Centrists: too much bad is bad but too much good is bad too. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, please buy my book.
“I stand in the middle where I stand for nothing. Because when the middle moves, there I am, still in the middle.”
@urlyman @aral
The message is not about standing in the middle, just letting the good guys win isn't enough — "good guys" tend to turn bad overnight when left unchallenged — it's about keeping the system of checks and balances in place — no matter how much you like the ones who come to power. Yes, this involves giving voice to those you might not like, but it might suddenly become relevant when "good guys" at the helm suddenly turn bad.
@itsmeholland @urlyman @aral
True. But at least that is what I do being a centrist — centrists aren't some guys who have headquarters telling them what to do at least not in my case.
I often see people proposing or supporting things that seem good in current context, and they do it in good faith — but they often don't seem to realise the challenges that come with it. We have to act carefully — it's a long game, that's what being a centrist is for me 🤷
As a former centrist, the “long game” of centrism is laid out pretty well here https://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com/stumbling_and_mumbling/2021/05/on-centrist-vacuousness.html
@urlyman
But the article does not condemn centrists, "Now, in saying this I’m not damning all centrists". It criticises the inability of centrists to act and reinforces that with real and historical examples — which I can neither support, nor counter as I'm not British. The only thing I can tell is that Labour is the least sympathetic entity to me — that does not mean I would support the likes of Respect and it does not make me a conservative.
@urlyman
This point usually boils down to "centrist parties in Europe today fail to deliver, therefore centrism is wrong", in essence it's the same as USSR was an utter failure (that I can tell), therefore the Left are always wrong. Indecisiveness is not some intrinsic quality of centrism, nor is taking the middle ground — it's about making decisions, no matter where they lie or are perceived to lie on the left-right spectrum. At least it is to me.
@m0xee thanks for your replies. I think we could find common ground on some of your points but I guess we’re just in different places. The level of structural inequality and greed and waste is off the scale and I cannot take a centrist position on any of that
@urlyman
Centrist parties in Europe indeed fail to deliver — and at times fail to act at all — this is reality, and I can fully agree with that. People get disappointed and this pushes them to the open arms of right wing populists, that is also a fact. I just don't think that these parties not being left enough is the problem, and I also don't believe that labelling everyone who is more conservative a Nazi helps fix that.
@itsmeholland @aral