Radical Ideas

I wonder if they thought the framers of this country were radicals. I wonder if the British Empire thought Ghandi was a radical. I wonder if anyone else thinks that the Islamic Fascists, and the Christian Right are both extremely radical. Some people think we need radicals to push our boundaries and further human progress. Some people think wearing different clothes and hairstyles can be radical. What is a radical anyway? I like the example of a tool for almost all applications of this nature. I define a radical to be someone or something that has/is a(n) idea(s) that is/are of extreme intensity relative to an average understanding of the constituents involved. A radical, in this sense, is not a bad or negative thing. In this understanding, radicals are very useful catalysts to th growth and understanding of our overall social structure. In fact, I could argue that all radicals serve in this way, and are in fact, good. A radical that is fighting for the equal rights of some oppressed people can certainly be seeing as a good thing. The harder radical to prove as a good thing would be the violently cohersive characteristics of a radical group that had denegrated into that state. A group of people that will not go quietly into the night. My argument is not that they serve a good. I simply argue that they serve a purpose. They defiantly show the world that there is another viewpoint. They force their presence upon the world. They make the majority deal with a minority in an extreme way, and they force us into a unique reflection upon the interaction involved. Radicals serve to push the boundaries of the world's understanding. That is the case when talking of both progressive and regressive movements in the web of understanding that is the present manifestation of the world view. Of course, this is my world view that I speak of. I am a radical... optimist, but I recall a saying in defense of pessimism. "To be a pessimist is the best bet because either you are always right, or you are always pleasantly surprised." However, I think an optimist probably said it.