*centrist voice* So would you stop being friends with someone just because your favorite color is blue and theirfavorite color is waterboarding innocent people?
*centrist vioce* torturing alledged criminals is fine, but I draw the line at milkshaking facsists.
You people devolve more and more into self-parody every year.
First, centrism is not the middle position between two platonic extremes, and it’s not described by “a moderate amount of gun control:” Centrism is the political act of finding a point between two platonic extremes that makes you (who are likely part of the hegemony), the least uncomfortable. There is no true center in centrism, there is only what centrist call the center; and the act of deciding upon the so-called center is itself a political act.
We recognize that centrists don’t actually hold these types of views: that’s not the point of these posts. The point is to lay bare the absurd contradiction inherent of the centrist ideology, wherein centrists finds themselves defending morally irreprehensible acts which undergird their lifestyle while condemning morally sound acts which even gesture at threatening that undergird.
Centrists do not believe in a medium amount of gun control. They believe in implimentations of gun control which would in their eyes best benefit them specifically (not society: them): In the case of the middle class white american centrist, they seek gun control laws which keep guns out of the hands of poor minorities, as to reduce the chance of a true revival of the old black panther party, while not hindering their ability to get guns (despite the fact that they’re the demographic most likely to do a mass shooting): that is, exactly the current american system. It is not an ideology grounded in morals nor facts, but political convinence.
That’s why we hate it: That’s why it sounds like parody: because it’s satire pointed right at the gods’ damned jugular of their shit-ass ideology.
anyway every citizen should have the right to own a nuclear warhead if they can afford it.
It’s not very good “satire” if you don’t understand who you’re aiming it at.
And the reason people reject the two platonic extremes in the first place is because they’re extreme. I thought skepticism was a good thing. (But I do understand your cynicism about everyone being out for themselves- it’s just that being in the middle has less to do with “making yourself comfortable” than it does “thinking both extremes suck”.)
> First, centrism is not the middle position between two platonic extremes, and it’s not described by “a moderate amount of gun control:” Centrism is the political act of finding a point between two platonic extremes that makes you (who are likely part of the hegemony), the least uncomfortable.
Not true in the slightest. I can truthfully say, as a nonpartisan centrist, that I hold some views which make me uncomfortable to admit to the truth of. I put a conscious effort into reducing my discomfort with certain courses of action because I believe they’d be the most effective and positive overall. I do this while being sorted by every political axis quiz directly into the left-right center and while holding views typical of both the left and the right.
I can also confirm that I do, in fact, believe in a moderate amount of gun control, because too much gun control restricts the citizens’ rights to protect ourselves (from each other, from animals, and from the government), while a complete lack of background checks can allow severely mentally unwell people or convicted criminals to easily get ahold of things that can hurt themselves or others, which should also be taken into consideration. Overall, to my understanding, some states have gun control that is too harsh, and some have gun control that is not quite up to scratch.
> The point is to lay bare the absurd contradiction inherent of the centrist ideology, wherein centrists finds themselves defending morally irreprehensible acts which undergird their lifestyle while condemning morally sound acts which even gesture at threatening that undergird.
So you think we’re all cowards who can’t accept change, rather than simply people who don’t have a skewed and extreme set of beliefs? That we only defend the positions we do out of convenience and not because we believe in them? That anyone less extreme than you cannot possibly have a spine? Can it not cross your mind that there are people who have considered your ideology, saw the flaws in it, and actively chose to support something they see as more helpful and viable?
There’s also a deeply ingrained assumption that ANYTHING done by the other side is a “morally reprehensible act” and anything done by your side is conversely, morally sound. If you’d pull your head out of your ass for a few minutes, you’d maybe start to realize that the division of left and right is, in the US, a bit more arbitrary than you think. There are views typically held by one side or another that don’t “line up” with the rest; why is the division present, then? It’s just social conditioning of “us vs them” and you’ve fallen for it, hard.
> Centrists do not believe in a medium amount of gun control. They believe in implimentations of gun control which would in their eyes best benefit them specifically (not society: them): In the case of the middle class white american centrist, they seek gun control laws which keep guns out of the hands of poor minorities, as to reduce the chance of a true revival of the old black panther party, while not hindering their ability to get guns (despite the fact that they’re the demographic most likely to do a mass shooting)
Yeah, go on and tell me what I believe in. I love hearing you say completely wrong and untrue things. “They seek gun control laws which keep guns out of the hands of poor minorities”, they say. Sheesh. As if a large part of my stance on gun control is explicitly due to the fact that I believe minorities and other at-risk people ought to be armed. As if I’m not looking to join the Pink Pistols as soon as I can. Christ.
You act like you intimately know the inner workings of people you’ve clearly never had an intellectual discussion with in your life.
And to address the original post: this may shock you, but centrists can in fact hold opinions. They just tend to be less extreme and/or not fall cleanly into the left-right dichotomy. For example, I have several views that could be considered partisan and outside of the Overton window, but they skew to different sides, leaving me a centrist in the end. I believe firmly in these views, not because of which side they belong to, but because I believe they are right, independently of the color assigned to them.
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