Extremists

An extremist is someone who who holds stronger views on something than I do and who wishes to use more radical methods to achieve his goals.

To call someone an extremist is often merely a way of avoiding logical debate -it's the 'argumentum ad hominem'. On the other hand, those who are usually thought as 'extremists' are so often incapable of reasoned thought themselves.

The BNP, for example, who have announced they are targeting Lincoln. I have an uneasy feeling that they might do well. I hear normally civilised people sympathising with some of their policies - capital punishment, withdrawal from the EU, tax reduction - bloody hell, I sympathise with those things myself. But in Lincoln, as anywhere I suppose, it's immigration, and that new term of abuse, 'asylum seekers.'

Now, maybe there is cause for concern. Maybe these people, many of whom have been dumped in this area, are being doled out large sums of money, council houses and cars, at the expense of good British scroungers - sorry, I meant to say benefit claimants.

But. But. It's always the way with fringe parties like this. They latch onto issues of concern to unthinking people, buying their votes with appeals to prejudice and easy answers. The days of demagoguery are over. Now the spokesmen are besuited, bespectacled and speak in reasonable tones. We do not see the frothing hatred of the bully-boys behind them, their foul-mouthed, drunken love of violence.

In the thirties, Hitler offered an end to ludicrous inflation, to mass unemployment and Germany's humiliation. People listened and he delivered. And he hinted that the Jews were to blame. The racism latent in even the most decent middle-class breast was stirred. But, when they voted for stability and employment and national pride, did they know they were voting for World War II, Auschwitz and eternal shame? I have a feeling they did.

For Christ's sake, I hope the British are better than that.