Using "Radicals" (Against You) to further your age

[Kitsune]

I am watching a lecture series on the American Civil War.
There was a group of "Fire Eaters" which helped to get the South to secede from the lecture. Still, they did not seem to be in the driver's seat by the time the Confederate government formed.

It sounds like if they had stayed in the forefront, not all of the deep south states might have actually joined the Confederate States and that there would be a good chance of keeping the upper slave states in the Union even after Sumter.

What am curious is if trying to promote the radicals of the other side to make the moderates of their side splinter apart? I have actually wondered if that might have been the tactic of the Westboro church.

[Androsphinx]

Many of the 9-11 "Truthers" think that the "no-plane" theories are put about by the government to make them all look ridiculous. Is that the sort of thing you mean?

[Buddha]

It isn't usually wise to do this, as it tends to make a conflict drag on for longer. It also can lead to a stalemate and no clear resolution. Radical elements don't need help. They do well enough themselves at recruiting more brain trusts.

[TithonusSyndrome]

Sometimes, splintering moderates apart isn't that bad of a thing. The cozy deadlock that the Mindless Middle is in nowadays can and does have a toll in human suffering caused by inaction and negligence that only appeals to tradition stand in defense of.