# Does Extremism Polarize the Rest of the World?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-extremism-polarize-the-rest-of-the-world/699017>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 20, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-extremism-polarize-the-rest-of-the-world/699017 "2014-09-20T14:50:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-extremism-polarize-the-rest-of-the-world/699017/1 "2014-09-20T14:50:42Z")

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On a personal level I know when someone goes on extreme end of something I have an inkling towards, it helps me realize how wrong it is. Stereotyping is an example – seeing people sometimes being extremely racist towards minorities helps me put aside my memories of a robbery that happened to me years ago.

Is this same type of polarization known to occur on a cultural level? When I see the religious extremism in particular in the Middle East, I wonder if this creates a moderating force on the rest of the world, preventing say more Muslim areas, or even Christian ones, from living with such extreme ideologies.

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**Author:** ![bodhitreeshow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@bodhitreeshow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bodhitreeshow)\
**Post date:** [September 20, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-extremism-polarize-the-rest-of-the-world/699017/2 "2014-09-20T15:10:25Z")

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I’ll admit I’m having a tough time analyzing your question, because it seems like there are a bunch of questions with very few sentences. Maybe, you can elaborate and help me help you.