Is Extremism Becoming Mainstream?

Touching the CONUS makes you gay?

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1...

You have a keen eye Mr.Windish. Though I don't think we need a telescope to see the psychosis in this wild arse extremism. Rather your keen eye is for FINDING such golden examples of stupidity that SHOULD be enough to convince even the most dullard among us. Sadly not. They still beat their dumb banners stubbornly.

I'm guessing the same people who think Bush/Obama is the Antichrist will happily think the next Republican/Democratic President is the AntiChrist as well.

As for the left, check out this question: “Do you think President Bush intentionally allowed the 9/11 attacks to take place because he wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East?” The top-line response is 14% yes, 78% no, and 8% undecided. But among Democrats, it’s a somewhat larger Truther contingent, at 25%-63%-12%.

Pentagon Proposed Pretexts for Cuba Invasion

In his new exposé of the National Security Agency entitled Body of Secrets, author James Bamford highlights a set of proposals on Cuba by the Joint Chiefs of Staff codenamed OPERATION NORTHWOODS. This document, titled “Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba” was provided by the JCS to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13, 1962, as the key component of Northwoods. Written in response to a request from the Chief of the Cuba Project, Col. Edward Lansdale, the Top Secret memorandum describes U.S. plans to covertly engineer various pretexts that would justify a U.S. invasion of Cuba. These proposals - part of a secret anti-Castro program known as Operation Mongoose - included staging the assassinations of Cubans living in the United States, developing a fake “Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington,” including “sink[ing] a boatload of Cuban refugees (real or simulated),” faking a Cuban airforce attack on a civilian jetliner, and concocting a “Remember the Maine” incident by blowing up a U.S. ship in Cuban waters and then blaming the incident on Cuban sabotage. Bamford himself writes that Operation Northwoods “may be the most corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government.”

Operation Northwoods PDF
Operation Northwoods - Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba
Considering the crap that the US Government has done over the years, I would not be the least bit surprised that 9/11 deliberately not prevented, on the other hand considering the general incompetence of the Bush administration, it's possible that it was just plain incompetence. In another 40 odd years when all the papers of Bush Administration are declassified, we will have an answer...

As for the left, check out this question: “Do you think President Bush intentionally allowed the 9/11 attacks to take place because he wanted the United States to go to war in the Middle East?” The top-line response is 14% yes, 78% no, and 8% undecided. But among Democrats, it’s a somewhat larger Truther contingent, at 25%-63%-12%.

By the way how many people got fired for the 9/11 f*ckup?

The "Dirty F**ken Hippies" were right about Bush lying to start the Iraq war, but who listens to the "Dirty F**ken Hippies", they are not serious people...

Oh my yes! All those blacked-out lines of text will be so revealing..

lol..

We have some clues today though..,.Bush's close financial ties to the Bin Laden family, the fact that he comes from a long line of terrorist sympathizers since Grandpappy Prescott gave alms to the nazis while we were engaged with them in combat, and God only knows what George Sr. was up to as head of the CIA in Vietnam.

Still giving the benefit of the doubt to W., I can't get around the memos he kept sending his staff [Cheney probably] "can we invade Iraq yet?" "how about now"? "now?" and so on..until 9-11 and the lying to Congress about weapons of mass destruction thingy when they had domestic fears ramped up and behind the premature push to approve..

And if we want to continue to be so extreme as to ignore the obvious [what, you didn't think ignoring the obvious was also itself a form of extremism and possibly mental illness?] we can look at how when Cheney [the one everyone agrees ran the place ...that used to be an "extreme" point of view as well--funny how time changes the definition..] wants more public fear behind one of his pet projects, Osama Bin Laden performs as if on cue.

Then there was the security breach in Bagdhad last April when Obama's plane was secretly scheduled to land there...the "seemingly coordinated string of bombings" just the day before. Who was bombing and why? Here's a clue: Cheney was adamantly campaigning that we needed to keep troops there and Obama wanted withdrawel. The lull in activity in the region wasn't playing well in Cheney's hand...so viola! There was activity the day before Obama landed..

And so on..

As to Obama not being born in this country? Doesn't matter either way. There is no comparison to finding that was true as to finding what the last administration was really up to that is currently thought of as absurd. Keyword: "currently"...

Speaking of Extremism

News is reporting this morning that a census worker was found hung by the neck with the word “FED” placed on his body.

Kentucky 2009 = Argentina 1976.

Funny that 3 particular TMV posters were attracted to this topic...............:)

Funny how you have nothing insightful to say but not a surprise...

I think the claim that President Bush purposefully allowed 9/11 to happen is ridiculous.

-Nikki-

Funny how casualobserver doesn't count himself among those visiting this thread...his post notwithstanding..lol...

Yeah nthomas...and 400 years ago the common man/woman thought scientists' claims that microbiology existed were ridiculous. Funny how microscopes and time change the ridiculous into the mundane isn't it?

Will you hang garlic around your neck, bleed yourself with leeches and continue to chant that we should ignore W's ties to the Bin Ladens and all the funny business that seems to add up to that which you, with a casual wave of your hand, deem "ridiculous"?

Today's Plague? Wilfull Ignorance..

Ah yes, the dumbassery continues... as does the false equivalence trap. Good luck puny humans. ;-)

Are you lefties getting that truly desperate about health care "reform" (federal takeover)?

[sigh]

Meanwhile, Obama's address to the UN General Assembly was so appropriate given the state of things here, currently. We have Qadhafi, Ahmedinejad, Chavez in the zoo known as the United Nations General Assembly. Meanwhile, we have liberal Democrats like Pelosi, Waxman, Barney Frank in the United States House of Representatives. Same reactions to both from the mainstream...

So what exactly is a "lefty" anyway? Near as I can tell it's someone who is less protective of the trend toward downward dumbery than is the average American... particularly when it comes to an unwillingness to embrace bogus information in order to prop up an obsolete ideology.

I honestly don't put much faith in such polls for example if you track back a week before to a Sept. 13th poll by the same group done in New Jersey, http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Rele... you will discover that 5% of those voting for Obama in New Jersey thought he was the Anti-Christ.

Well the conclusion is pretty obvious, either 5% of Obama voters in New Jersey were Satanist, or the credibility of such polls is pretty laughable.

I'm reminded of the old saying "Ask a stupid question and you will get a stupid answer".

Ah yes, the dumbassery continues... as does the false equivalence trap~ J Spencer
****

Don't forget the GOP spin...lol...

Leonidas - Could be the 5% were religious zealots who, believing Obama to be the Anti-Christ, voted to elect him to usher in the "end times" and their ascension to Heaven.

:) :)

Extremism is defined by the solution (war, revolution, riots, terrorism), not the cause. Officials do abuse their powers from time to time, so a little suspicion is good thing.

Leonidas - Could be the 5% were religious zealots who, believing Obama to be the Anti-Christ, voted to elect him to usher in the "end times" and their ascension to Heaven.

:) :)

Certainly a possibility. Just not one I put much stock in, maybe about as much as I put in such ridiculous polls.

Wow, Leo -- two things we agree on just this morning!

I can see myself answering that yes, I think GWB is the AntiChrist, and yes, so is Obama, just because of the sheer ridiculousity of the question.

"Near as I can tell it's someone who is less protective of the trend toward downward dumbery than is the average American"

If you were honest and accurate you'd say it all too often is someone who not only is more protective, but is a proponent of it, and even provides grease and rocket propulsion for it on numerous occasions.

Interesting how people with extreme viewpoints criticize other people with extreme viewpoints that don't agree with theirs.

If you have beliefs that are considered extreme, and you defend those beliefs by citing historical examples in which extremists turned out to be right, then you really can't argue against extremists on the other side. By your argument, you are no more likely to be correct than they are. The argument sounds nice to people who believe something extreme and want to feel justified, but it's really meaningless.

If an extreme viewpoint is justified, should it not be supported by some good evidence? In which case it would no longer be extreme because the mainstream, seeing its rationality, would accept it.

What do you all think?

If you have to throw a label at these people, could you please use paranoid? Extremists kill and destroy, or at least advocate doing so.

If you are directing your post at me, then my response is a definite......"Huh?"

I believe that many leftwing conspiracies seem to come from some basis in fact or are making up for lack of sunshine in regards to government activity. Right wing conspiracies on the other hand, seem to be crafted from whole cloth with little logical connection to real events.

Leftwing "extremists" said:
BushCo lied about Iraq buying yellowcake, turns out they were right.
BushCo lied about Saddamn having WMDs, what do you know.
BushCo had a plan to invade Iraq from day one of the administration, now we have an FBI whistleblower finally released from her gag order, naming names.
Patriot Act wasn't about terrorism, turns out its mostly use for drug enforcement.
BushCo politicized the justice department to pursue political rivals, turns out its true.
BushCo lied when they said we weren't torturing people, what is revealed looks like torture to just about everyone in the world.

Righwingers are worried that Obama is Kenyan and will push us all into socialism if we get a national health system. I don't think they really know what socialism is, and apparently a birth certificate isn't good enough proof for them.

I think its dishonest to attempt to equivocate reasoned beliefs with lunatic ramblings in pursuit of some centrist nirvana where we are all just so cool and can say all of it is extremist.

Carrying a gun to a political rally. Language that borders on death threats. Thats extremist.

Very interesting topic! I think the rise in extremism is due to a few factors;

The popularity of talk radio and cable news shows who are mostly interested in ratings
The 24 hour news cycle- where events get hashed and rehashed.
Gerrymandering of congressional districts into liberal and conservative (safe) districts
The religious right's encroachment into politics
The internet and in particular the blogosphere - where rumors and innuendo take flight.

It really wasn't directed at anyone in particular, it's just something I've wondered about as I've thought about this topic. I just thought I'd throw it out there to see what others thought.

What lurxst said ...

Ditto [great post BTW]

Maybe I should clarify a bit. I've noticed that some people, when their views are labeled as extreme, say things like, "well, people thought so-and-so was crazy for thinking such-and-such, but so-and-so turned out to be right." All that really proves, though, is that there was at least one time in history in which a so-called extremist turned out to be right. It says nothing about whether a modern-day extreme position will also turn out to be right. In fact, for every one extremist that turned out to be right, I'd bet there are thousands more who were wrong, which is actually evidence against extremism. On the other hand, you can't deny that if a lot of these extreme views did turn out to be right, it would have a serious impact on things, so what are we to do? How do we know who to pay attention to?

lurxst--

Good points.
The Bush administration ended up with a real credibility problem with regards to the war in Iraq,the DOJ, Katrina, wiretapping and torture.
Which is why I wonder why anyone with a brain is listening to Cheney now.
I would also add that the outing of Valerie Plame was put down to left wing conspiracy lunacy-- yet Dick Cheney himself admitted that he did it unintentionally.