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.
People even use centralism as a weapon as well though. They push the idea that the correct position in any debate is slap bang in the middle. Sometimes there is a demonstrably correct answer, and sitting in the middle is a bad thing.
But they’ll argue to the death that sitting on the fence is the best thing to do in every situation. I’ve had people claim that the Ukrainians should just negotiate with Russia (assuming that would be even be possible) because that would be the middle option between fighting them and surrendering.
I like to break out this when people claim centrist/moderate is neutral. Nazi’s: kill all Jews and Aryans. Non-Nazi’s: don’t kill Jews or non-Aryans. Moderates: let’s compromise and just kill Jews instead guys.
If 9 people sit at a table with 1 nazi and none leave or make the nazi leave, you have 10 Nazi’s sitting at a table.
If you try to compromise between two moral/legal viewpoints, you’re still supporting the worst side
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.
Well, US is not a functioning Democracy, and centrism in US means “pretty right wing but pretends not to be”.
People even use centralism as a weapon as well though. They push the idea that the correct position in any debate is slap bang in the middle. Sometimes there is a demonstrably correct answer, and sitting in the middle is a bad thing.
But they’ll argue to the death that sitting on the fence is the best thing to do in every situation. I’ve had people claim that the Ukrainians should just negotiate with Russia (assuming that would be even be possible) because that would be the middle option between fighting them and surrendering.
I like to break out this when people claim centrist/moderate is neutral. Nazi’s: kill all Jews and Aryans. Non-Nazi’s: don’t kill Jews or non-Aryans. Moderates: let’s compromise and just kill Jews instead guys.
If 9 people sit at a table with 1 nazi and none leave or make the nazi leave, you have 10 Nazi’s sitting at a table.
If you try to compromise between two moral/legal viewpoints, you’re still supporting the worst side