Why must extremists ruin everything?

Why are people like that? They take a serious issue and run with it and make it into a caricature of what it once was. Racism, for example. It's a real issue. The KKK is still around, people discriminate against blacks and Mexicans, and yes, whites. It's a problem that should be taken seriously. But then we have idiots who claim that because it took five minutes to get their ice cream, the server must be racist and they demand a refund. (True example from my life.) There are idiots that say that if a commercial doesn't feature a black kid, the company is racist. There are gender and sexuality issues that are real. Homophobia is a real and horrible thing. People are discriminated against for being trans. And then we have people who like to make up genders and sexualities to feel special. Who take their fetishes and try to make them into a whole new gender or sexuality. There are sexualities for those who are just attracted to old people. There is a gender name for people who identify as a NUMBER. Not human. A number. There are calm and beautiful religions with great purposes and teachings, but who get horrible names because extremists use that religion and pervert it to such an extreme that the religion is hated on. Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, Jews, whatever. Why do people take things to such extremes? It's disgusting.