Are Video Game Forums Radicalizing?

[o_O.Q]

Veknoid_Outcast said:

o_O.Q said:

"extreme" is a subjective word in this... i've seen people be called extreme simply for having an opinion that could be associated with a particular political side even though they didn't wear the label

groups of people tend to guide individual people down the path of accepting and then promoting whatever that group's purpose is... its not exclusive to video games or videogame forums

we are all subject to it in our daily lives and we perpetuate it onto those around us who do not fit into our group

if you have a wii you're going to want other people to get one if you enjoy it

if you think a certain way of life is the right way you will tend to want to project that on others around you etc

the word "radicalise" is a silly buzzward created to marginalise people that are not included in a particular world view so that a hegelian dialectic can be created

you versus them good versus bad

That's certainly not what I was going for, and I hope I didn't give the wrong impression. I'd like to think the OP presents a continuum of sorts between two extreme points.

The last thing I want, as a moderator and a member, is to create a dichotomy between two different factions. This isn't about good versus bad or us versus the "other." It's about self-reflection. It's about thinking seriously about why we think the way we do, and why we treat others the way we do.

sorry i didn't mean that you are doing it but i do believe it is being used on a wider basis to cause divisions between groups of people

from there both sides can be manipulated until a desired outcome is achieved

my apologies for the confusion

for example, lets say hypothetically you fund a conflict between the west and the middle east, polarising both sides more and more ( bomb those filthy arabs! / death to america! ) and it progresses on and on and on until you reach some kind of synthesis with you at the top

or you fuel the flames of animosity between races 

or you fuel the flames of animosity between the sexes

or you fuel the flames of animosity between progressives and theists etc etc etc

you crack society up along several different topics and increase the separation until the pain of that separation forces the people to come together under tighter controls to ensure that the pain of separation does not happen again