I did not intend to portray extreme views, and I believe that I've represented their views fairly. Buffett recommends index investing, but also believes that it provides great opportunity for the enterprising investor because of its passivity and ignorance of security values. Graham did indeed differentiate between the "enterprising" and "defensive" investor, but did not recommend an index approach to investing, even for the defensive investor, as he specifically recommends that no security should be bought at a price over 20x its earnings (Ch. 5). Graham recognized that the "defensive" or passive investor does not have the time, energy, or expertise necessary to engage in rigorous security selection, but ignorance does not protect an investor from risk - risk here being defined as risk of permanent capital impairment, which is the risk of overpaying for a security.

My basic point is that every investor, passive or active, must protect him or herself against the risk of overpaying. Passive index investing does not protect you from this risk, and is therefore very dangerous.

Fully agreed that good investing is pretty much totally dependent on how much work and emotional discipline you're willing to put into it.