Der Spiegel: How Right-Wing Extremists and Islamists Are the Same

[pampango]

The two groups appear to be diametrically opposed, but a deeper look reveals they have a great deal in common. The totalitarian worldview has many manifestations.

Their extremism and the absolutist nature of their ideas are comparable. Miliopoulos says that such groups seek to capitalize on people's fears. For Pro-NRW, that effort manifests itself in the way the party equates Islam with Islamism -- religion with ideology.

Their own ideology, however, is seen as the absolute truth, another characteristic that Pro-NRW shares with the Salafists. No doubts and no differentiations are allowed. Both ideologies are rooted in an extreme simplification of reality, allowing them to easily decide who is right and who is wrong. Nuance would only endanger their simple truths.

"Totalitarian thought is rooted in the willingness to promote one's own opinion with violence if necessary," Miliopoulos says. The Salafists made clear in Bonn, for example, that they are prepared to fight for what they see as the infallibility of their beliefs. And not just with words, but with rocks, sticks and knives if necessary.

In the final analysis, extremists such as those from Pro-NRW and the Salafists are united in their aspiration to do away with democracy and the freedoms it guarantees.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-similarities-between-right-wing-extremists-and-islamists-a-832294.html

Good to see that some in Germany get it.

[hifiguy]

1. There is not a nickel's worth of difference

between the Shari'a law the religulously insane fear so much and the "biblical" law the Xtian Dominionists favor. Both require killing "heretics," gays, "adulterers," "fornicators" and a wide variety of those who engage in normal human behaviors. You can't get a molecule between the two insane bigotries.

[freshwest]

5. +1

[Initech]

14. Religious extremists of *ANY* religion are dangerous.

This is why we should not allow them to enter our government - it's how Taliban style governments are created.

[Dawson Leery]

17. There is no fundamental difference between the Pope, Born Agains, & OBL.

[malaise]

2. Ding ding we have a winner

Rec

[cr8tvlde]

3. The extreme right and the extreme left have frequently had points of convergence

as true radicalism/extremism is authoritarian, lacks individual thought and demands total obedience. See Communism and Nazism...two sides of the same coin. Democracy is imperfect and sometimes inconvenient, but falls somewhere in the middle.

Religion adds a further intensity...fundamental Onward Christian Soldiers on Crusades, fundamental Islamists on Jihad, fundamental Hebrew/Jews on Zionism.

[freshwest]

4. Explain the equivalency you mention with the left and right, please.

You said: The extreme right and the extreme left have frequently had points of convergence as true radicalism/extremism is authoritarian, lacks individual thought and demands total obedience.

Give examples of leftist movements that are authoritarian. TIA.

[Flatulo]

7. Castro's Cuba. nt

[yardwork]

9. Fortunately we don't have to worry about extreme leftism in the U.S.

We don't even have to worry about any moderate leftism. Actually, there's virtually no leftism left in the U.S. at all. So you don't have to worry.

[freshwest]

12. Got that right. What's Ferrari's sig? America: Giving liberals the finger for 43 years?

[pangaia]

18. Unfortunately so true.

[MrScorpio]

6. Extremism is as extremism does. nt

[yardwork]

8. No duh.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

10. We at DU have known *THIS* for YEARS!!!

teahaddists. christofascists. the Reich Wing. the Talifundies and their kkkristian mullahs.

We have been trying to wake people up to this since midway into President Drunkenfratboy's first term!

[xtraxritical]

11. Yeah, what else is new? Also,

I love your over population thingy. I was all up for ZPG (Zero Population Growth) in the 1970s. We need it now more than ever!

[polichick]

13. So true - and in the U.S. we have the American Taliban.

[sarcasmo]

15. I have been saying this for years. If you go back and look at my posts , I would guess since 2004.

[GETPLANING]

16. Reminds me of the BBC special documentary, "The Power of Nightmares"

The first segment compared the rise of neoconservatism to the rise of Islamic extremism and how they used the exact same type of fearmongering about each other.