How do folks end up converted to whackos, zealots and extremists?
 

Of course! We've got a reputation to uphold here ya' know... :p

Geez, a guy tries to do someone a favor and free them from a mental prison (like believing they could be tortured for eternity if they wack off or eat pork on a Friday) and he gets blasted for it... Geez! No worries though, if you like believing in your mental prisons that's your right and I respect that too. Peace! :) :) :)

In a thread about religious intolerance, this is a very ironic post.

How do folks end up converted to whackos, zealots and extremists?

Yep^^^this^^^ Too much time on their hands.

Fear mongers praying on the weak minded? People feeling left out of society with too much time on their hands? Blaming others for a persons perceived lack of opportunity or convincing them that they have been wronged and that wrong needs to be righted? How did Hitler do it?

From the National Holocaust Museum Site;

"Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people... Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." Adolf Hitler wrote these words in his book Mein Kampf (1926), in which he first advocated the use of propaganda to spread the ideals of National Socialism—among them racism, antisemitism, and anti-Bolshevism.

Following the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Hitler established a Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. The Ministry's aim was to ensure that the Nazi message was successfully communicated through art, music, theater, films, books, radio, educational materials, and the press.

There were several audiences for Nazi propaganda. Germans were reminded of the struggle against foreign enemies and Jewish subversion. During periods preceding legislation or executive measures against Jews, propaganda campaigns created an atmosphere tolerant of violence against Jews, particularly in 1935 (before the Nuremberg Race Laws of September) and in 1938 (prior to the barrage of antisemitic economic legislation following Kristallnacht). Propaganda also encouraged passivity and acceptance of the impending measures against Jews, as these appeared to depict the Nazi government as stepping in and “restoring order.”

Intended to be a little bit tongue-in-cheek. We all could use a little levity around here. Religion makes people so uptight and all.

Maybe some people are just rotten eggs so they go for something that most people would consider immoral, wrong or just plain stupid.

Rotten eggs often look for a soft option IME.

If fire fighters fight fires, and crime fighters fight crime, what do freedom fighters fight ?

If you do something someone does not like, and he knows he can't beat you in a fair fight, he can still key your car.

Sounds juvenile doesn't it, until some bunker busting bomb blows up the hospital where your uncle works. Then you really want to key someones car. But you wind up having to leave your country because well, it is too much like a war zone. So you, and 100,000 of your buddies move to another country, where you hang out at your favorite ethnic social club with the young adult children of naturalized citizens with an ethnic background much like your own. These youths have middle class lives, but a poor economy may or may not be the cause of them having little to do but hang out at the social club and chew the fat with 100,000 disgruntled brothers from the homeland.

Soon, they too want to key your car. Or somebody's car.
Freedom fighters fight for Somebody's freedom, but one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, just as one mans injustice is another man's retribution.

Of course one countries accidental bombings are another countries horrible atrocities as well. SO... who has it coming to them, the chicken or the egg ? Because the egg may be scrambled, but the chicken is fried. I happen to know for a fact that some of you would like to ''beat'' some people up right now. Are you prepared to have your car keyed again ?

Now this may not sound very real, true, or accurate to you, BUT consider that there are about four times as many people who actively want to key your car NOW than there were in 1999.

So as an experiment, I invite you to wrap a towel around your head and go stand in front of a mirror. Now point your finger and shake it at the mirror, while saying ''I KNOW MY CAUSE IS JUST , AND THEY DESERVE WHAT THEY HAVE COMING TO THEM !''.

That is what an extremist looks like, with or without the towel. What DO freedom fighters fight, anyway ?

Why not just close the doors and don't let them into our country? Let them stay home and fight each other.

Then why not kill those would do us harm? Whether they believe they are right, freedom fighters, or whatever. It really doesn't matter what their motives are. If they kill us, e are just as dead. Let's ensure we kill them first.

I wasn't specifically speaking about the extremist Muslims, although these days they are the bulk of the examples. But you have other examples throughout history, the people that followed Manson, the people that followed Jim Jones, and others.

No worries. I do find it interesting that Christians are condemned for trying to do someone a favor and free them from being tortured for eternity but, they are condemned for it and are told to MYOB. It seems that atheist zealots get a pass on things that religious zealots are condemned for.
So lets agree to disagree and move on.