OF COURSE YOU OPPOSE EXTREMISM! | 2005-12-15
I keep stressing how important the three words, "IN MY OPINION" are.
People love to say "I oppose extremism."
No one but me seems to notice that that is a tautology.
By definition "extremism" is a position that, IN MY OPINION, is too far out to be considered. In Stalin's Russia, saying what you really thought of Stalin was extremism. Anyone who said otherwise died a very cold death in Siberia if they didn't shoot him first.
It constantly amazes me, and appeals to my sense of humor, that grown ups say "I oppose extremist views" as if they were saying something. Everybody opposes views that, IN THEIR OPINION, are extremist. That is why they call them extremist views.
Nobody but me seems to notice this. People get PAID to say they don't approve of extremist views.
How do you deal with people who repeat a tautology and honestly believe they are saying something?
Worse still, how do you deal with a public that PAYS to hear someone repeat a tautology from an idiot who thinks he is saying something?