The Benefits of Extremism
A friend sent this to me earlier in the week, and I thought it was simply too good not to share. It’s been making the rounds in the blogosphere, but on the off-chance you haven’t seen it, here is John Cleese with the benefits of extremism.
My favourite line: “Once you are armed with one of these super lists of enemies… you can strut around abusing people and still think of yourself as a champion of the truth and not the rather sad, paranoid schizoid that you really are.”
Wait a second, I think he’s just described the world of blogging. Nuts!
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Rumblings 
if only he was just kidding around we could all feel pretty good about ourselves…
I had not seen it before. It is so funny.
This kind of thing annoys me. I see the label ‘extremist’ bandied about so often today by newspaper columnists and pundits. It seems like if someone doesn’t actually want to debate a point with an opponent you can just substitute an argument with calling that person an extremist. I don’t really understand why being moderate is somehow considered better then being extreme. The term extremist just seems to be used to malign other people. Does it even have a meaning outside of smear?
There are certainly cases where the label is thrown out in place of an argument, which is annoying. Having said that, I think Cleese is poking fun more at the disposition than the content of those holding what others would call “extremist” views. And the disposition, even if not acknowledged or articulated in as explicit (or amusing) fashion as in the clip, is certainly alive and well at both ends of the spectrum.
This made me smile. Thanks! I like the new look of the blog too. Peace to you.
Glad to hear you like the new look, Chris, although so far I think you’re the only one! Some have been “suggesting” that I switch back… so far I’m unsure (oh, the weighty decisions we must make :)).
“Once you are armed with one of these super lists of enemies… you can strut around abusing people and still think of yourself as a champion of [the Stanley Cup] and not the rather sad, paranoid schizoid that you really are.”
Describes Canucks fans now.
Ha! So true… After tonight’s game, it looks like the abuse will be continuing…
HHHAHHA Thanks Ryan I had to re-post this on my blog… fantastic.