewkowski]

I think the bigger problem here is people holding beliefs without being able to justify them. In terms of people having extreme beliefs, I'd say only Nessus and Enoch meet those requirements. I don't think Lewk has too many beliefs that are far outside the mainstream (which is my definition of extreme). Rand does a bit on some economic issues, but not really enough for me to classify him as being extreme. AR81 is just crazy.

I'd probably classify myself as being on the extreme end of the political spectrum in a few areas, in particular with my libertarian approach to economic issues and my very hawkish approach on foreign policy. Also fry em.

[Lewkowski]

Regarding Lewk, I personally believe anyone that chooses Faith based beliefs over good science is an extremist, whether its social stuff like evolution or political like climate change. That was my basis for calling religous extremism.

Also, I had no idea Enoch was extreme - really havn't talked with him much, I guess.

I find it odd you find man made global warming skepticism to be extreme. Extreme fails to mean much if applies to more than 20% of the population. In addition even if one believe sin man made global warming - the proposed policies wouldn't fix it according to most of the models the alarmists have put forward.

[Loki]

I'd probably classify myself as being on the extreme end of the political spectrum in a few areas, in particular with my libertarian approach to economic issues and my very hawkish approach on foreign policy. Also fry em.

About 60% of Californians just voted to fry 'em.