RESPONSES TO CHARGES OF "EXTREMISM"
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"Extreme?" "If by 'extreme' you mean principled, then I accept your calling me that, even though I find it distasteful. However, if you mean 'too outrageous to take seriously,' then I reject your epithet and call into question your motives. Are you one of those people who think politicians and bureaucrats should be allowed to mess with your life any time they want? Or any time 'the majority' wants? Is the concept of the sovereign individual citizen so unthinkable to you that you consider it 'extreme'? Or are you so defensive about how sloppy a thinker you are that you resent, and are even hostile to, people who strive for intellectual clarity? Or are you just so comfortable in your intellectual mediocrity that you can't be bothered to think about the long-term consequences of your principles or lack thereof, and hate to be challenged to? "I consider the term 'extremism' to be a word deliberately chosen for its vagueness and used by intellectual slobs who are too desperate, sneaky or lazy to say exactly what they mean. Its only purpose is to deliberately try to confuse the difference between people who are extremely good (usually because of devotion to their principles) with people who are extremely bad. The sleazeballs who use this supposedly scary, yet undefined, word are not only trying to smear people of conviction and integrity, but they're also trying to divert attention away from the fact that they are obviously not people of principle themselves." -- Rick Gaber "If an uncompromising stand is to be smeared as 'extremism,' then that smear is directed at any devotion to values, any loyalty to principles, any profound conviction, any consistency, any steadfastness, any passion, any dedication to an unbreached, inviolate truth -- any man of integrity." -- Ayn Rand in " 'Extremism' or The Art of Smearing", Chapter 17 of Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"
-- Karl Hess and Barry Goldwater; attribution to Cicero "A moderate is either someone who has no moral code of his own, or if he does, then he's someone who doesn't have the guts to take sides between good and evil." – Rick Gaber "In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit." --Ayn Rand "Extremism in pursuit of moderation is not necessarily a virtue." -- Jonah Goldberg "In matters of principle, stand like a rock." -- Thomas Jefferson "I suppose people who vilify those who make judgments on a moral basis (instead of, or in addition to, a simply legal one) are the 'moral relativists' who believe it's really bad, even evil, to make moral judgments." -- Bert Rand Most people who use the word “extremist” use it as an “anti-concept.” According to Ayn Rand in the essay “ ‘Extremism,’ or The Art of Smearing,” (Chapter 17 of Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal) the purpose of anti-concepts is “to obliterate certain concepts without public discussion.” "If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist." -- Joseph Sobran (1995) "The Democrats and Republicans stand at two extremes, characterized by which parts of our lives they emphasize their desire to control. Libertarians reject both extremes in favor of the government leaving control of your life to you." -- Michael Badnarik (2004) |