How Liberals Hijacked The Word “Extremist” To Scare
Voters By Frank Camp
What
is extremism? To most of us, the word extremism evokes images of Nazis, the
KKK, radical Islamists, and other such groups that take their beliefs to the
outermost edges.
Because of the association between the word “extremist,” and acts of
radical violence, the concept of taking an idea to its outer edges is generally
viewed as dangerous or unnecessary. However, this is all a cultural concoction,
based on fear. The word “extremist” has been hijacked, as well as the core concept of
standing on one end of a spectrum of ideas.
I
was watching CNN yesterday at the gym. Anderson Cooper was speaking with
several guests about Ted Cruz’s 21 hour filibuster. One of the guests began to
speak at length about how the American people have become afraid because the
Republican Party has been hijacked by extremists. His tone suggested
that he not only viewed Ted Cruz as an extremist, but that Cruz, by nature of
being labeled as such, was inherently bad.
In
his book The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas,
Jonah Goldberg writes about how the word “extremist” has been painted as
evil. He argues that centrists think themselves more sophisticated than
so-called extremists. The following is an excerpt:
“There’s
a certain Goldilocks bias to discussions of politics: If Papa Bear’s porridge
is too hot and Mama Bear’s porridge is too cold, then Baby Bear’s is always
just right. It must work the same way in politics, right? Centrists,
moderates…independents: they all suffer from variants of this confusion. The
‘extreme’ Republicans argue 10. The ‘extreme’ Democrats argue for 0. Therefore
the smart, sensible, reasonable position must be 5. Well, the Wahhabis want to
kill all the gays and Jews. The Sufis don’t want to kill any gays or Jews. So
the moderate, sensible position must be to kill just the gays, but not the
Jews…the point is that sometimes the ‘extreme’ is 100 percent correct, while
the centrist position is 100 percent wrong.”
Goldberg
goes on to claim that self-titled “independents” are simply not
paying attention. He argues—and I agree—that behind the faux
sophistication of centrists lies a confusion and a slap-dash understanding of
politics. The Democrats are great at labeling. They create slogans and campaign
phrases designed to keep voters from actually thinking. In addition, they use
the word “extremist” to demonize Conservatives. What does holding “extreme”
views actually mean? According to Liberals, it means that Conservatives stand
on the fringes, or outer edges of opinion, far away from the center,
which—according to their made up rules—means that Conservative beliefs are far
from “normal.” And if Conservatives aren’t normal, they must be weird, and
probably wrong.
Using
the center as the definition of normal or typical is completely arbitrary!
First, the Democrats are certainly not in the center. Second, why is the center
so sought after? There are valid reasons to take sides. Most issues have such
stark differences that to have an opinion at all means taking a side. For
example, you either believe abortion is murder, or you don’t. Where is the
middle ground on that? You either believe in socialism or capitalism;
they are not compatible. There are those who claim otherwise, but they
are wrong. Those who attempt to meld bits and pieces from each philosophy into
a cohesive whole have no idea how the world works. Centrism is naïveté at its height.
The
word “extremist” has been hijacked by the Left to scare voters away from
Conservatism. But
when broken down, extremism simply means having an opinion. Labeling the center as “normal”
is beyond arbitrary, it’s incorrect. Once we set aside the foolish idea that
the center is political ground zero, extremism suddenly doesn’t mean
much—and it doesn’t sound that scary.
