Types Of Extremism

Extremism can exist in many different forms and can be found anywhere in the world; the most infamous types of extremism include those of religion and genocides. There are many accounts throughout history of people giving away there most treasured values to churches, religious groups and religious projects. Sometimes their beliefs can be extreme enough to give away thousands of dollars. In the 1990s a man named Gerald Payne, made victims of over 18000 people (content.time.com). He told them that he could double their donations through, "Divinely inspired investments"; followers would send in their hard earned money in hopes to receive good tidings with God. His company, Greater Ministries International, created a Ponzi scheme which invoked …show more content…
In 1941, the Final Solution was ordered (historyplace.com), and the Nazi SS was given the key to fulfill their ultimate purpose. Over the course of the next four years over 4 million Jews were gassed in chambers of death camps, and another 2 million were shot by SS death squads. The genocide finally came to an end when Hitler shot himself on April 30, 1945 (historyplace.com). Millions had to die because of one man 's belief, and his power to persuade his entire nation into religious extremes. Another group that contains similar traits of the groups mentioned above, would be the Taliban. The Taliban are a radical group of Muslim men who are devout to destroy any who go against their beliefs. The destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 is one example of how far they will go for their beliefs. However they weren 't always so evil. When the Taliban were first created, they claimed to be purifiers, and that they were a movement for cleansing society (Rashid pg.23). They eventually rooted out the evil that had taken over their country, which includes destructive warlords and the Soviet Union. However, as their victories began to grow so did their corruption; and as their corruption grew, their extreme belief system started to take form. In the novel The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, one minor character named Assef ends up joining the local Taliban, and in fact he becomes a leader. Through Assef we see the brutality and extremism the Taliban represent. Although the Taliban believe themselves to be religiously correct, their kind of extremism is not related to the actual Muslim religion. The Muslim religion is more honorable and less