Of centre extremists and when people go over the top:
There is an urban legend that a lady once asked for her political stance by a pollster described herself as a "centre extremist."
Asked to elaborate, she was happy to explain that
"I have moderate views, but I'd shoot anyone who disagrees with them."
I was reminded of that story this week when I had a long twitter exchange with a remain activist who took exception to my referring to extreme Remainers and extreme Brexiteers and asked me to define "extreme" as it referred to Remain supporters, arguing that the very concept was "a contradiction" because in her view, quote
"Remainers are just ordinary people who see the status quo, and think it's good. Those who don't want chaos, riots, food shortages and worse life for their children" and were therefore "not extreme."
"Extreme" and, by extension, "extremist" are two of a number of words in the English language which often give rise to this kind of argument because they can be used in both a descriptive and a pejorative sense.
In the former sense anything which is at or near one of the polar opposite ends of a spectrum can be said to be extreme. However, most English speakers, including myself, would not apply the word "extremist" so someone just for being at one end of a spectrum because the word does have strong connotations of disapproval: dictionary definitions of an extremist include
"someone who has beliefs that most people think are unreasonable and unacceptable,"
or
"A person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action."
In this sense it is possible to take an extremist stance in support of what is not in itself an extreme position (as with the "centre extremist.") I do think the words "other extreme action" in that second definition are doing quite a bit of heavy lifting because you can be well short of advocating violent or illegal actions and still go well outside what is reasonable.
The comment which had provoked my original reference to extreme Remainers and extreme Brexiteers had been one from a very well-known actor from who had effectively implied that anyone who didn't take the same position on the revocation of Brexit is insane. I dare say the reference to sanity in the tweet may have been meant as hyperbole rather than intended to be taken literally but I had taken aim at it as an illustration of the way debate about Brexit - from all sides - has often shown a marked lack of respect for opposing views.
As the predecessor magazine to the Spectator put it a very long time ago
Other instances where people on either end of the Brexit spectrum who were not actually advocating anything illegal or violent nevertheless failed the test of whether most decent people would find what they did unreasonable or unacceptable might include:
1) The "Deatherendum" website which boasted about "discounting the deceased" based on the supposed deaths of 2016 leave voters, or the similar tea towel with pictures of dead Leave voters. Ironically the Deatherendum website was taken down after itself being the target of "abuse." That is not acceptable whichever side does it and whoever is the target.
2) The UKIP/Farage "breaking point" poster which was condemned even by UKIP's one MP.
I do not intend to point a finger at any particular cause or group by writing that I suspect people who are unable to comprehend that they might be seen as extreme are often at more risk of going over the top than they realise.
Postscript: In the spirit of not going over the top myself, the lady with whom I had the twitter exchange did acknowledge that "it is unhelpful to call anyone insane" so it would be wrong to imply that there was no willingness to listen to what anyone else had to say.
Asked to elaborate, she was happy to explain that
"I have moderate views, but I'd shoot anyone who disagrees with them."
I was reminded of that story this week when I had a long twitter exchange with a remain activist who took exception to my referring to extreme Remainers and extreme Brexiteers and asked me to define "extreme" as it referred to Remain supporters, arguing that the very concept was "a contradiction" because in her view, quote
"Remainers are just ordinary people who see the status quo, and think it's good. Those who don't want chaos, riots, food shortages and worse life for their children" and were therefore "not extreme."
"Extreme" and, by extension, "extremist" are two of a number of words in the English language which often give rise to this kind of argument because they can be used in both a descriptive and a pejorative sense.
In the former sense anything which is at or near one of the polar opposite ends of a spectrum can be said to be extreme. However, most English speakers, including myself, would not apply the word "extremist" so someone just for being at one end of a spectrum because the word does have strong connotations of disapproval: dictionary definitions of an extremist include
"someone who has beliefs that most people think are unreasonable and unacceptable,"
or
"A person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action."
In this sense it is possible to take an extremist stance in support of what is not in itself an extreme position (as with the "centre extremist.") I do think the words "other extreme action" in that second definition are doing quite a bit of heavy lifting because you can be well short of advocating violent or illegal actions and still go well outside what is reasonable.
The comment which had provoked my original reference to extreme Remainers and extreme Brexiteers had been one from a very well-known actor from who had effectively implied that anyone who didn't take the same position on the revocation of Brexit is insane. I dare say the reference to sanity in the tweet may have been meant as hyperbole rather than intended to be taken literally but I had taken aim at it as an illustration of the way debate about Brexit - from all sides - has often shown a marked lack of respect for opposing views.
As the predecessor magazine to the Spectator put it a very long time ago
Other instances where people on either end of the Brexit spectrum who were not actually advocating anything illegal or violent nevertheless failed the test of whether most decent people would find what they did unreasonable or unacceptable might include:
1) The "Deatherendum" website which boasted about "discounting the deceased" based on the supposed deaths of 2016 leave voters, or the similar tea towel with pictures of dead Leave voters. Ironically the Deatherendum website was taken down after itself being the target of "abuse." That is not acceptable whichever side does it and whoever is the target.
2) The UKIP/Farage "breaking point" poster which was condemned even by UKIP's one MP.
I do not intend to point a finger at any particular cause or group by writing that I suspect people who are unable to comprehend that they might be seen as extreme are often at more risk of going over the top than they realise.
Postscript: In the spirit of not going over the top myself, the lady with whom I had the twitter exchange did acknowledge that "it is unhelpful to call anyone insane" so it would be wrong to imply that there was no willingness to listen to what anyone else had to say.
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