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[–]magnora7[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Ideological is a good word, I agree. But extremism is defined as "the advocacy of extreme measures or views" and if you're too far-gone in to one single ideology, as voat and reddit both often are, then I see it as ideological extremism.

Yeah, reddit is definitely more... machined, for lack of a better word.

[–]Troll 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Sentencing a criminal to death is considered "extreme," however, many view it as a necessary measure. The American colonists declaring civil war against the British Empire was also "extreme." America's independence day is one of the largest holidays in the US.

Liberal democracy is considered centrist, despite it being a radically difference form of "civilization" than anything pre-Enlightenment. Under liberal democracy, mass-suffrage is a centrist position and the idea of the state as being what defines a people is centrist. Completely contrary to most of human history -- even democracy in Ancient Greece never went so far.

In a sense I'd argue that extremism is nothing more than going against the fray of the prevailing winds of modern society, which doesn't seem to offer all that much to people except the mercantile class.

[–]magnora7[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

In a sense I'd argue that extremism is nothing more than going against the fray of the prevailing winds of modern society

I disagree. A whole society can be extreme at once. Look at Nazi Germany for example.

Extremism is more about the historical and global cultural norms, not just bucking the norms of one country at one moment.

[–]Troll 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

First of all, though, we need a working definition of "extreme." Extreme is in regards to something considered commonplace or moderate.

In the commonly accepted definition of political extremism it means radically different from the norms. But historically, again, liberal democracy is an extremist form of government. Nobody in their right mind before 400 years ago would have thought that universal suffrage was ideal or desirable.