If you stop thinking about sides as whole and start thinking about singular choices, it becomes easy to understand where do centrists come from.
I like tradition. I don’t think it should be untouchable, but I think it should be preserved and continued overall. I dislike globalism, valuing feeling of community with people from my country. I hate the idea of bending backwards just to fully accomodate whims of other people, even if these pertain to their feeling of self.
On the other hand, I hate the idea of functionally sorting people based on their skin, using traditions to shame and attack others, or deeming others as worse just because what they feel themselves be is different than what we perceive.
I hate censorship from both sides, portrayal of the other side as dumb and themselves as better and tendency for “group-thing” for humanity as a whole.
So yeah, i deem myself centrist. But if you ask me to join the side fighting fascists, nazis or communists (in the USSR sense of the word), I’m with ya. In the end I need to choose what fits most of my views, and in USA case, that’s mostly left. In my own country it’s a bit more muddied.
I’m firmly left and have started to see your perspective a bit more recently. I think we tend to generalize groups of people by their bad examples, which is also done to and by centrists.
I’m thankful for the perspective of reasonable centrists, who are able to look at the reality of a situation and judge fairly, to add nuance and build bridges. What affirmed me in my group think for a long time was radicalized centrists, who are more interested in equating left and right regardless of circumstance, than in grasping problems with an open mind.
But I think I understand how that happens. It’s frustrating for many leftists to have to choose between two options they don’t agree with, center and right, so some become blind to their differences and fall into group-think. Maybe it is the same for centrists, some of which also start to portray all left and right as dumb ideologues and themselves as above criticism from other worldviews.
So I agree with you. We should think about singular choices more than about sides. And frankly, I really enjoy finding common ground with people from different walks of life recently.
If you stop thinking about sides as whole and start thinking about singular choices, it becomes easy to understand where do centrists come from.
I like tradition. I don’t think it should be untouchable, but I think it should be preserved and continued overall. I dislike globalism, valuing feeling of community with people from my country. I hate the idea of bending backwards just to fully accomodate whims of other people, even if these pertain to their feeling of self.
On the other hand, I hate the idea of functionally sorting people based on their skin, using traditions to shame and attack others, or deeming others as worse just because what they feel themselves be is different than what we perceive.
I hate censorship from both sides, portrayal of the other side as dumb and themselves as better and tendency for “group-thing” for humanity as a whole.
So yeah, i deem myself centrist. But if you ask me to join the side fighting fascists, nazis or communists (in the USSR sense of the word), I’m with ya. In the end I need to choose what fits most of my views, and in USA case, that’s mostly left. In my own country it’s a bit more muddied.
Care to give an example when you have ever really needed to bend over backwards?
Sounds like you’re mostly conservative, with a desire for others to feel good about themselves.
The Danish conservative party is pretty close to your requests, except for the degree at which you seem to be pro immigration
I’m firmly left and have started to see your perspective a bit more recently. I think we tend to generalize groups of people by their bad examples, which is also done to and by centrists.
I’m thankful for the perspective of reasonable centrists, who are able to look at the reality of a situation and judge fairly, to add nuance and build bridges. What affirmed me in my group think for a long time was radicalized centrists, who are more interested in equating left and right regardless of circumstance, than in grasping problems with an open mind.
But I think I understand how that happens. It’s frustrating for many leftists to have to choose between two options they don’t agree with, center and right, so some become blind to their differences and fall into group-think. Maybe it is the same for centrists, some of which also start to portray all left and right as dumb ideologues and themselves as above criticism from other worldviews.
So I agree with you. We should think about singular choices more than about sides. And frankly, I really enjoy finding common ground with people from different walks of life recently.