Cumulative Extremism and Re-Drawn Maps

Once a month, I like to host an open discussion here on From The Forests of Arduinna. I usually write a little bit before by way of a prompt, which is really me saying ‘this is what is fascinating me at the moment,’ but readers are absolutely welcome to discuss anything at all.

Just a few days ago, the influential Center For Analysis of the Radical Right imploded after they published an article questioning the tactics of Antifa. It’s a bit of an amusing story, especially if you’re familiar with the people involved and with CARR’s influence.

For those who aren’t, CARR was one of handful of institutions producing articles and research on far-right movements which then were picked up heavily by other media outlets and distributed through Antifa networks. CARR itself wasn’t explicitly an Antifa organisation, though many of their researchers are Antifa organisers themselves (for instance, the infamous Alexander Reid Ross, who now works alongside ex-CIA heads).

That part about it not being explicitly an Antifa organisation? That’s what caused the trouble.

A recently published essay by one of their researchers, entitled “Beware the anti-fascists, for they have become what they oppose,” led to a mass protest and boycotting attempt of the organisation by some of the research fellows, as well as a harassment campaign against the president from the outside (he had to lock down his Twitter). This then led the president of the organisation, who initially defended the article with the reminder that CARR is supposed to be a non-partisan research institute and not an Antifa front, resigning a few days later.

The article itself isn’t very interesting except for one bit regarding the problem of “cumulative extremism.” I hadn’t actually known there was a term for this, though I’ve written about the problem it describes several times before.

Cumulative Extremism is what happens when a movement or tendency defines itself against another extreme movement. The cited research in the article specifically refers to the way European nationalism became even more extreme (and gained more support) through its stated opposition to Islamic nationalism. In other words, the extreme nationalist identity movements in Europe and Great Britain gained power specifically by opposing themselves to Islamic nationalism in Europe.

The writer’s argument is that this is precisely what is happening with Antifa and groups like the Proud Boys, an argument I have also made several times (especially here). In fact, both groups are becoming more extremist the more they define themselves against the other, escalating their rhetoric and violence and creating even further polarization. The more violent the Proud Boys and other groups act, the more support Antifa gets from their target audience. But also, the more violent Antifa gets, the more support the Proud Boys get from their target audience.

They basically need each other at this point. Actually, even worse—they are co-creating each other. The more extreme one side gets, the more the other side feels justified in acting extreme, and each side has a deep interest in making sure the other side keeps up its extremism.

The rest of us suffer from all this, of course, but most of all our sense of what politics can and should look like suffers.

What happened at CARR is quite telling. To question Antifa tactics in any way—even if your entire life’s work is dedicated to fighting “the radical right”—makes you a valid target, someone “no better than the fascists” or even a fascist yourself. This is of course also how black Marxist professor Adolph Reed was labeled as a racist by woke anti-racist activists for suggesting maybe the left was focusing obsessively on race. This is also how gender critical Marxist feminists have been labeled as ‘fascist’ by Judith Butler. And of course I could go on, and on, and on.

And one other thing to note—cumulative extremism is also the working framework of Angela Nagle’s book from a few years back, Kill All Normies. Both the online woke sorts and the online 4chan sorts basically mirrored each other in increasingly extreme (and very absurd) ways, and we’re still dealing with the fallout.

What I’d love to discuss in this open discussion thread is this problem of “cumulative extremism.” How have you seen this mirroring affect? And how do we past it?

I’d also love to discuss a somewhat related mechanism, that of the ‘ideological drift’ I mentioned in my letter a few days ago. I was discussing with a reader about how his wife suddenly found she was considered a right-winger because she held a position that was a leftist position just a few years ago. I called it a ‘political geography’ problem, likening it to the feeling of having the map redrawn around you while you yourself never moved.

This same metaphor could be used with the way names for things change. For instance, did you know I’m no longer supposed to call myself a homosexual? It’s now a pejorative, according to several woke LGBTQI+etc organizations, and also is too sex-based rather than gender-based (according to some, “same sex attraction” is also verboten).

In the end, things persist despite what we are allowed to call them, but limiting the words available to describe ourselves and our lives limits how we can express our desires to each other and even how we think about ourselves.

So let’s talk about that, too. How do you find your bearings when North isn’t labeled North anymore? And how do stay sane when everyone’s suddenly renaming it South?

Be well!

—Rhyd