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PREFACE
Let me start by saying that I am not a centrist. I am not arguing that you should be a centrist or independent. I am arguing against mischaracterization of others.
Much of what I see here in Lemmy against centrism or Independents is made up of bad strawman arguments largely consisting of: “There are three types of people: reasonable people who agree with me, crazy fascists, and lily-livered wimps who can’t pick a side (and are also fascists)!”
The other (also poorly thought out and blatantly strawmanned) argument I see over and over here when discussing this topic consists of:
Left Wing: “Let’s not kill trans people.”
Right Wing: “Let’s kill all trans people.”
Centrists: “Let’s kill some trans people.”
THE CRUX
If someone says that they are “centrist” they are not telling you that they base all of their opinions on being dead-centre in the middle of any two positions. That would be an astoundingly stupid position to undertake.
They are telling you that they agree with neither major party on everything, and find that both parties have views that they don’t agree with. It’s pretty easy to come to that conclusion because the US two-party system packs in an almost incoherent mishmash of beliefs into exactly two sides (or 2.5 sides if you’re from Canada).
There is absolutely no contradiction in being for police reform, and against riots lasting for days. There is no contradiction in being for gun rights, while also wanting massive limits on them. There is no contradiction in wanting functional government services including universal healthcare, and thinking that free markets can be made effective. There is no contradiction in wanting a more balanced budget, and government services to be funded properly.
The idea that there are only two sides in politics is a strange delusion created by the two-party system.
Now, I have been trying on Lemmy for months. I have frequently encountered wilful misunderstandings about centrists / independents. I have frequently seen discussions state that they feel these groups are all secretly right wing and just won’t admit it, which is wild to me.
AND ONE MORE THING
In my estimation, the reason Lemmy members often run into situations like this is because they don’t witness the centrist also vehemently argue with right-wing policies frequently.
The posters only see the arguments with them and therefore have a skewed view of centrists / independents and their politics. In short, if you are left wing, and argue for left-wing policies in every case, that means you will also be argued with by somebody who believes political nuance and not just waving a party flag.
Remember, the right wing also shits on centrists because they think they are secretly left-wing since they argue with their stupider points as well. So no, these people are not secretly right-wing and just don’t have the balls to say it. That is a horrendous take no matter where you fall on the political spectrum and only serves to limit conversation.
Closing comments and personal thoughts
Broadly speaking I’m hesitant to refer to centrism as an ideological or political group in any coherent way because it’s such a broad and diverse group of beliefs and interests.
Realistically, the “requirements” for being part of one of these groups is that you don’t like mainstream political discussion, and that’s about it.
Additionally, to even assume that people who participate in centrist groups are themselves some kind of “centrist” is probably going too far. In many cases it’s more of a platform for people to just say whatever they feel like saying and to have more open-ended discussions without feeling bound by the limits of what the left or right (which are more well-defined belief sets) would impose on them.
That said I would also note that I’ve found that most centrist groups, despite superficially being centrist, still have some pretty obvious left-or-right leanings.
Additionally, while I can’t speak for everyone, I don’t think it’s very typical for people who are part of centrist groups to go around talking about being centrists. I don’t think it’s something most people do (or even genuinely identify as) especially outside of the groups themselves.
In my case, I participated in Canada’s oldest youth parliament (which had an 80-some year non-partisan history) and separately did debate in high school (where you are required to argue both sides of a topic at any given tournament). In university I initially majored in political science, decided it was too ideologically driven (I attended both very right and left-wing schools and liked neither’s department) and eventually pivoted to philosophy (which is more overtly political these days but was not back then). I have also put forward my time into several non-partisan volunteer organizations, so for me I generally see public good as something that is not necessarily connected to politics. (Or in some cases, that politics is something that gets in the way of allowing people to work together).
The idea of being able to discuss ideas sans being committed to, or as I feel, weighed down by any kind of political or philosophical ideology is a very natural way for me to be. I personally find parties and ideologies to be rather heavy and inconvenient things and like to look at matters on a case by case basis. I don’t actually consider myself to be centrist, but centrist groups are one of the few places I feel I can have remotely open discussions that don’t feel like political recruitment campaigns. While I understand that a lot of people can’t empathize with my point of view (and I don’t necessarily think the world would be better if it were only populated by people exactly like me) hopefully that at least gives you some insight into a different perspective.
Really interesting, particularly the description of ‘Modern centrism’ - I was completely unaware that it was a thing, but your description would certainly explain why ‘centrism’ gets a bad name.
I suppose I would broadly characterise myself as centrist, but I don’t quite fit into any of your categories. My view is more that I really dislike the automatic polarisation of views that seems to characterise so much political debate. I have fundamentally liberal/progressive ideals, but many political issues are just complex and wicked and I can see how different people have different views on how the world can be made better, without them being bad people. Does this dislike of being part of a particular political tribe, make me centrist? Perhaps.