Extremist Anonymous

Last weekend I read a lengthy FT article on a rouge and destructive extremist group that believes it is in a life-and-death struggle against the evil US Government.

The rag-tag army of adherents nurse their grievances and extreme sense of victimhood that many would find irrational. As far as they are concerned, and according to the vapid propaganda and information outlets (often online) that prevail in their world, they are victims fighting for their way of life against the encroachment of corruption and evil in the world.

They are fervent religious believers. Moreover they share a belief in recreating the glories of a perfect (mythical) past during the time of their Founders - wise and noble leaders who are divinely inspired. Their revel in historical imageries and mimic the dressing and their Founders. They believe that the weaknesses and corruptions of current society are all due to deviations from the perfected rules and ways of life as practiced by the Founders. Hence, they believe that society must return to a literal interpretation of the document that encapsulate the original rules of their Founders.

They do not have a centralized leadership structure, but they have a central inspirational figure who plays the role of agitator-in-chief, with a cast of preachers who keep the fire burning amongst the foot-soldiers through the air-waves.

They are often caricatured as unsophisticated and bewildered losers in the dislocations caused by the globalized economy; but many of them actually come from privileged circumstances. In fact, they are often funded by shadowy wealthy people. They are crafty manipulators of media attention on them, giving them an influence and presence that is exaggerated.

They have no doubt everyone else who question them are to be defeated; especially fellow adherents who are moderately inclined or question too much. They spice their arguments with pseudo-facts and conspiracy theories that are constantly being circulated within their communities by an army of bogus experts and preachers - the purpose being to spread fear and fervor. Either way, they have all sorts of "evidence" to show that anyone who do not follow their way are on the path of the doomed if not damned. Hence, they are impervious to science, facts, reason or logic.

Who are they? They are the Tea Party of course.