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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Extremism kills

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Charlie Hebdo. The brutal attack on the satire magazine’s offices in Paris killed cartoonists known for their irreverent, some say offensive work, against politicians, religions, etc. The massacre, as of this writing, is generally perceived as having been carried out by Islamist extremists in retaliation for Charlie Hebdo’s “attacks” on Islam.

No, this is not the first time that the world is shocked by barbarous acts of extremists.

Extremism killed, kills, and will continue to kill people.

According to Wikipedia, “Extremism is an ideology (particularly in politics or religion) considered to be far outside the mainstream attitudes of a society…. Extremism can take many forms including political, religious, and economic.

Political agenda perceived as extremist often include those from the far left or far right, as well as radicalism, reactionism, fundamentalism, and fanaticism.”

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Extremists do not entertain, and would kill dissent, from within or from the outside. As far as they are concerned, they hold the sacred truth. One should not, cannot, question, more so, contradict what they believe in.

All other opinions, values, and ideologies are invalid, offensive, and evil.

Viewed this way, extremists go against the democratic value of freedom of expression. Human rights are unacceptable. Intolerance is the rule.

Extremists thrive in hierarchical power relations. If or when tolerated, the existence of “lower”, “inferior” groups of people only serves the interests and benefit of the “supremes”. Those who do not belong to the ruling group are slaves (literally or figuratively), workers, service providers of those in power.

The “rights”, if ever of the “subjects” are subject to the determination of their masters. Therefore, these are not real rights in the way we presently understand them. Extremism subjugates, even oppresses, those who do not adhere to the extremist ideology.

Extremists, mostly, are supremacists. Because theirs is the only true and good ideology, they believe that they should rule the world.

History has clearly shown, and continue to show us that extremists eliminate “enemies”. And most sadly, many believe that what they do is justified, correct. They wage wars, resort to massacres, or brutally punish those they perceive as unbelievers. Such unbelievers are considered enemies who should vanish from the face of the earth.

They do all these because their political or religious ideology is supreme, and therefore, must reign while others are suppressed and vilified.

History is replete with examples of extremism of all sorts. While there may be several types, they overlap and reinforce each other. Religious intolerance for instance, informs culture, and politics most heavily felt when government is composed of religious fundamentalists.

Political extremism on the other hand often uses cultural biases such as sexism and racism to dominate others. A case in point is rape used by those in the military against “subversives” or “insurgents”.

In my book, cultural extremism includes racism and sexism. These ideologies that see certain races, sex, and sexual identities as superior than others and result in the oppression, sometimes, death of others.

Remember the Klux Klux Clan? This was the white supremacist group that killed black people because they believed that their kind is superior than the rest of humanity.

The ideology that regards women as inferior has resulted in the abuse, stoning, deaths even, of women who defy conventions imposed on them. Heterosexism is directly related with discrimination against women. Those who go against this, trans men and trans women, gays and lesbians, are subjected to abuse. Worst hate crimes result in deaths, like in the cases of Jennifer Laude and hundreds of other LGBTs.

The political extreme right, composed mostly of dictators, fascists, and military rulers, either use military strength to wrestle power from elected governments or suppress dissent to maintain status quo when they are in power.

Fascist Hitler wanted the world to be at his feet. The massacre of Chinese activists in Tiananmen Square was an example of communism killing dissent.

As a people, we are not unfamiliar with this. The Marcos dictatorship has taught us bitter lessons. The several coup attempts against the presidency of Corazon Aquino was another dark part of our story as a nation.

Religious extremism is most felt at this time. Malala Yousafzai, a girl activist for women and girls’ education was shot by the Taliban for her activism. Luckily, she survived and is now a Nobel Peace Prize winner.  More than a hundred innocent students were killed in open fire in a school in Pakistan by the Taliban allegedly to avenge military ISIS beheaded journalists and continue to murder Christians in the most barbaric ways.

Religious extremists attack even in nations known for being peaceful and liberal. The coffee shop attack by an Islamist gunman in Sydney, Australia, killed two innocent people. and just a few days ago, the attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France.

The world has become a very dangerous place because of these various types of extremism.

Extremism kills. It kills dissent. It kills freedom of expression. It kills democracy. Worst, it kills people. This should stop.

 

bethangsioco@gmail.com

@bethangsioco on Twitter

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