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0 pointsvivekd9y ago0 comments

But how do you define extreme? Consider this, believing non-whites are morally and intellectually inferior would be considered an extreme and fanatical position.

However this was not considered an extreme position in the 1800s because, unforutnately, it was the majority position.

The problem you are having is you are defining extreme with reference to what you and the people around you believe to be extreme and fanatical rather than defining it based on what the majority consider extreme and fanatical, and the best evidence we have for the majority view in America is a very recent poll.

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Jtsummers9y ago

Most extremists do not consider their views extreme. It largely requires an outside view (literally as in another time or place, or figuratively as in the non-extremists colocated with them).

In particular, though, that view is demonstrably false. Anyone holding it can be considered an "extremist" just on the grounds of holding onto false beliefs (though falsification still has to occur).

A modern example is (not a majority view) the anti-vaxxer crowd.

Another one which is closer to a majority view (certainly a significant minority), is the anti-climate change crowd.

How about the anti-evolution crowd (which has a lot of overlap with the above two), a significant minority in the US as evidenced by our K-12 biology textbooks.

vivekdOP9y ago

All you are saying here is "people who disagree with me about vaccination and climate change are extreme because they are blind to evidence"

Obviously these people have a very different interpretation of the evidence and the conclusions that can be drawn from it. To suggest they are crazy because they disagree with you or find your evidence unconvincing is the same kind of smugness that cost Ms. Clinton and the democratic party this election.

Jtsummers9y ago

I'm not running for office any time soon, so my smugness will cost me nothing but karma here. I'm not suggesting they're crazy, I'm suggesting they're holding views which, by all reasonable evidence, appear to be false. These are not "opinion" views. You can't opinion your way into autism from vaccines. You can't opinion your way out of climate change.

People who believe vaccines cause autism (today) are fanatics.

People who deny climate change is happening (today) are fanatics.

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couchand9y ago

It would be a significant mischaracterization of the state of the evidence on both those issues to say there is all that much room for interpretation.

A more likely reason for holding the extremist position of an anti-vaxxer or climate change denier is the usual cognitive biases against incorporating new information inconsistent with one's current mental model.

couchand9y ago

I know it when I see it.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsvivekd9y ago0 comments

But how do you define extreme? Consider this, believing non-whites are morally and intellectually inferior would be considered an extreme and fanatical position.

However this was not considered an extreme position in the 1800s because, unforutnately, it was the majority position.

0 comments

Jtsummers9y ago

Most extremists do not consider their views extreme. It largely requires an outside view (literally as in another time or place, or figuratively as in the non-extremists colocated with them).

In particular, though, that view is demonstrably false. Anyone holding it can be considered an "extremist" just on the grounds of holding onto false beliefs (though falsification still has to occur).

A modern example is (not a majority view) the anti-vaxxer crowd.

Another one which is closer to a majority view (certainly a significant minority), is the anti-climate change crowd.

How about the anti-evolution crowd (which has a lot of overlap with the above two), a significant minority in the US as evidenced by our K-12 biology textbooks.

vivekdOP9y ago

All you are saying here is "people who disagree with me about vaccination and climate change are extreme because they are blind to evidence"

Jtsummers9y ago

People who believe vaccines cause autism (today) are fanatics.

People who deny climate change is happening (today) are fanatics.

1 more reply

couchand9y ago

It would be a significant mischaracterization of the state of the evidence on both those issues to say there is all that much room for interpretation.

couchand9y ago

I know it when I see it.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse