Which side do you think is less aware or accepting of holding extreme positions- the far left or the far right?

Both.
Extremists can’t conceive of why anyone in their right mind wouldn’t think as they do.

At first glance, I thought this was a question about the left or right side of your body holding a pose….

They are both the same.They are both the same. They are both the same.

People are infinitely more capable of pointing out other’s shortcomings than confronting their own.

Both polar extremes are full of idiots who can twist info/facts/logic to support their demented views/beliefs.

Neither has any idea that they are so extreme, and probably think there are people worse than them out there.

Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern are evidence that if you go to far right or left you end up in the same place.

@Judi . . .and you have to admit, on either end, it’s a pretty hilarious place.

@hiiiiiiii :: Be careful when you call people idiots.

I agree that both sides have their over the top crazies. The left has people who would use violence to save trees while the right does the same to prove that god hates abortion. I feel that anytime your emotional investment outwheighs your common sense you get in trouble.

@drClaw . . .well put

That’s the thing about extremes – they’re both pretty far offcenter.

@Blondesjon I do what I can
;-)

@laureth I laughed out loud, thanks
From the way I see it, the two extemes practically go full circle. At one point, they merge.

The extreme leftists are idiots. The would kill to save a tree, but they wouldn’t die for it. The extreme right would both kill and die for their cause.

you do know as soon as you call someone an idiot you join their ranks

Not true

No one, ever, thinks they are extreme. Everyone places themselves in the middle of what is morally correct. So no one can see their own extremeness, especially not so-called “moderates” who believe there are poles they can place themselves between. It’s a delusion, but a popular one.

@daloon In my experience, those folks see themselves as “realists” for whatever that means.

It’s still an extreme position from one vantage point or another.

Absolutely. It seems peculiar to me that radicals who see themselves as “realists” think their reality is the only right one.

@Judi: Suprising I know, but Howard Stern is a registered libertarian and often supports republican candidates…..

@Judi & @critter1982 – perhaps Rachel Maddow is a better example?

and i thot howard stern was a moderate.

@dalepetrie: Perfect….

I would say the far right. Hitler only murdered 10 million people. Stalin murdered 20 million.

@IchtheosaurusRex: I’m not sure what you are saying. Are you saying Hitler was far left and Stalin was far right? You may be joking, but I am not following at all.

@toleostoy , it was a bad joke, sorry. I recall Ronald Reagan talking about political extremes. Pointing to the left, he said “Stalin.” Pointing to the right, he said “Hitler.” I quipped that Hitler was probably more tolerant, given that he was less of a monster than Stalin – hence the far right is more tolerant than the far left. I misread the OP’s question, anyway. I would mean to say that, using the Stalin/Hitler extremes, the left is “less aware or accepting of holding extreme positions,” not the right. However, it’s an absurdity either way.

The true answer to the question is that people who hold extreme positions, no matter which ones, are equally intolerant of those who don’t share their views. Among those who are less extreme, conservatives are probably more intolerant than liberals. But only to a point.

I agree completely with IchtheosaurusRex’s statement, the serious parts at least (and I thoroughly enjoyed the joke). I’d have to say that anyone who derives their values from a source they view as infallible is likely to be intolerant of opposing views (making neo-conservatives [read: the religious right] more likely to be intolerant, but not conservatives as a whole).That said, I’ve encountered far more educated people who are intolerant that align themselves with the left. Either way, it’s foolishness, governing, in my opinion neither side works very well on it’s own, and the real problem is (you guessed it) a lack of accountability.

No, you don’t see extremes on the Left anymore. Keep in mind that the extreme Left once advocated a proletarian revolution and a liquidation of the capitalist class, a dictatorship of the proletariat followed by a whithering away of the state. The extreme Left also used to advocate the abolition of private property and state ownership of the means of production.

The extreme Left also used to have Anarchists, who advocated the abolition of the state. You don’t see them anymore, although you do see their Libertarian counterparts on the Right. You don’t see or hear much about a Socialist Party in America. In fact, you don’t even see Trade Union Democrats or Social Democrats on the Left in America, although you do see them in Europe.

On the other hand, you see theocrats on the extreme Right, ranging from the evangelical Religious Right, pushing their religious agenda on the rest of us (in re: abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, the war on drugs, and opposition to women’s rights) to the full-on theocratic Dominionist, Christian Renewal and Theocon movements who want to replace the US Constitution with Biblical Law and a council of elders who would administer the law and the government much the same way the mullahs administer Sharia Law in Muslim countries. We still have an active KKK, the Timothy McVeigh militia movement, the ultra-nationalist Minutemen patrolling the Mexican border trying to turn back the tide of illegal immigrants, and Christian white separatists in Idaho, Montana, etc. If you turn on AM talk radio, you hear almost nothing but extreme right-wing hate talk (G. Gordon Liddy and Oliver North) that makes Rush Limbaugh sound positively moderate and sane.

There isn’t any question, to anyone who actually pays attention, that the extreme Right is much more extreme than anything we have on the Left today. “Liberalism” is actually quite close to the center. Back as late as the mid 1970s, you used to have liberal Republicans (Nixon and Rockefeller). But, since Reagan, the Republican party has drifted so far to the Right, that it now considers Liberals and Liberalism “far-left.” That should tell you something.