The Moderates vs Extremists Fallacy

“Now is the time for the moderates on all lands, in all languages, from all faiths to mourn together, and then rally and find a way to work together and stand up to extremism in all forms across the world.” We’re going to stand up to the intersectional feminists, black lives matter activists, and Bernie Sanders? No, not them. “Anyone who uses violence to achieve his or her ends is an extremist and the enemy.” Like the French security forces? How are we going to achieve our ends of stopping ISIS without using violence? Does that make us extremists and the enemy? It sounds like when you say “moderates must fight extremists” you mean “good people must fight bad people” but you lack the intellectual integrity to admit it. You use “moderates” and “extremists” as proxy words to deny that you’re making moral judgments. The “moderates from all faiths” framing is pretty convenient for you. It lets you continue to fight the people you hate while pretending you’re fighting ISIS. When asked what enemy she was most proud to have made, Hillary Clinton thought about Iran but then said “Republicans” to great applause. O’Malley said the coal industry, which is convenient for Bernie Sanders. Fighting the American coal industry is Sanders’ role in the war on terror. You’ll do your part by fighting the American Taliban, that is, the Evangelicals. The actual fighting of ISIS you’ll leave to moderate Muslims. You hate Christians who oppose same sex marriage and abortion, but are kind of lukewarm and philosophical about those who hang gay people and take sex slaves. After all, who are you to judge? If you lived in poverty or were denied a state, you’d probably do the same. Now let’s mock some Christian “extremists.” It’s the least we could do for the war on terror. Literally.