Extremist / Extremism

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notmartha
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Extremist / Extremism

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DEFINITIONS

Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
EXTRE'ME, adjective [Latin extremus, last.] Outermost; utmost; farthest; at the utmost point, edge or border; as the extreme verge or point of a thing.
1. Greatest; most violent; utmost; as extreme pain, grief, or suffering; extreme joy or pleasure.
2. Last; beyond which there is none; as an extreme remedy.
3. Utmost; worst or best that can exist or be supposed; as an extreme case.
4. Most pressing; as extreme necessity.
Extreme unction, among the Romanists, is the anointing of a sick person with oil, when decrepit with age or affected with some mortal disease, and usually just before death. It is applied to the eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, feet and reins of penitents, and is supposed to represent the grace of God poured into the soul.
Extreme and mean proportion, in geometry, is when a line is so divided, that the whole line is to the greater segment, as the segment is to the less; or when a line is so divided, that the rectangle under the whole line and the lesser segment is equal to the square of the greater segment.

EXTRE'ME, noun The utmost point or verge of a thing; that part which terminates a body; extremity.
1. Utmost point; furthest degree; as the extremes of heat and cold; the extremes of virtue and vice. Avoid extremes. Extremes naturally beget each other.
There is a natural progression from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny.
2. In logic, the extremes or extreme terms of a syllogism are the predicate and subject. Thus, 'man is an animal: Peter is a man, therefore Peter is an animal; ' the word animal is the greater extreme and man the medium.
3. In mathematics, the extremes are the first and last terms of a proportion; as, when three magnitudes are proportional, the rectangle contained by the extremes is equal contained by the extremes is equal to the square of the mean.
The Century Dictionary, an Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, 1895
extremism (eks-tre'mizm), n. [< extreme + -ism.]

Disposition to go to extremes in doctrine or practice ; ultraism.
extremist (eks-tre'mist), n. [< extreme + -ist.]

One who goes to extremes; a supporter of extreme doctrines or practice.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 1919
extreme, a. & n.

Outermost, farthest from centre, situated at either end ; divided in e. & mean ratio (the whole being to one part as that part to the other) ; utmost ; last, as (R.-C. Ch.) e. unction, anointing by priest of dying person ; reaching a high degree, as e. old age, in e. danger ; an e. case (having some characteristic in the utmost degree); (of actions, measures) severe, stringent ; (of opinions, persons, &c.) going to great lengths, opp. to moderate, whence extremism, extremist,


Ballentine’s Law Dictionary, James A. Ballentine, Third Edition, 1969

extreme.
Outermost: utmost. Sometimes employed as the opposite of moderate, but more often as meaning far advanced or excessive. e. g. “extreme cruelty.” Estate of Nelson. 132 Cal 182. 191.
Black’s Law Dictionary, 4th Edition, 1968, 5th Edition, 1979
EXTREME.

At the utmost point, edge, or border; most remote. Last; conclusive. Greatest, highest, strongest, or the like. Immoderate; violent.
DHS Lexicon, Terms
anti-government extremist –
group or person who facilitate or engage in unlawful acts of violence directed at federal, state, or local law enforcement, other government officials, critical infrastructure or government facilities in order to affect the conduct of a government or influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, in response to their belief that their liberties are being taken away by the perceived unconstitutional or otherwise illegitimate actions of government officials or law enforcement.
animal rights extremist –
group or person who facilitate or engage in acts of unlawful violence directed against people, businesses, or government entities perceived to be exploiting or abusing animals.
anti-abortion extremist –
group or person who facilitate or engage in acts of unlawful violence directed against the providers of abortion related services, their employees, and their facilities in support of the belief that the practice of abortion should end.
countering violent extremism –
approach to mitigating or preventing potential terrorist activity emphasizes the strength of local communities via engagement with a broad range of partners to gain a better understanding of the behaviors, tactics, and other indicators associated with terrorist activity.
environmental rights extremist –
group or person who facilitate or engage in acts of unlawful violence against people, businesses, or government entities perceived to be destroying, degrading, or exploiting the natural environment.
homegrown violent extremist –
person of any citizenship who has lived and/ or operated primarily in the United States or its territories who advocates, is engaged in, or is preparing to engage in ideologically-motivated terrorist activities (including providing support to terrorism) in furtherance of political or social objectives promoted by a foreign terrorist organization, but is acting independently of direction by a foreign terrorist organization.
militia extremist –
group or person who facilitate or engage in acts of unlawful violence directed at federal, state, or local government officials or infrastructure in response to their belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms and is attempting to establish a totalitarian regime consequently oppose many federal and state authorities’ laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership), and often belong to armed paramilitary groups.
sovereign citizen extremist –
group or person who facilitate or engage in acts of unlawful violence directed at public officials, financial institutions, and government facilities in support of their belief that the legitimacy of US citizenship should be rejected; almost all forms of established government, authority, and institutions are illegitimate; and that they are immune from federal, state, and local laws.
violent extremism –
Violent extremism refers to advocating, engaging in, preparing, or otherwise supporting ideologically motivated or otherwise supporting ideologically motivated or justified violence to further social, economic or political objectives.
QUOTES

Memoirs, David Rockefeller, 2003
“For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it.”
Vladimir Putin -
It is necessary to suppress any extremist actions, on all sides, regardless of their origin.
Bernie Sanders -
The Koch brothers, through the expenditure of billions of dollars and the creation and support of dozens of extreme right organizations, have taken fringe extremist ideas and made them mainstream within the Republican Party.
Dennis Prager -
Proponents of same-sex marriage regularly label opponents 'radical' and 'extremist.' However, given that no society in thousands of years has allowed same-sex marriage, it is, by definition, the proponents of same-sex marriage whose position is radical and extreme.
Leon Jaworski -
I would rather have a competent extremist than an incompetent moderate.
Peter T. King -
I mean, I really don't want the federal government to be determining whether or not a person who feels certain ways about the environment or about animals or about certain religious issues should be considered an extremist. That to me is a type of thought control, mind control, which is very dangerous.
Malcolm X -
I don't believe in any form of unjustified extremism! But when a man is exercising extremism — a human being is exercising extremism — in defense of liberty for human beings it's no vice, and when one is moderate in the pursuit of justice for human beings I say he is a sinner.
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notmartha
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Re: Extremist / Extremism

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I'm an Extremist! Are you? By Randall A. Terry

www.voiceofresistance.com
I have often been accused of being an “extremist.” (Perhaps you have as well.) I have decided to explore “extremism” as it relates to our faith, and decide when this label is an insult, and when it is a compliment.

First, I must point out that the fear of being condemned as an “extremist” has muted many otherwise good men and women. Worse yet: many tepid Christian leaders in pastorates, seminaries, chancelleries, and other ministry leadership positions have joined Christianity’s enemies and launched their own quiet, thoughtful, reasoned attack on “extremism.”

One result of this is that many young “Davids” sit fidgeting on the sidelines, while the King Sauls of the Church explain to the Davids why it is not God’s will to slay the Goliaths; after all, killing Goliath is “extreme.”

But I get ahead of myself. As I have pondered “extremism” and Christianity, I have found that in many ways, Christianity is inherently “extreme.” I will now lay out this thesis. Please note: every “extreme” that I will now point out about Christ, God the Father, and Biblical heroes, come from the Scriptures. (You can use a concordance to study each passage if you are so inclined.)

Let us consider the extremes of Christ’s attributes and offices.

He is the Lamb of God; he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the Prince of Peace; He is the Man of War. A bruised reed He will not break; He shatters the nations with a rod of iron. Jesus weeps; He has eyes of fire. He does not lift up His voice; out of His mouth goes a two edged sword. Christ is the Savior; Christ is the Judge.

He made Himself a servant; He is the Master and Lord of all. His kingdom is not of this world; He is King of kings and all kings will bow at His feet. He wore a crown of thorns; He offers a crown of life.

He is fully God; and He is fully man. (Those extremes nearly tore the Church apart.)

Let us reflect on God the Father. God is love; God is a consuming fire. God is light; God dwells in the thick darkness. Jacob He loves; Esau He hates.

Let us ponder how extreme the mandates and the fruit of Christianity are in our lives and relationships. The Bible demands that we love our enemies; the Psalmist boasts of his perfect hatred for God’s enemies. Christ promised to leave his peace with us; yet he declared he did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Christ brings unity to Gentile and Jew; he divides a mother-in-law from her daughter-in-law. He commands us to rejoice evermore; he adjures us to let our joy be turned to sorrow and our laughter to weeping.

God’s dealings with men and nations are equally extreme.
He will save the city for the sake of 10 righteous men; he destroys tens of thousands for the sin of one man. One errant son loses Paradise by one act; one obedient son redeems the world by one act. God forgives the woman taken in adultery; he kills the man for steadying the Arc of the Covenant with his hand. He sends blistering drought in Elijah’s day; he drowns the world in Noah’s. He brought the first son of David and Bathsheba to the grave; he brought their next son to the throne. The angels rejoice when sinners are converted; converted sinners will judge the angels.

Biblical heroes are also a study in extremes.


David is the sweet Psalmist of Israel writing poetry; David is the fierce warrior who presents Goliath’s head to the king. Elijah stands and conquers 400 prophets of Baal; he flees in terror at the threat of one woman. Abraham begs God for a son; then willingly offers him as a sacrifice until God intervenes. Peter declares he will die for Jesus; within hours he denies he even knows him. Timid Gideon begs God for a sign; brave Gideon slays two kings on a stone. Saul of Tarsus kills Christians; he is finally killed for being one.

The extremes of Christianity may startle us; they may make uncomfortable; but they are not contradictions. The tightrope walker that balances himself with a long pole holds but one pole. It is the extremes of that pole that keep them in balance. Should he favor one side of the pole and lop off the other, he could not maintain his balance–he would fall.

This is a plight to modern clerics, theologians, and Christian leaders. Having accepted the notion of Christianity’s enemies that certain aspects of our God and faith are extreme - and therefore extremely embarrassing- they have lopped off the extremities that preserve them on precarious heights–and they have fallen; fallen into the safety net of fallen man’s opinions. But this safety net is actually a snare.

Having turned from the Harsh Master who reaps what he did not sow, they have enslaved themselves to harsher masters who sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.

Many of our modern, sophisticated, would-be “heroes of the faith” slay no tyrants, conquer no kingdoms, risk no martyrdom. Instead, they get photos with tyrants, protect the status quo of the kingdom, and casually martyr the reputations of their extremist brethren.

By trying to blend the “heat” of God’s mercy and the “coldness” of his judgment, the “balanced” have exchanged their glory for the similitude of a lukewarm, politically correct ox, fit only to be spewed out of Christianity’s mouth. By the forced blending of God’s unapproachable light and the thick darkness in which he dwells, the moderates of Christianity have created the drab-grey-God who neither inspires wonder nor dread.

They have balance; the balance of a fixed, lifeless statue.
One achieves healthy balance by remembering both the goodness and severity of God; not by blending them into divine indifference. One maintains balance by acknowledging the extremes of black-and-white; not by creating a bland, grey divinity.

What Christianity’s detractors both inside and outside the Church must accept – what we all must embrace – is that Christianity is extreme to the wildest degree. Perhaps nothing reveals this extremism more than the final state of man. The redeemed dwell in perpetual joy; the rebels weep and gnash their teeth forever.

Those made righteous by Christ’s blood live in night-less light; those who rejected His gift are cast into outer darkness. Those who die in friendship with Christ have eternal life; those who die rejecting His grace have eternal damnation. This is quite extreme.

Perhaps it is unintentional; perhaps they have not reflected on these truths; perhaps there is no ill motive. Whatever the case, those who reject extremism and extremes ultimately reject Christ and Christianity.

The fruit of this makes one weep. By rejecting the extremes of male and female, our seminaries have created religious eunuchs and barren heralds; neuters that cannot reproduce their kind. By castigating Christianity’s extremities, have castrated its vitality.

A Balanced Moderate?
Show to us a “balanced moderate” who has done anything great in history. They have won no great battles, they have no tragic defeats. They have no boast, they have no denials. They offer no heads of giants; their songs are trite and predictable.

When moderates in the Church call for balance, they really want to lop off the embarrassing extremes of Christ, His Church, and His history. But by doing so, they make Christianity an embarrassment. It is no longer, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also…” but rather, “These men who want a place at the table have come to discuss compromises.”

Past adversaries of the Gospel feared extremist Christians: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Our modern leaders are learned, but not bold. Now our enemies marvel that Christian leaders won’t fight for Christianity; they take note that they have been with Balaam.

These sad eunuchs inspire neither dread nor ecstasy, neither joy nor weeping. If anything, they inspire mediocrity; because only the clarity of extremes inspires people to great actions. Mediocrity, gray, blandness… inspires very few. They cannot advance and conquer for Christianity, for they cannot even defend her. They are safe, and they are irrelevant or worse yet; they are relevant only as religious hostages to be paraded before Christ’s adversaries like trophies from a conquered kingdom. By the waters of Babylon they have sung skillfully. Unlike the three Hebrew children, they bow deeply.

To our brothers and sisters, clerics and leaders who have been poisoned by a fear of “extremism,” I say this: be loosed of the chains of your safe, grey, lukewarm, mediocrity. Cease giving succor to our adversaries.

Their war on extremism is a war on Christianity itself. Come, battle evil with us. Relish the exhilaration of triumphs; curse the hapless defeats. You can only achieve great victories by risking defeat.

To the unbelieving rebels; behold the goodness and severity of God. If you repent and believe the gospel, you will receive forgiveness and mercy from the God who made you, and sent His Son to die for you. But if you continue to rebel, and die outside of God’s friendship, you will be judged. If you reject and spurn His mercy, you will drink the cup of His wrath forever. And your accusations of Christianity’s extremes may haunt you for all eternity.

The Church Militant: Extremists to the Extreme
Finally, to young and old believers alike - who yearn for militancy in the Church Militant - take this advice: flee the guidance of barren doctors of divinity. Go to them for Bible study, or for the Sacraments – yes – but do not follow their lead into the ghetto of mediocrity. They will deliver you from extremes, but they will rob you of your strengths to deliver. They will inoculate you from the pain and anguish of childbirth, because they will sterilize you. Better to be in anguished labor for Christ than to be a gelding for Jesus.

In these perilous times, as we defend babies from abortion, defend marriage in the matter God created it, defend our endangered liberties, we must be prudent, loving, and merciful in the ways that God would want. However, that does not mean we shrink back from battle, or equivocate, or seek compromise with or honor from those who are at war with the Laws of God, and human life itself.

If they call us extremists, so be it. We are better off serving God in this life with that condemnation being hurled at us because we are faithful to Him and His Laws, than to be ignored by those who are destroying our nation; ignored because we were afraid of being extremists.


Prince Arthur
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Re: Extremist / Extremism

Post by Prince Arthur »

Extremist / Extremism

Yes - very clever and devious wordcraft definitions along with the social, political and religious contexts.

If you don't think the world works like you are told to believe it then you are not operating within the carefully defined boundaries as set by your controllers and so by definition you are an EXTREMIST and must be dealt with accordingly.

Plato's allegory of the cave springs to mind....

ImagePlato Allegory of the Cave Sanraedam 1604 by Prince Arthur, on Flickr
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notmartha
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Re: Extremist / Extremism

Post by notmartha »

Prince Arthur wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:35 am
If you don't think the world works like you are told to believe it then you are not operating within the carefully defined boundaries as set by your controllers and so by definition you are an EXTREMIST and must be dealt with accordingly.
STATE has consistently held that you can BELIEVE anything you want, but you better not act on those beliefs unless they conform to STATE-THOUGHT. So it is "ok" to be an "extremist" in thought only, getting run over rough shod by the real "extremists" who act violently to repress any thought that does not match their own.
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