Page 51 - Darko Štrajn, From Walter Benjamin to the End of Cinema: Identities, Illusion and Signification. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2017. Digital Library, Dissertationes, 29.
P. 51
defining the ideology of extremism
Patterns of the Past
Of course, the media stuns today’s global audiences by showing the effects
of the extremist activity, and immensely much less by spending their pre-
cious time to analyse the phenomenon itself, its extent and its causes. The
extremism, as shown by the media, is caught in more or less simple and sim-
plifying perception schemes, which makes extremism not only omnipres-
ent, but, what is more, an ever present phenomenon: the same substance
in different forms. As it were, such functioning of the media not only ex-
cludes the political extremism from the realm of a “normal” political uni-
verse, but it also tends to obscure its general features that tie it to the broad-
er ideological systems, with an exception, when the origin of certain kinds
of extremism are deemed to originate in an “alien” culture, i.e. some Islam-
ic country. Whatever the case may be, my point, derived from this observa-
tion, is a presumption that the extremism more properly defined, makes up
part of the world in which there are reasons for a sort of (media) presenta-
tions, which conform to the dominant “sense of reality”. Only very rarely
is the general audiences confronted with the roots and causes of a particu-
lar extremist idea and behaviour.1 Furthermore, since the media tend to re-
duce the extent of extremism to its most manifest appearances and aspects,
such as terrorism, they serve a self-propelled purpose of a curtailing espe-
cially the ideological contexts that enable any rise of political extremism.
I have no intention here to analyse the functioning of the media, but only
to make a note of their importance in creating a public space for the con-
temporary extremism, as well as means and sometimes objects of extrem-
ist activity. As much as the media uncover extremism in their reports, they
as well obscure the view on “non-manifest extremism” that could be found
within any given cultural and political system.
Although it is possible to argue that each epoch in history has known
one or the other form of extremism, we should not succumb to a notion
of a preordained evil, which remains only to be an object of proper han-
dling. On the contrary, the forms and the extent of extremism we are con-
fronted with in our times may be defined as historically unique. A broad
range of contemporary extremism historically descends from the ultimate
1 In the autumn of 1995, an instructive case appeared in the French media. In a police
action against supposedly Algerian extremists, who planted explosive devices in
dustbins in urban centres, a young man of the Algerian decent was killed. Soon after
the event, some of the boy’s own writings were disclosed in the media that showed
clearly his anxiety amid the racist environment.
49
Patterns of the Past
Of course, the media stuns today’s global audiences by showing the effects
of the extremist activity, and immensely much less by spending their pre-
cious time to analyse the phenomenon itself, its extent and its causes. The
extremism, as shown by the media, is caught in more or less simple and sim-
plifying perception schemes, which makes extremism not only omnipres-
ent, but, what is more, an ever present phenomenon: the same substance
in different forms. As it were, such functioning of the media not only ex-
cludes the political extremism from the realm of a “normal” political uni-
verse, but it also tends to obscure its general features that tie it to the broad-
er ideological systems, with an exception, when the origin of certain kinds
of extremism are deemed to originate in an “alien” culture, i.e. some Islam-
ic country. Whatever the case may be, my point, derived from this observa-
tion, is a presumption that the extremism more properly defined, makes up
part of the world in which there are reasons for a sort of (media) presenta-
tions, which conform to the dominant “sense of reality”. Only very rarely
is the general audiences confronted with the roots and causes of a particu-
lar extremist idea and behaviour.1 Furthermore, since the media tend to re-
duce the extent of extremism to its most manifest appearances and aspects,
such as terrorism, they serve a self-propelled purpose of a curtailing espe-
cially the ideological contexts that enable any rise of political extremism.
I have no intention here to analyse the functioning of the media, but only
to make a note of their importance in creating a public space for the con-
temporary extremism, as well as means and sometimes objects of extrem-
ist activity. As much as the media uncover extremism in their reports, they
as well obscure the view on “non-manifest extremism” that could be found
within any given cultural and political system.
Although it is possible to argue that each epoch in history has known
one or the other form of extremism, we should not succumb to a notion
of a preordained evil, which remains only to be an object of proper han-
dling. On the contrary, the forms and the extent of extremism we are con-
fronted with in our times may be defined as historically unique. A broad
range of contemporary extremism historically descends from the ultimate
1 In the autumn of 1995, an instructive case appeared in the French media. In a police
action against supposedly Algerian extremists, who planted explosive devices in
dustbins in urban centres, a young man of the Algerian decent was killed. Soon after
the event, some of the boy’s own writings were disclosed in the media that showed
clearly his anxiety amid the racist environment.
49
