Extremism

Extremism is something that just gets in the way. Now, there are probably times when extremism has a place, but not very often. Things are just not black and white enough to be an extremist. Now, I can almost understand extremism when you talk about certain issues. If you believe abortion is murder, it is sort of hard to come up with a compromise position. So if you believe a murder is about to be committed, pretty much any action may be justified. Even if you don’t agree with the position, you can understand the motivation.
Most of us however restrict our strongest feelings to things that impact us directly. I read today about a man who got into a road contest with a trucker in Virginia and got out of his car and pumped bullets into the truck. Now, better the truck than the driver, although I’m not sure what he was aiming at. Even more absurd is that the driver had his young son in the back of his Jaguar. Not knowing enough to know how the incident developed I hesitate to jump to conclusions but generally my impression of Jaguar drivers is that they think they are entitled and if the trucker challenged his car, he would probably have a big crack in his paradigm.
Now, if you talk about public policy issues you have to draw some sort of line. For example, if a measure you opposed becomes the law of the land, aren’t all citizens now obligated to obey it and even more try to make it successful? Those who decide to make it fail are trying to prove a point. Now, don’t get me wrong, they can certainly try to repeal it or change it via the political process, but, threatening to kill those who voted for it is a bit much. Civil disobedience has a long tradition, but it needs to be conducted in a certain way. Violence is not the way. It gives civil disobedience a bad name.