OH NO, NOT THAT

In this article about some cult members in Russia coming out of their cave (I'm surprised more people aren't going into caves these days), we find this paragraph:

"Kuznetsov [the leader] has been charged with setting up a religious organization associated with violence. Earlier this week, officials said they had seized literature that included what appeared to be extremist rhetoric. He has been confined to a psychiatric hospital since November."

"A religious organization associated with violence", huh? I think we can safely assume that means associated with causing violence, since every religious organization in the history of the world has been associated with violence. Jesus sure was -- he suffered a lot of it.

Officials "seized" literature -- i.e., they pocketed some pamphlets from the wooden rack in the foyer of the church.

... Literature that included "what appeared to be extremist rhetoric". It appeared to be. That is, the officials who "seized it" didn't understand it, but it sure didn't sound normal. And what is "extremist rhetoric? Anything that doesn't fit current popular views, of course, but oooh, doesn't it sound scary?

And naturally, anyone who writes "extremist rhetoric" must be crazy, so throw him in the psych ward.

These Russians may in fact be nut cases, but the "officials" (and certainly the journalist who wrote the article) are not in any condition to be the ones to decide.

This is blithering idiocy masquerading as sober, concerned reporting. The real lunatics are the ones running the asylum we call normal life, not the ones very sensibly holing themselves up in caves.