There are several groups in the world that can be classified as extremists. Most would consider groups such as Hamas, Al-Qaeda or Hezbollah as extreme, others would consider certain political parties as extreme. In the United States there are organizations such as the Klan and the Black Panthers who have represented extreme viewpoints. There are also religions that lean to the extreme, and even some people (such as Howard Dean on the political left in the United States, and Michael Savage on the political right) who do or say things that place them at one extreme or another.

My question to you is how you think the mainstream should react to such extremes, especially consistent and ongoing extremes. For example, should mainstream Democrats distance themselves from the statements of Howard Dean? Should they take steps to remove him as Democratic National Party Chairman? Should Republicans decry the rantings of Michael Savage? These people have a right to their opinions and to speak them, but does it help the cause of their parties or does it hurt them?

Similarly, should religions distance themselves from the actions of their more extreme members? Should we be hearing loud and clear from Christian Churches when a "right-to-life" group blows up an abortion clinic (killing or injuring people in the process)? Should we be hearing Islamic leaders decrying on a daily basis the actions of terrorists who invoke the name of Allah, but kill civilians? If they don't, do they run the risk of being associated with thexe extremists?

How about journalists? Should Al-Jazeera be giving airtime to terrorist videotapes? Is it news or is it giving aid to the terrorists? Similarly, should US journalists be giving airtime to extreme viewpoints when they know in advance that the viewpoint won't be anything other than an extreme opinion (not facts, just spin)? To be clear, Journalists have a right (at least in the US) to present these viewpoints, but does it serve their cause? Does it really present information or does it simply cast the Journalists as being in the same camp as the extreme viewpoint?

From my own standpoint, I can recognize that Islam is not about terrorism, yet I know many people in the mainstream that want to hear Islam cry out against Islamic terrorist groups. Many in the mainstream believe that Islam supports terrorism because they don't see Islam distancing themselves from terrorists. I know that most Christians don't support abortion clinic bombings, but the mainstream isn't seeing many Christian churches rejecting groups that do these bombings.

CBS had a hard decision to make when Dan Rather ran his story that turned out to be based on falsified documents about President Bush. They chose to distance themselves from a respected journalist who had suddenly become extreme. Whether Dan Rather was truly biased or whether he was duped is an argument for another thread, but CBS managed to appeal to the mainstream by retiring Mr. Rather. I think that this was a good move for CBS and perhaps it can be taken as a model for other groups.

-- Jeff

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"Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." --Ronald Reagan