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The Problem of Extremism

 There is a problem with extremism. However, what I mean is probably different to what you are expecting.

 The word ‘extremist’ is being used a lot by politicians and commentators these days. What does it actually mean? What is it that makes one person an extremist and another not? No one ever describes themself as an extremist. It is a label applied by somebody else who disapproves of you. The term implies that there is an agreed norm and that this person is outside of what is normal and acceptable. The person described as ‘extreme’ generally understands themselves to be doing what is right. So, who decides what is normal and what is extreme?  If someone is engaged in violence, that is another matter but then they can be described in meaningful terms – a violent activist, an armed assailant a murderer or whatever the case might be. But what do they mean by having “extremist views”?

 Let’s look at this with Christians in mind. If a Christian family insists on home schooling their children because they strongly disapprove of the schooling available to them, are they extremists? They would see themselves as reasonable and responsible, conscientious and concerned for what is best, but to someone else they might be seen as extremists. What if Christians refuse to accept that the church should conduct same-sex marriages? Or that abortion is an evil to be avoided rather than a right? What if they insist the Bible is completely true? Or that Christ is the only way to God? In each case, they believe they are doing and saying what is right but others might well regard them as extremists because not everyone agrees.

 Pointing at one specific community and saying that there are some extremists within it has a powerful effect because it is not self-evident who is being regarded as extreme. Let’s get to the point: if a White English person attends a demonstration in support of Palestinians, that is regarded as political. If a Muslim woman attends the same demonstration wearing conservative Muslim clothing, she is more likely to be identified as some sort of extremist. The label taps into something else. The White English man might actually be more extreme in his views, but looking different adds another emotive dimension to the issue. We are talking about people who express views which conflict with those of the majority, but only some of those get labelled with the inflammatory label of extremist and others do not.

 One of the foundations of our democracy is that we are allowed to hold and express dissident views. We can advocate breaking up the country – like the Scottish Nationalists – or for the abolition of the monarchy or demand unilateral disarmament or campaign for gender self-identification or express the view that Russia was within its rights to invade Ukraine. These are strong points of view. They pose serious challenges to the ways things are, but the freedom to express dissident views is an important part of how our system works. However, when political leaders speak darkly of some Muslims being extremists, people to be feared, it does two things. It raises tensions within the Muslim population as ordinary Muslims do not know who is going to be considered extremist. The other is that it feeds the fears of those people in the wider population who already have a distrust of people who look different especially when all they have to go on is what they see in the media.

 If anyone is breaking the law or conspiring to do so, then that should be dealt with on those terms. In the current situation some people are being labelled as not sharing our British values because they hold minority views in combination with belonging to an ethnic minority. A fundamental British value is that people are allowed to hold and express minority views. It is those who say otherwise that may prove to be a threat.