During the Bosnian war in the late 1990s, I spent several days traveling around the country with Susan Sontag and her son, my dear friend David Rieff. On one occasion, we made a special detour to the town of Zenica, where there was reported to be a serious infiltration of outside Muslim extremists: a charge that was often used to slander the Bosnian government of the time. We found very little evidence of that, but the community itself was much riven as between Muslim, Croat, and Serb. No faction was strong enough to predominate, each was strong enough to veto the other's candidate for the chairmanship of the city council. Eventually, and in a way that was characteristically Bosnian, all three parties called on one of the town's few Jews and asked him to assume the job. We called on him, and found that he was also the resident intellectual, with a natural gift for synthesizing matters. After we left him, Susan began to chortle in the car. 'What do you think?' she asked. 'Do you think that the only dentist and the only shrink in Zenica are Jewish also?' It would be dense to have pretended not to see her joke.
Christopher HitchensTags: religion humour intellectuals jews extremism zealotry muslims bosnia bosnian-war 1990s city-councils croats david-rieff islamic-extremism religious-extremism serbs sontag zenica
How did you get back?' asked Vautrin.
'I walked,' replied Eugene.
'I wouldn't like half-pleasures, myself,' observed the tempter. 'I'd want to go there in my own carriage, have my own box, and come back in comfort. All or nothing, that's my motto.'
'And a very good one,' said Madame Vauquer.
Tags: manipulation life-philosophy extremism
The take-home message is that we should blame religion itself, not religious extremism - as though that were some kind of terrible perversion of real, decent religion. Voltaire got it right long ago: 'Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.' So did Bertrand Russell: 'Many people would sooner die than think. In fact they do.
Richard DawkinsTags: religion extremism religious-extremism
The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately.
Bertrand RussellTags: passion opinions skeptic opinion skepticism extremism rationalism superficiality critical-thinking skeptical
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!
Barry M. GoldwaterTags: freedom virtue speech moderation conservatism vice extremism republican
In the days when hyenas of hate suckle the babes of men, and jackals of hypocrisy pimp their mothers’ broken hearts, may children not look to demons of ignorance for hope.
AberjhaniTags: politics intelligence humanity hatred prejudice ignorance hypocrisy leadership bigotry terrorism xenophobia extremism political-commentary megalomania believing-in-love gun-violence world-suicide-prevention-day human-rights-day police-reform police-shootings coexistence national-history-day gun-laws hate-crimes presidential-election coexisting-together coexistência election-year-politics nonviolent-conflict-resolution political-corruption
A good practice carried to an extreme and worked in accordance with the letter of the law becomes a positive evil.
Swami VivekanandaTags: extremism bhakti formalism overdoing-it
Until one nation ceases its attempts to dominate another, there will never be true freedom. Until one religion relinquishes its quest to prove its god superior to that of another, there shall never be world peace. We will never truly prosper or experience lasting harmony, until we refrain from preaching the gospel of our own moral values and our personal preferences by forcing it upon others.
Anthon St. MaartenTags: politics power morality freedom prejudice diversity religious-freedom harmony bigotry prosperity extremism coercion peace-on-earth religious-tolerance controlling political-domination
Blut muss fliessen
Jan ValtinTags: extremism
A true fanatic, his promptings were reasons enough for his actions.
Robert E. HowardTags: fanaticism extremism extremists
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