All Muslims are terrorists, and all terrorists, Muslim. Barack Obama is a Marxist on a mission to destroy the U.S. economy, after which he will establish concentration camps for Christians. All Republicans are heartless fascists motivated by hatred of blacks, old people, and the poor. These examples of extreme black-and-white thinking, which psychologists would see as evidence of mental illness, can be found every day on the fevered fringes of the blogosphere. Anders Behring Breivik spent a lot of time in that alternative reality, soaking up U.S.-based blogs that insist day after day that “Islam is intrinsically violent” (Jihad Watch) and that “the ‘moderate Islam’ meme [is] a theory with no basis in reality or history” (Atlas Shrugs). Breivik cited these blogs hundreds of times in the 1,516-page manifesto he posted before he went off to slaughter the children of Norwegian socialists. The irony, of course, is that Breivik’s violent and apocalyptic worldview is a mirror image of the one found on jihadist websites; for both the Nordic Crusader and the soldier of Allah, there is no gray—only black and white, Us and Them, humiliation and vengeance.
But let us not blame blogs or the Internet for the proliferation of extremism; they are merely tools. Let us blame black-and-white thinking itself, and the people who indulge in it. To live in a world devoid of doubt and ambiguity is seductive, and deeply satisfying, but it’s crazy, and inevitably leads to crazy results. If people who think differently from you aren’t merely different, but evil, then you mustn’t bargain with them, or even tolerate them. You must destroy them. And so it goes.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
The issue of women and conscriptionUnder the radar Ukraine military adviser hints at widening draft to women, as other countries weigh defence options amid global insecurity
-
AI is causing concern among the LGBTQ communityIn the Spotlight One critic believes that AI will 'always fail LGBTQ people'
-
'Modern presidents exercise power undreamed of by the Founding Fathers'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Editor's letterfeature
-
Editor's letter: Are college athletes employees?
feature The National Labor Relations Board's decision deeming scholarship players “employees” of Northwestern University has many worrying that college sports itself will soon be history.
-
Editor's letter
feature
-
Editor's letter: When a bot takes your job
feature Now that computers can write news stories, drive cars, and play chess, we’re all in trouble.
-
Editor's letter: Electronic cocoons
feature Smartphones have their upside, but city streets are now full of people walking with their heads down.
-
Editor's letter: The real cause of income inequality
feature When management and stockholders pocket all the profits, the middle class falls further behind.
-
Editor's letter: The real reason you’re so forgetful
feature When you consider how much junk we’ve stored in our brains, it’s no surprise we can’t remember our PINs.
-
Editor's letter: Ostentatious politicians
feature The McDonnells’ indictment for corruption speaks volumes about the company elected officials now keep.