Do extremists help or harm more moderate like-minded parties?

[Acid_Lamp]

Extremism usually will harm a cause more than help it IMHO. The problem is that all to often the nutters define the party. This results in: “Oh you’re of of them are you?” type scenarios

[Charger]

@Der Trihs

So it’s wrong to hate the Nazis or the KKK ? Be realistic; some groups and some people deserve to be hated. And sometimes hatred is useful; it’s a good motivator. Saying “hate is always wrong” is lazy at best, and generally it’s moral cowardice.

I’m talking about active hatred. I hate the Nazis in the way that I love seeing them melt when the Ark of the Covenant opens, but I don’t seek them out to inform them that I hate them. I simply acknowledge that they are misguided. Seeing them renounce their Nazihood and donate their funds to charity and recycle their guns to make wheelchairs would be much more satisfying.

[Bricker]

@Northern Piper

Mort, the Jewish-Vietnamese tailor: If Arafat wore a nice suit, he’d have a country by now.

Phred, Vietnamese Ambassador-Designate to the U.N., looking at the suit Mort has given him: It doesn’t say Third-World, dammit!

Which is exactly where I stole that line from… :eek:

[Tristan]

@Mr. Moto

BTW, I don’t want to hijack the thread, but how can Phelps be used to paint conservatives as anything (this seemed to be implied). He’s never been part of the conservative movement or the Republican Party at all, and in fact he still calls himself a Democrat.

Not to say that reflects on Democrats at all - certainly it doesn’t. But it shouldn’t reflect on Republicans either - his club is pretty small.

IMO, it is said that he reflects on Republicans because his viewpoint is an extreme (in fact, I would go so far as to call it X-TREEM!!![with Mt. Dew stickers]) version of many viewpoints that are held by “conservative Republicans”, such as anti-homosexuality, anti-abortion, and the like.

What he calls himself is irrelevant. He calls himself a Christian too, and even I, who am not, recognize the error there.

[BrainGlutton]

@Northern Piper

Phred, Vietnamese Ambassador-Designate to the U.N., looking at the suit Mort has given him: It doesn’t say Third-World, dammit!

So wear it with jeans! Such language!

[Annie-Xmas]

I don’t think the “pro-lifers” who kill people are casting a very good light on the whole organization. Particularly when some “pro-lifers” defend their actions.

[Sitnam]

Extremism may create a need to hurry compromise, but in the end an extremest is never allow to concede anything and so no settlement can be reached if it has any power. The good cop/bad cop approach can be effective, but having a bad cop in the room is a rallying cry that negotiations were not entered in good faith.

I guess what I’m saying is; for an extreme organization to be truly effective it must be able to be dismantled at the whim of their moderate brothers. Since this is rarely the case the extremest organization is a wild card that does as much harm as good to any peaceful solution. What they bring to light in world politics they take away at the negotiation table.