the extremist (II)

Of course, the extremist isn't one thing. You can't even imagine what goes through his mind, which is precisely why you have to draw up this caricature.

The fundamentalist, like the economist, is a reductionist, paring down the whole complex of multiple and often conflicting desires and values down to the simplest of motivations, the elemental springs of action. He is also like the economist in that he has infinite wants and limited resources or, to put it another way, one want that he imagines can be satisfied infinitely.

The fundamentalist is unable to love in the proper way. The object of his love becomes an object, separate from life, something to be preserved in its pristine state against the corroding effects of time. And because he cannot bear the thought of losing his attachment to the object of his love, or losing himself -and these amount to the same thing- he must, like a doomed lover, hold onto the object, not lose control. He -and it is always a he-must destroy all that threatens this relation, or destroy himself.