# The Far Right, The Far Left, What Do They Have In Common. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004 "2013-01-22T14:22:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/41 "2013-01-22T23:44:50Z")
This reminds me of a joke: What’s the difference between the far left and the far right? The far right will blow you away if you disagree with them, and the far left will make every excuse they can to defend their right to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/42 "2013-01-23T03:09:10Z")
I don’t know if you can. If productivity due to automation, IT, robotics, communications devices, etc. continues to increase there won’t be enough labor for people to do to match demand. So that is a major problem we are going to have to deal with globally. We have become wealthy enough that we don’t need as many human producers as we do human consumers. But since people get the income to consume by producing, what do you do? I don’t think confiscatory tax rates on capital are politically feasible at the moment, so no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/43 "2013-01-23T06:07:32Z")
Like all extremists, the far left and far right have self-righteousness in common. Both carry a moral conviction that they’re the one and only way, and you can’t tell them nuthin’. One thing they don’t have in common is influence. In recent years, the far right has actually had some influence on politics in much of the developed world. The far left is…um, is there even a far left these days? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/44 "2013-01-23T13:29:40Z")
What do those who self-label as “far right” and “far left” have in common? ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/45 "2013-01-23T13:39:53Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > How do we create more jobs? Build stuff. America should build big, useful things. How about a big program to modernize our electrical grid in every state. Repair and reinforce every road and bridge that needs it. Extend and upgrade rail lines. High-speed wi-fi in every city that is actually competetive with the rest of the world. All of these would benefit citizens with both practical and useful jobs, and the upgraded infrastructure that would be built. This needs a thread of its own. How to finance this is the big question. ---
**Author:** ![pchaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/258eb7/32.png) [@pchaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pchaos)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/46 "2013-01-23T13:40:56Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > What do those who self-label as “far right” and “far left” have in common? People generally think of themselves on the left, right, or middle-of-the-road. I doubt many people think of themselves on the extremes. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/47 "2013-01-23T13:53:36Z")
> [@pchaos](#): > > People generally think of themselves on the left, right, or middle-of-the-road. I doubt many people think of themselves on the extremes. But without the self-identification the question is useless. When you talk about the far right and the far left you are doing it from your perspective, and since we don’t know where you stand politically we have no way of determining what you mean by those terms. Likewise, any response we have concerning the far right and far left is colored by _our_ (somewhat, if not entirely, unknown to you) perspective. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/48 "2013-01-23T20:00:05Z")
What they have in common is smugness. In both extremes, there’s the feeling that “I’m right, and they’re not just wrong, but stupid and beneath me.” They have replaced serious dialog with wisecracking and sniping. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/49 "2013-01-24T01:07:55Z")
Both the far right and left have a hatred of globalization and economic liberalization (in the original meaning of that term) and as a result they dislike free trade, NATO, the EU, and possibly the UN (the far left is split between those who see UN as the cornerstone of some sort of a Star Trek Federation-like socialist world state or as a puppet of American/Western imperialism). ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/50 "2013-01-24T04:37:14Z")
Another common theme at least outside of the United States, is anti-Americanism. For example you wouldn’t able to guess the ideology of the singer here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR-WPhOQ9jM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR-WPhOQ9jM) ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/51 "2013-01-24T06:16:57Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > This needs a thread of its own. How to finance this is the big question. I agree. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/52 "2013-01-24T16:00:50Z")
Badly framed OP. Asking about the far right and the far left just gives everyone who does not identify with either of these extremes a chance to do some self-congratulatory self-stroking, transforming the thread into an orgy of masturbation. Way to go! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/53 "2013-01-24T16:41:38Z")
There are some rather obvious common qualities in all extremists no matter their banner. A dissociative personality can form very strong attachments to positions that are in direct opposition to the status quo. That very opposition itself is the one thing that can always be trusted by the extremist even when assailed by the countless examples of how her position is untenable and contrary to consensual reality. So, both ‘radical left’ and ‘extreme right’ are just two sides of the same weirdly cast coin. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/54 "2013-01-24T16:53:15Z")
Ultimately, the insistence that a violent purge is the only way to achieve their goals is the common factor of the extremes. The number one thing that Marxist revolutionaries and fascists or Christian dominionists have in common is their insistence that the bourgeoisie, or the Jews, or the Muslims, or the gays, or whoever, need to be murdered as a class. It’s not surprising that, historically, people switch between polar extremes more easily than they graduate to the middle–the driving factor in political extremism is the same psychiatric disturbance that leads to becoming a sadist or a serial killer, not any fundamental beliefs about how the economy should run. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/55 "2013-01-24T18:12:45Z")
To try to get some variety going in this self-congratulatory orgy, I will name a positive quality that the far left and the far right share in common: both are frightened enough of the shit the big banks have been up to to actually DO something about it, something than cannot be said of the left or the right. The left’s approach seems to be, “Give them a serious tut-tutting over the depredations publicly while secretly furthering their interests to keep all that lovely ca$h the bankers give out flowing our way” while the right’s approach remains, “Continue to assiduously lick the boots of the wealthy and do anything they say.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/56 "2013-01-24T18:36:14Z")
An orgy of masturbation? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of an orgy in the first place? At the very least, the catering is a wasted expense. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/57 "2013-01-24T21:55:33Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > To try to get some variety going in this self-congratulatory orgy, I will name a positive quality that the far left and the far right share in common: both are frightened enough of the shit the big banks have been up to to actually DO something about it . . . Well, to make noise about it, at any rate. The far-left staged the OWS sit-ins to make noise about it, and the far-right . . . well, actually, you have to go to paleocon **literature** to read or hear much about that, you won’t find it mentioned on Tea Party rally-signs. (Of course the Randroids and Ronulans on the campaign trail were chanting a lot about the banks in 2012 – specifically, chanting “End The Fed!”, which is worse-than-irrelevant to the problem.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/58 "2013-01-25T01:45:50Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > An orgy of masturbation? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of an orgy in the first place? At the very least, the catering is a wasted expense. Sounds like an old-fashioned circle jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/59 "2013-01-25T02:41:32Z")
Well, if it’s an orgy of _mutual_ masturbation, I guess that can conform to leftist ideals. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004/60 "2013-01-25T02:56:16Z")
If performed with everyone’s left hand, you mean. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-far-right-the-far-left-what-do-they-have-in-common/648004.md?page=4)