Moderation is for hippies, Mark Morford

[madokie]

It’s true, isn’t it? Moderation is a joke. Moderation is un-American. Moderation in any healthy, compassionate sense in this year of our extremely hot and imminently riotous 2013 is nothing short of a goddamn modern miracle.

Don’t you think? Have you noticed? No one believes in it anymore. Fewer still actually practice it. Anyone on any side of a given debate or social issue shun it like it reality TV shuns good taste.

Even the planet itself agrees: Extremism is in. Extremism is the new black, which is also the new blood red, which is also the new, merciless way to deny anything bad or dangerous might be happening as a direct result of our unchecked growth or God-drunk ideology.

Where do you want to look? Popular culture? ‘Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo’ just earned record ratings by going to new extremes of trashiness, mental incompetence and borderline child abuse. Sports? Extremes of machismo, scandal and homophobia abound. Violence? Please. A teenager massacres 22 elementary school children with a rifle he swiped from him mom, and what’s the response? Let’s arm up even more! Meanwhile, the top-selling video games are screamingly juvenile, ultra-violent first-person shooters for 10-year-old males who never go outside and twitch themselves to sleep.

The rest: http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2013/01/08/moderation-is-for-hippies/

[madaboutharry]

1. This article is very thought provoking.

Thanks for posting.

[s-cubed]

4. "Moderation is for monks" Robert Heinlein n/t

[Fumesucker]

2. Meeting extremism with moderation for the last thirty plus years hasn't worked so well

The other side only got more extreme as our side rushed to compromise with them.

I profoundly wish it wasn't so but I'm starting to think that the only way to counter extremism is with opposite extremism, that seems to be the only way to keep the conversation from constantly drifting toward the most extreme in our "Shape of the Earth? Opinions differ, we'll be right back with our panel of pundits after these messages" world.

[starroute]

5. There's a difference between beliefs and behavior

"Moderate" has become a word used to describe either not-quite-batshit-crazy conservatives or sell-out-at-the-drop-of-a-hat liberals. Most of these are people who have no discernible principles at all and many of them are just shills for the 1%. A lot of the time, the word "moderate" is just dog-whistle for "pro-corporate."

The goal, I think, is to have serious and consistent progressive beliefs -- and then go about putting them into practice in a balanced, sensible, and bridge-building manner. Even Occupiers and Tea Partiers have been able to work together at times on issues like free speech.

It would probably be useful to retire the label "moderate," which has been so abused. But the alternative is not to adopt extremes of intransigence and self-righteousness.

[malaise]

3. DUers should read this and then watch Jon Stewart on gun control

from last night.

Excellent read - rec

[OneGrassRoot]

6. I adore him. K&R n/t

[pinboy3niner]

7. He's a slobber-tongued devil

[OneGrassRoot]

8. ...

[pinboy3niner]

9. He has a way with words

But he also admits that his columns often are alcohol-fueled.

[salinen]

10. The nation's

on Red Bull.

[madokie]

11. Kick for one more run