this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
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Enlightened centrist thoughts intensify
Centrism is a sign of a healthy, functioning Democracy. People are allowed to hold nuanced beliefs that don't line up with yours and this "enlightened centrist" bullshit is just pure tribalism from people on the far fringes. You are contributing to creating an "in group" and an "out group" which historically has worked out very well for persons living in Communist and Fascist societies.
I get what you're saying, but an "enlightened centrist" is someone that argues for compromise between a sane position and an insane or evil one -- their "middle ground" is still awful.
A "centrist" take between two relatively sane positions isn't enlightened centrism. "Moderate" used to be the word for that, but given how extreme the political discourse has become the meaning of that word is changing too. You're better off qualifying what positions you're moderate on and how, or people will make unkind assumptions.
That's the cartoon, but it's not accurate. A centrist is just someone whose positions aren't strongly correlated with each other the way they tend to be on both the left and the right. Like there's a reason I can accurately guess your position on abortion and climate change if I know whether you live closer to a Cracker Barrel or a Whole Foods; a centrist is just one of the people whose position on abortion isn't strongly correlated with their position on climate change.
That's not what a centrist is, lol. People tend to have similar stances on seemingly unrelated topics because the underlying knowledge and values required to coherently support one view can be applied to others.
As an example: someone who is anti-racist is also likely anti-homophobia, as usually those stances are both related to anti-bigotry.
Centrism, however, seeks to pay attention to both sides as equally valid, regardless of the merits of either position, and then seek compromise as a way to maintain the status quo. Centrism is, in all reality, the most privileged position one can take, as they seek to avoid change and preserve their already stable way of life.
Valid question here, how is what crashfrog described named?
Usually what crashfrog described is someone who only has positions as a relation to others, and is described by their lack of alignment. This person would likely be called an Independent if they held strong, multidirectional views (like a Libertarian that loves the idea of universal Healthcare and UBI), and as such doesn't align with any mainstream party. If they hold relatively weak, multidirectional or otherwise views, they would be considered "moderate," though it's worth noting that the Democrat party is the moderate, liberal party, and as such the republican party and those between the democrats and Republicans are not moderates, but right-wing.
That's why it gets messy, the US only has right wing parties of varying degrees.
Sure, that's what you'd expect, reasonably - everybody you talk to is really online and politically informed, so their political views highly correlate.
But most people aren't politically informed, so their political views don't correlate. People in "the center" don't hold the median view on every issue; they tend to hold an eclectic mix of right and left wing views. Against climate change and against abortion, etc.
This is increasingly disappearing. More people are getting more involved politically, regardless of level of political education. Centrism, the idea of accepting both sides as valid and coming to a consensus, is typically a position held by conservatives that do not wish to out themselves as such in the company of liberals.
Sure, but more people are born every day (and people die every day, too.) Individual people probably increase in political sophistication over time but that doesn't mean the population does, at all.
Has a single person who identifies as a "centrist" told you they feel that way? No? Then why are you so quick to believe it?
The population is, as society develops and becomes increasingly social and interconnected, we are forced to become more aware simply through sheer osmosis.
I believe centrism is typically a shield for conservatives because I've seen it used that way many times. A good example is when "centrists" were against BLM and supported ALM, they claimed they were centrists in order to shield themselves from even worse backlash.
I'm sure this is something you're assuming to be true, but again it doesn't work like this. I mean, sure, individual people get older at the rate of one year of age per year. But the age of the population doesn't necessarily increase or decrease, unless there's an imbalance in the rate of deaths and the rate of births.
This an example of exactly what I'm talking about, though. You're talking about a person that has liberal-coded views on some issues and conservative-coded views on others (BLM/social unrest.)
I'm not talking about age, but exposure. People's exposure is increasing over time, not just the age of individuals. That's why radicalization is at an all time high.
My point is that the conservative is feigning that they have liberal views as a way to justify conservative views, this is a common occurrence. ALM is a far-right position, BLM was the moderate one.
Individually, sure, but not in aggregate. That's my point. You're ignoring how there are always new people who have not yet become politically informed.
Right, but what I'm asking you is why you think that's a "common occurrence" when you've neither observed it nor had it reported to you by conservatives.
Yes in aggregate, that's my point. You're arguing against the increasing saturation of social media, that simply doesn't exist. You're arguing against historical trends in radicalization despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.
I have observed it, and of course conservatives aren't going to admit to shielding themselves with it openly, that defeats the purpose. If someone holds largely conservative views, but pretends to be moderate to avoid backlash, they are conservative.
Yes, but you're wrong. In aggregate political sophistication isn't increasing. That's my point.
There are no "mountains of evidence to the contrary."
"Everybody who disagrees with me is lying" is a view that's not particularly sophisticated.
Right, but who is even one person who is doing this?