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John George and Laird Wilcox, two of the foremost analysts of right and left-wing extremism, state that this definition reflects a common proposition about extremist behavior: it is more an “issue of style than of content.” <ref> John Geroege & Laird Wilcox, ''American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists and Others'', pg. 54, Prometheus Books, 1996 (ISBN 1-57392-058-4). George is a professor of political science at the University of Central Oklahoma. Wilcox is the founder of the Wilcox Collection on Contemporary Political Movements at the University of Kansas, one of the largest of its kind in the world, which contains hundreds of thousands of documents on all political movements. Id. at 6. He is also editor and publisher of annual guides on extremism. See Laird Wilcox, ''Guide to the American Right and Guide to the American Left'' (1997).</ref> What the extremist believes is less important than what behavior he exhibits. Rather, extremism can cut across the political spectrum.31
John George and Laird Wilcox, two of the foremost analysts of right and left-wing extremism, state that this definition reflects a common proposition about extremist behavior: it is more an “issue of style than of content.” <ref> John Geroege & Laird Wilcox, ''American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists and Others'', pg. 54, Prometheus Books, 1996 (ISBN 1-57392-058-4). George is a professor of political science at the University of Central Oklahoma. Wilcox is the founder of the Wilcox Collection on Contemporary Political Movements at the University of Kansas, one of the largest of its kind in the world, which contains hundreds of thousands of documents on all political movements. Id. at 6. He is also editor and publisher of annual guides on extremism. See Laird Wilcox, ''Guide to the American Right and Guide to the American Left'' (1997).</ref> What the extremist believes is less important than what behavior he exhibits. Rather, extremism can cut across the [[political spectrum]]. George and Wilcox look at extremists as persons psychologically prone to extremism, regardless of political affiliation:
Most people can hold radical or unorthodox beliefs in a more or less reasonable and rational manner. Extremists present their views in uncompromising, bullying, and often authoritarian ways.
{{Cquote|Both of us have had the feeling many times that the Bircher with whom we were talking could just as easily have been a Communist and viceversa. It may be merely a question of who “gets to them” first. We tend to view the existence of an extremism-prone personality as a more reasonable hypothesis than attempts to account for the “pathology” of a particular point of view.<ref>George & Wilcox, n.30 p. 66.</ref>}}
Most people can hold radical or unorthodox beliefs in a more or less reasonable and rational manner. Extremists present their views in uncompromising, bullying, and often authoritarian ways. <ref>George & Wilcox, p. 54.</ref>
George and Wilcox look at extremists as persons psychologically prone to extremism, regardless of political affiliation: Both of us have had the feeling many times that the Bircher with whom we were talking could just as easily have been a Communist and vice versa. It may be merely a question of who “gets to them” first. We tend to view the existence of an extremism-prone personality as a more reasonable hypothesis than attempts to account for the “pathology” of a particular point of view. George and Wilcox list twenty-two common traits of extremists. While
George and Wilcox look at extremists as persons psychologically prone to extremism, regardless of political affiliation: Both of us have had the feeling many times that the Bircher with whom we were talking could just as easily have been a Communist and vice versa. It may be merely a question of who “gets to them” first. We tend to view the existence of an extremism-prone personality as a more reasonable hypothesis than attempts to account for the “pathology” of a particular point of view. George and Wilcox list twenty-two common traits of extremists. While
*(9) a tendency to identify themselves in terms of who their enemies are: whom they hate and who hates them;
*(9) a tendency to identify themselves in terms of who their enemies are: whom they hate and who hates them;
*(10) tendency toward argument by intimidation;
*(10) tendency toward argument by intimidation;
*(11) use of slogans, buzzwords, and thoughtstopping clichks;
*(11) use of slogans, buzzwords, and thoughtstopping cliches;
*(12) assumption of moral or other superiority over others;
*(12) assumption of moral or other superiority over others;
*(13) doomsday thinking;
*(13) doomsday thinking;