The real problem with extremism as an attention-grabber isn’t that we don’t know what to do about it. The real problem is that it works. By knocking down the Twin Towers and announcing a constant stream of threats, the Islamic radicals got and continue to get publicity out of proportion to their numbers — just as the Tea Partiers have been dominating the national airwaves even though their ranks, according to survey data, constitute no more than 13 percent of the American public. Similarly, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are very well remunerated for their high-decibel hate. In other words, we may say we hate fanaticism, but we pay attention to it and may even reward it.
It certainly isn’t news that we live in a world of intensifying tension, anger, and violence. What we may not have realized, however, is that these are not just broadcast by the new modes of information; they are encouraged by them. It has always been the squeaky wheel that got the grease. Now it is the savage movement and vicious individual that gets the attention — not because they are necessarily more bloodthirsty than their fanatical forebears, though they may well be, but because they are more dedicated to standing out amid the clutter. And they have to go farther to do so.
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