They say that stupid is as stupid does, and Lord knows stupid has been pounding the punch card lately.
The funny thing about -extremism is that no matter which side of politics it appears from, it always lands squarely on the bell-end of the -spectrum. 
All extremists share more qualities with each other than they do with the cause they claim to represent, not least of which is that they are all -equally dumb.
An obvious starting point is Reclaim Australia, a group that stakes its claim by trying to ban the burqa while holding rallies full of people wearing face masks.
But the extreme-left mob that rushes out to greet them with all the regularity of an atomic clock is hardly more sophisticated. One widely -published image shows various masked men facing off against each other. It's fair to say that rarely has a face-off involved so few faces.
Meanwhile, someone apparently punched a police horse, an accomplishment I can't even visualise. It seems that even at a socialist rally there's never an animal liberationist around when you need one.
The overwhelming impression, beamed into millions of lounge rooms, was that -Australia is a deeply volatile and intolerant place - which is, it has to be said, some pretty -impressive cut-through when the rest of the world is talking about Syria.
The truth is that the -Reclaim Australia crowd has no better friend, no better PR machine, than the inner-city socialists who see them as such a powerful and widespread movement that they need to left-hook police horses in order to stop them.
Indeed, the only other group of people so convinced of Reclaim Australia's strength is Reclaim Australia itself.
This is a movement that struggles to attract even a few hundred people to its rallies. The total number of people in the world who could be bothered to click "like" on its Facebook page is a bit over 60,000 - or less than two-thirds of -voters in any one of Australia's 150 lower house seats.
Little wonder that Pauline Hanson, apparently an unstoppable racist juggernaut, can't even get elected.
Which brings us to the -argument that so-called -"Islamophobia" is fuelling -terrorism in this country.
To start with, it's a dubious logic. There is also plenty of homophobia in Australia but we don't see gangs of gay boys murdering people - apart from, obviously, on the dance floor.
But even if the premise is true, who is really telling -Muslims their country doesn't want them? A small percentage of insular dills who most people happily ignore? Or the self-righteous windbags who bleat over airwaves and -entrees alike about how intolerant we are?The sad fact is that the three loudest voices declaring Australia hates Muslims are flag-hatted dipshits, Islamic State recruiters and the same old predictable pontificators who tell both of them they're right.