Extremism thrives on other people’s extremism, and is inexorably defeated by tolerance.
Pointer from Tyler Cowen.
Is it uncharitable of me to point out that the Nazis were not inexorably defeated by tolerance?
One can make a case that extremism thrives on pusillanimity, moral ambiguity, and the inability to give neutrals and moderates a clear message that they will be safer if they line up with the good guys against the bad guys than if they try to stay in the middle.
On a more mundane level, I think that Juan Cole, and just about everyone else, would do better to frame arguments in terms of Type I and Type II errors. A type I error is failing to incarcerate or deport a dangerous individual. A type II error is incarcerating or deporting an innocent individual. (You may reverse the Type I and Type II terminology if you like.)
If you go all out to avoid Type I errors, then you commit more Type II errors, and vice-versa. It is important to keep that in mind. If you say “Close Gitmo now!” then some of the guys you release are going to commit atrocities. If you say “Deport dark-skinned immmigrants now!” then more than 90 percent of those you deport will be decent people and fewer than 0.001 percent will be terrorists.
All that said, I stand by my prediction that there is a good chance that we will see a rapid decline in militant Islam as a force this year.
The deportation-or-incarceration question would not arise if the West did not inundate itself with so many immigrants from a hostile, authoritarian culture in the first place.
That statement is pure BS. It sets up an infinite regress. From where did the original extremism come? I am 100% certain that he, nor any other progressive would ever blame right wing extremism on progressive intolerance. Anders Breivik, anyone? Yes terrorists are rare, but the tails contain information about the mean. Islamic extremism is objectively extreme, but even more so relative to western culture, and there is no reason why we should have to tolerate if we choose not to.
Europe’s future depends on whether the Marine LePens are allowed to become mainstream.
Because we just can’t tolerate that now, can we?
” If you say “Deport dark-skinned immmigrants now!” then more than 90 percent of those you deport will be decent people and fewer than 0.001 percent will be terrorists.”
Why am I suppose to care about this? I have nothing in common with them. They are genetically dissimilar to me. In fact, they are by and large my enemy from evolutionary point of view.
There is no rational reason for liberal tolerance. There is every rational reason for swift and painful brutality.