The idea that young men (and now women) want and need a rite of passage into adulthood that takes them out into the world to test and prove themselves, and that includes high stakes, extreme challenges, extreme bonding and risk of death, is as old as the Trojan War and older.
As Brazil responds to extreme drought, high-stakes deforestation, and pollution and human rights challenges, and as the country steps up to the world stage for the Olympics, its decisions will ripple not only to neighboring countries and the BRICs, but throughout the world.
The Wisconsin governor has a bit of a record of not staking extreme positions on health care.
Two notable physicists have staked out extreme positions in their camps, conducting experiments that could finally settle which approach is paramount.
For those who have staked out extreme positions, backtracking may not be easy: "It is very difficult to get a man to understand something when his tribal identity depends on his not understanding it," Bérubé notes.
The academic I spoke to said that the explosive growth of social media in recent years — Saudis are now some of the heaviest users of social-networking services in the world — has created an environment in which Saudi liberals and conservatives alike sometimes stake out extreme positions in order to spark discussion or simply to attract attention.
JAMES SUROWIECKI: Well, the blow-by-blow quality of the coverage is certainly overdone, and may also make it harder for the two sides to make a deal, since all the attention makes it more likely that people will stake out extreme positions.
Considering what's at stake, the extreme measures and playing up the stark predictions are understandable.
The Fed also could have used a few people willing to stake out extreme positions at their meetings.
Often, candidates who stake out extreme positions are denied party funding and support or publicly declared to be toxic.
