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Where Does Extremism Come From?
My oldest passion is studying history. As a kindergarten student, I remember devouring any books I could find on history- many of which were way above the usual kindergarten reading level. Because of my readings, when we played “cowboys and Indians”, I was always on the side of the natives. I read whatever I could find on history: non-fiction, historical fiction, facts, Time Life books.
When I was around 12, I read about the horrors of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. This shifted my attention from general history to trying to understand how events like the Holocaust could happen. What made populations susceptible to propaganda? Why was it so easy to manipulate their fears? How could people be so complicit with evil?
History does not really repeat itself, but it’s patterns do. Although a lifelong curiosity, history took somewhat of a back seat until 2016. In Trump’s shocking rise to power, the leftist violence in the form of Antifa and college protests, to internet trolls, I saw a repeated pattern. By combining my knowledge of history with current events, I became re-interested in answering this question:
Where does extremism come from?
Short answer: extremism is a mental illness. But there’s so much more to it than that.
