[thechat] The Sociology of Fanaticism

[Erik Mattheis]

Ken ... not sure if this thread is going in a direction that's useful
to you ... read what Erika and Ron wrote.

When people refer to trekkies, sports fans, etc as "fanatical"
they're using hyperbole; exaggerating for dramatic effect ... as you
usually hear it used that way maybe "fanatical" has changed meanings,
but the title of your presentation would seem to indicate that you're
looking for examples of extreme moralists instead of obsessive
hobbyists.

An excellent example of a fanaticism from todays news:

<http://news.google.com/news?q=James+Kopp>

Crazy story - a vigilante anti-abortionist confesses to murdering a
doctor and explains his actions something like: "Yup, I murdered him,
but it's incidental that he died: I didn't shoot him to kill him, I
shot him to prevent him from performing abortions. Shooting people is
wrong, but not as wrong as allowing abortions to continue."

They don't come much more fanatic than this guy: He admits he
violated his own moral code, yet is so excessive about a particular
aspect of his moral code that he feels no remorse.

BTW, does anyone have a link to the original interview where he confessed?
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- Erik Mattheis

(612) 377 2272
http://goZz.com/

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