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Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
What is this Blog For?
Mission Statement
This is a new blog by a veteran blogger. The world is currently riven by extremist factions, both in religion and politics. A facile tactic of those on the left is to smear and demonise those with differing views as "fascists," "racists" etc. However, such individuals frequently suffer from their own extremism - equating Israel with Nazi Germany and using that pretext to engage in blatant antisemitism and reviving Medieval blood libel against all Jews.
Those on the right may generally allow more pluralism of opinions, but the extremists of the right all too easily engage in their own demonisation of "the other" - lumping diverse strands of humanity into stereotypical groupings.
The ugly beating heart of extremism, be it from the extremes of the left, or the extremes of the right (and those sections of society where extremism is so far to the edges of the political spectrum that they share elements of both the far left and the far right) is powered by two impulses.
One rhythm supports the notion of intolerance for classes of people considered "different", yet its counterpoint aims to present an idealised, and sometimes romantic vision of a future "perfect" society. Any fool can be an intolerant bigot, but those who weave the dangerous dreams of a future ideal world, often ethnically or religiously "cleansed" of people deemed (often arbitrarily) as "undesirables" are the most worrying figures in 21st century life. These ideologues may not feature highly in the news, but their voices have resonance amongst the disaffected, and fuel the fires of the most dangerous excesses of extremism.
The aim of this blog is to identify extremism where it is expressing itself in the news, and also to identify those who tacitly support extremism. The targets of this blog will include those who promote real racism, bigotry and religious prejudice. This blog is not intended to be an "anti-Muslim" site, and will chart instances of genuine anti-Muslim bigotry. But this does not mean that Islamism and Islamist extremism will escape censure. As Islamists of various stripes (from Ikhwan activists to terror-supporting groups) are attempting to change the accepted parameters of social and political life, and thus feature widely in the news media, Islamism is likely to reappear frequently on these pages.
Adrian Morgan
This is a new blog by a veteran blogger. The world is currently riven by extremist factions, both in religion and politics. A facile tactic of those on the left is to smear and demonise those with differing views as "fascists," "racists" etc. However, such individuals frequently suffer from their own extremism - equating Israel with Nazi Germany and using that pretext to engage in blatant antisemitism and reviving Medieval blood libel against all Jews.
Those on the right may generally allow more pluralism of opinions, but the extremists of the right all too easily engage in their own demonisation of "the other" - lumping diverse strands of humanity into stereotypical groupings.
The ugly beating heart of extremism, be it from the extremes of the left, or the extremes of the right (and those sections of society where extremism is so far to the edges of the political spectrum that they share elements of both the far left and the far right) is powered by two impulses.
One rhythm supports the notion of intolerance for classes of people considered "different", yet its counterpoint aims to present an idealised, and sometimes romantic vision of a future "perfect" society. Any fool can be an intolerant bigot, but those who weave the dangerous dreams of a future ideal world, often ethnically or religiously "cleansed" of people deemed (often arbitrarily) as "undesirables" are the most worrying figures in 21st century life. These ideologues may not feature highly in the news, but their voices have resonance amongst the disaffected, and fuel the fires of the most dangerous excesses of extremism.
The aim of this blog is to identify extremism where it is expressing itself in the news, and also to identify those who tacitly support extremism. The targets of this blog will include those who promote real racism, bigotry and religious prejudice. This blog is not intended to be an "anti-Muslim" site, and will chart instances of genuine anti-Muslim bigotry. But this does not mean that Islamism and Islamist extremism will escape censure. As Islamists of various stripes (from Ikhwan activists to terror-supporting groups) are attempting to change the accepted parameters of social and political life, and thus feature widely in the news media, Islamism is likely to reappear frequently on these pages.
Adrian Morgan
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