Humans and Extremism

I hear a lot of superiority being touted by virtue of belonging to the "right" demographic.

People who work with their hands.
Liberally educated people.
People of each and every religion.
Protestors.
People who keep their heads down and their mouths shut.
Scientists.

Humans, by nature, see their way as the "right" way, often in the face of contrary evidence. We're not adept at accepting the possibility that we're wrong. Even those who attest a love for empirical evidence and who suggest that their position is swayed only by facts and logic- we're all prone to allow our assumptions and biases to color our willingness to approach an uncomfortable idea. Sometimes this can be as blatant as denying the validity of a claim at its face.
Sometimes, it's more subtle... Sometimes it's in a researcher defining terms in a way that inherently assumes the implausibility of other theories.

In the case of religion, we ostracize and condemn those who express new and scary positions. We rest assured that these people will be punished for all eternity.
In academia, we simply ignore them.
In politics, we talk over each others' heads, appealing to as many fallacies as we can in order to sound like we have a compelling argument.
We mock, we shun, we degrade, devalue, limit, punish, and abuse those who express a position that is "incorrect."

None of us are above this practice. Whether there is compelling evidence for or against us, we are wont to commit this transgression. It's certainly far easier than re-evaluating every position every single time someone is contrary to it for any reason.
And with good reason; if we doubted ourselves so much, we would inevitably spend all of our energy floundering about mired in uncertainty.

But I think it's distinctly possible that we've allowed ourselves to push too far to the other side of that scale- past the point of cautious humility and towards brash egotism. We're naturally pushed to reinforce each other as a group. In a cluster of 100 people, the movements of a mere 10% can cause most of the other 90% to move in some way, shape, or form. Their thoughts can spread like wildfire, and the assumption that because others are doing it, it must be right or acceptable is pervasive. So, in every movement, cultural, religious, scientific, rigorous, casual- we're always trying to make sure we're in a position of stability within the group. This hyper-self-awareness lends to choices being made first and foremost with the group in mind, rather than the individual. Collect a large enough crowd, and there are suddenly enough people enacting that same behavior such that the collective becomes a rolling boulder- powerful, driven by inertia, and too big to be stopped by a single part of the rock breaking away.
A perpetual feedback loop.
The extremism encourages, rewards, and invites more extremism over and over.


Until it becomes too extreme to remain stable. When a movement gets so problematic, offensive, or destructive, a combination of chunks splintering off and large groups actively trying to stop the movement will work together to either stop the boulder or push it to disintegrate.

The method of preventing this cycle of extremism and force is to be constantly aware, not of your place in a group, but how your presence and actions affect the group; how the group affects you; and where the group is heading at any given time. Allow yourself space to be cautious, tentative, and thoughtful before committing.