John Cleese, on extremists.

[opiate69]

Seriously though, we've heard a lot about extremism recently, a nastier harsher atmosphere everywhere, more abuse and bother-boy behavior, less friendliness and tolerance and respect for opponents.



Alright, but what we never hear about extremism is it's advantages!



Well. The biggest advantage of extremism is that it makes you feel GOOD because it provides you with enemies.

Let me explain. The great thing about having enemies is that you can pretend that all the badness in the whole world is in your enemies, and all the goodness in the whole world is in YOU. Attractive, isn't it?

So, if you have a lot of anger and resentment in you anyway and you therefore enjoy abusing people, then you can pretend that you're only doing it because these enemies of yours are such very bad persons! And if it wasn't for them, you'd actually be good natured, and courteous, and rational all the time. So, if you want to FEEL GOOD, become an extremist

You can strut around, abusing people, and telling them you could eat them for breakfast and still think of yourself as a champion of the truth. A fighter for the greater good. And not the rather sad paranoid schizoid that you really are.

[mokawanis]

1. Cleese is a smart guy and he makes a good point

Using mockery and insults to try to get people to change the way they think about a particular topic doesn't work. When one's response to differences in opinion is to vilify and denigrate the other person no progress is made, even though it may bring some satisfaction, along the lines of "well, I really put that asshole in their place!" When all you've got is snark and insults you're wasting your time, and more importantly, mine.

[opiate69]

2. Luckily, my ego is not so big that I feel it's my calling to go about

trying to change what other people think. Would that more people felt similarly.

[bvar22]

15. Well Said.

Unfortunately, Ad Hominem (attack the messenger) posts are becoming more frequent at DU.

[Major Nikon]

3. Along the same lines is scapegoating

Scapegoating (from the verb "to scapegoat&quot is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame as a scapegoat.[1] Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals (e.g. "Hattie Francis did it, not me!&quot , individuals against groups (e.g., "I failed because our school favors girls&quot , groups against individuals (e.g., "Jane was the reason our team didn't win&quot , and groups against groups (e.g., "Immigrants are taking all of the jobs&quot .

A scapegoat may be an adult, sibling, child, employee, peer, ethnic or religious group, or country. A whipping boy, identified patient or "fall guy" are forms of scapegoat.

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

All it takes is to simply demonize a certain group and then throw your ideological enemies into that group. It allows the perpetrator feel better about themselves without having to actually go through the trouble of thinking rationally.

[opiate69]

5. I'm thinking of an anagram... 3 letters...

[Major Nikon]

8. Certainly there's that

But the behavior also exists on both sides of the gender divide. You have anti-feminists that do this. Misandrists and misogynists do this with entire genders. When you start blaming all your problems on groups of people, scapegoating is a convienient crutch that many use.

[bvar22]

16. The NADERITES !!!!

[DavidDvorkin]

4. I'm skeptical about whether Cleese wrote that

At least in that form. I don't think he would have written "alright".

[opiate69]

6. it's a transcription of a video he did.

http://m.

[valerief]

13. Nor would write "it's" instead of "its". nt

[RiffRandell]

7. I'm down with this, and have actually had this attitude for quite some time.

Last edited Sat Feb 15, 2014, 11:00 PM - Edit history (1)

It's cathartic.

[Left Coast2020]

9. If I could go back to school and take a Philosophy oriented class....

I would require my instructor be from a London university. Perhaps a "Critical Thinking" class. And you just know (I) you would say to yourself, "I never thought of it that way"!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Cleese on Palin is a CLASSIC....

[libodem]

12. Spot on

[RC]

11. And they are nowhere to be found in this thread...

So far anyway.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. And, they all HATE this song.

a-one, two, three, four!

apologies to anyone on a device who can't see it.

(Damn copyright fascists! THEY are the real problem!)


yeah, you better free your mind, instead.



....also I've decided I like animated chattering teeth. Just because.

[Bonobo]

17. Ouch, it must hurt to get nailed that accurately. nt

[Eleanors38]

18. In a more prosaic way, extremism is akin to bully behavior.

Bullies behave in much the same way because it works for the bully. If you effectively bully-down someone, you are given credence by both ally and enemy to continue the practice. The bully becomes a very powerful force even if he/she is out numbered by- factors.

Folks in DU have an unseemly fascination with the practices of bullies, in terms of both suffering exquisite victimization, and relishing crowd-scattering victory. This fascination hides a grudging admiration of the Masters: the mean, fat-faced twerps like Limbaugh, Rove, and Gingrich.

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. "both suffering exquisite victimization, and relishing crowd-scattering victory"

[Fumesucker]

19. Spiffing, absolutely spiffing I say

[opiate69]

21. Holy frijoles! How did this little ole thread get so many recs?

Pleasantly surprised, I am!

[In_The_Wind]

22. 59 members have recommended this thread

(displayed in chronological order):

lumberjack_jeff, LadyHawkAZ, In_The_Wind, Doctor_J, flyingrabbit, JoePhilly, mokawanis, ck4829, Divernan, RiffRandell, name not needed, yellerpup, Scuba, dflprincess, Thespian2, 2naSalit, freshwest, truebluegreen, ReRe, onestepforward, lastlib, ConservativeDemocrat, MirrorAshes, Richard D, Denzil_DC, Champ50, enigmatic, valerief, temporary311, TinkerTot55, MarianJack, ROFF, ColumbusLib, dsharp88, Bibliovore, JDPriestly, RC, canuckledragger, Oakenshield, libodem, Warren DeMontague, pacalo, rsk, nilram, chervilant, Upton, progressoid, westerebus, bvar22, teach1st, narnian60, harris8, dickthegrouch, tecelote, Bonobo, Inkfreak, barbtri, esetherealtruth, opiate69

[opiate69]

23. Still not sure how it happened, because I don't see it on the greatest page.. But...

'Twas definitely nice to see lol

[In_The_Wind]

24. It only shows on the greatest page for 24 hours from the time of the original post.

[opiate69]

25. Heh.. well.. after 12+ years, I'm still learning about this place. Cool!