Yesterday we were given an example of masked torch bearers invading the yard of a pipeline exec.
http://junkscience.com/2014/02/12/torches-and-pitchforks/
Today a report on extremist incidents increasing on UK Campuses.
UK has always been a place of tolerance by custom and tradition. Politeness reigned even in heated disagreements.
You might note that the positions taken by some of these people described below seek to end that old way.
And it is easy to understand how the Brits are intimidated.
True believer fanatics of many stripes have no tolerance for disagreement and are irascible when confronted with dissent.
Eric Hoffer splains in True Believer that the mind set of the True Believer is don’t confuse me with facts, and don’t expect me to tolerate dissent or disagreement. Hoffer wrote that True Believers are attracted to their cause by feelings of inadequacy and a search for something to allow them security, a group that will make them safe from uncertainty.
Could it be that the Precautionary Principle, derivative of fear and anxiety about uncertainty is one expression of the True Believer pathology? Eric Hoffer wrote a bunch of books and is described as an aphorist, but so was Confucius, not all great minds speak in paragraphs. Some have their own distillery of wisdom. Churchill, Will Rogers, HL Mencken, CS Lewis, Reagan come to mind.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/02/09/New-figures-reveal-extremist-preachers-widespread-on-UK-campuses