THE VIDEO SHELF · extremism

John Cleese vs Extremism

A two-minute John Cleese monologue showing the pathology of extremism, explaining why it feels good and how it drives out moderates.

Why HN readers recommended it

Shared in heated-discussion threads as a short, witty take on why extremism is appealing.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

Cleese's 1987 monologue on "extremism" is delightful and well worth the two minutes it takes to watch: What we never hear about extremism is its advantages. Well the biggest advantage of extremism is that it makes you feel good because it provides you with enemies. …
nkurz on Hacker News · 2020-07
In Cancel culture takes the fun out of life, says comedian John Cleese
These are some really good points. It is reminding me a lot of one of my favorite John Cleese videos[0]. One of the things that I think makes this so difficult is that language has a lot of limits that people don't realize. Since we …
godelski on Hacker News · 2020-12
In Ex‐FBI operative says he worked to disrupt political activities up to '74 (1975)
Left and right extremism seems to be taking over the conversation worldwide these days. It's creeping in everywhere. What is most scary is that it is likely going to have to get much worse before it gets better.. Somebody posted this and it about sums …
Rapzid on Hacker News · 2018-06
In Elon Musk emails employees about 'extensive and damaging sabotage' by employee

Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.