Userboxes
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Motto: To Understand the World Around Us
Welcome,
This is Bellerophon5685's userpage on Wikipedia. I was formerlly known as dudeman5685. I came up with that name back when I was 16, relatively new to the internet and G. W. Bush was in his first term (hell, it might even have been Clinton). Now its pretty embarrassing putting it on job applications and such. I've used it for so many applications on wiki, imdb, etc though that its become a "brand" now. However I have now changed it to the much less chimerical Bellerophon5685.
Anyway, my areas of activity on Wikipedia are pretty broad. I take a particular interest in political and social movements usually thought of as radical or extremist, both on the right and the left (as well as some that defy classification). I do this because I think, especially in today's political atmosphere, the phenomenon of extremism deserves an unbiased, scientific examination. Too often it is used by opposition research and partisan outfits to exaggerate the radicalism of their opponents and the "threat" that the theocratic, socialist, communist, Klan etc. movement are supposed to represent and how "close" they are to mainstream politicians. I take the view that these movements have intrinsic interest in and of themselves, and should be studied with a more scholarly to determine the large role that "extremism" plays in the larger political and social context.
I have other interests, of course - religion, folklore, mythology, classical and medieval studies, fraternal orders, literature etc. Mostly things that focus on people and their interaction with each other.
