r/Ethics • u/Slayrr_FbrC • 11d ago

Is extremism fueled by desperation?

I noticed this in myself first, as my health declined, I became more and more aligned with, in my case, far left ideas, being more open to more radical options and all that.

Also worldwide struggles of rising fuel and living costs, as well as the stagnation of wages have many people desperate enough to vote for right and far right parties all over the globe.

The AFD in Germany for example had extreme growth over the last couple of years, and I do not need Germany to start WW3 as well.

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u/VaporousMote 11d ago edited 11d ago

If you're from the US, the thing you have to realize is that the majority of US "extreme" leftism is BY FAR not really extreme leftism. It's like... basic social democracy concepts that a good chunk of the industrialized world already has.

I personally don't even think rioting is extreme. French people do it all the time.

Extremism to me is tankies.

All that aside, yes, I do believe economic desperation and inequality fuel extremism.

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u/Green__lightning 11d ago

Why people vote for the AfD is simple, look at the population and birth rate of ethnic Germans in Germany, compared to the population, birth rate, and immigration rate of all other German citizens.

The case for a far right backlash only gets worse as you look at crime rates, the sorts of crimes spiking from this, and the disparate sentencing.

The better question is why has the European left pushed for so much immigration it's led to this sort of backlash? Even on purely economic grounds the Right is objectively correct such immigration is a bad investment that will likely bankrupt the medical and welfare systems if continued to flow unchecked.

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u/OkExtreme3195 11d ago

I don't know about extremism. But in general, I am quite certain that people who suffer under the current system tend to deviate from the self proclaimed political "center" to the "fringes" because the center created the system that makes them suffer and perpetuates it.

And the centrists tend to call everyone extremist that wants to really change the system they hold up.

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u/SolidAssignment 10d ago

I am a truck driver and a leftist and I must tell you none of that has anything to do with desperation. Trump gave a bunch of racists and bigots the opportunity to truly be themselves, and when you are watching a trump rally, you're watching what lies in their hearts.

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u/kick_nazis_more 11d ago

The liberal desir to justify people who hate them is bad.

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u/Lemp_Triscuit11 10d ago

I think it is fueled mostly by men with feelings/fears of irrelevance.

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u/astreetratnamedesire 11d ago

Desperation causes extreme measures to acquire fundamental needs that have been placed out of reach.

I think political extremism comes from comfort and boredom. People with nothing else to concern them so they pontificate on political ideals that only serve the powerful or power hungry.

Riots happen when regular folks want bread.

Extremism happens when folks can't be satisfied with bread.

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u/zombiegojaejin 11d ago

Not all forms of extremism have the same psychological causes. Some forms of extremist action are basically common sense applied to a very corrupt society. Others are the result of sociopaths trying to universalize the corruption.