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5 points

21 days ago

The point of the meme is that centrists claiming to see both sides of an issue would see something as extreme as slavery similarly, which is inaccurate trolling.

I mean, are the modern republican party’s positions actually that much better? Voter disenfranchisement; removing human rights for women, lgbt people, and other minorities; economic policies that will harm nearly everyone but themselves; colluding with enemy countries; working with Nazis; I mean look at this collection of quotes from the republican candidate for governor of North Carolina. What the fuck is this?

Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it [slavery] back. I would certainly buy a few

- Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial candidate

You’re telling me this guy wouldn’t bring back slavery the nanosecond he thought he could? If not, you’re deluding yourself; he literally says as much verbatim. The republican party is JUST AS BAD, IF NOT WORSE than the people who fought to keep slavery. Anyone who claims to see “both sidez” is quite literally saying that those quotes and the democrats’ policies are equivalently acceptable. That’s basically the OP’s meme.

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Varyk@sh.itjust.works

-2 points

21 days ago

“are the modern republican party’s positions actually that much better?”

No, but this is conflating centrists with Republicans, which is lazy, inaccurate pot-stirring well, they could have just made the subject of mockery a conservative, witchwood make the comic extrapolation sensible instead of blandly incorrect.

“The republican party is JUST AS BAD, IF NOT WORSE”

thank you for agreeing with me very loudly.

this meme should target conservatives, rather than centrists, you may have missed the point of the meme.

“That’s basically the OP’s meme.”

no, it isn’t.

name is about centrists, not about conservatives or Republicans. If it was, the meme would make sense.

as the meme is, it serves no purpose except to blur political nuances and get you angry.

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3 points

21 days ago

Does “centrist” not mean “holding views between those of the popular political positions”? Someone who is even half as bad as a republican is still wildly unacceptable. Note that choosing your views based on your own evaluation, whichever corner of the political spectrum that lands you on, doesn’t make you a centrist; it is your final views being between the common reference points that makes you a centrist, regardless of your method for getting there.

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Varyk@sh.itjust.works

-2 points

21 days ago

“Does “centrist” not mean “holding views between those of the popular political positions”?”

roughly.

are you trying to make sure you know what centrists are?

The last part sounds more correct:

“it is your final views being between the common reference points that makes you a centrist”

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1 point

21 days ago

I’m trying to establish that we’re using the same definition of “centrist”. Because if that’s the case, I don’t see how you could defend centrists. Their views are halfway between reasonable and unthinkable. That’s not a good thing at all.

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Varyk@sh.itjust.works

-1 points

21 days ago

“I’m trying to establish that we’re using the same definition of “centrist”.”

I don’t hear any questions or establishing statements.

we did kind of cover this in your earlier content.

“I don’t see how you could defend centrists”

I can see how, but I’m not defending centrists here so much as I am opposing mob rule based on disinformation.

“Their views are halfway between reasonable and unthinkable.”

this is a poorly thought out analysis of centrism.

I doubt if you had a list in front of you with yes or no questions on every major policy, you’d find yourself, and most people, a lot closer to the center than you like to imagine.

are you a liberal?

do you support unregulated immigration?

If not, you’re a centrist.

are you a conservative?

do you support right to try medication?

If so, you’re a centrist.

now think of how many policies there are, and how many you agree with the most extreme policy proposals on the left and right.

are you sure you’re smack dab on one end or the other?

if not…

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2 points

21 days ago

I don’t hear any questions or establishing statements.

Is there a language barrier here?

I asked if you disagreed about a proposed definition. You said no, establishing that you agree with it.

are you a liberal?

do you support unregulated immigration?

If not, you’re a centrist.

are you a conservative?

do you support right to try medication?

If so, you’re a centrist.

One disagreement with a policy does not make you a centrist lol

Given the sheer amount of policies, anyone would disagree with at least one, and that’s assuming there’s even a defined take that each political category has on every possible policy question, which there isn’t. This definition is impossibly strict and makes the concept of “centrist” meaningless. This is why I attempted to establish a definition earlier, if you’re still confused what the purpose of that was.

Liberals and conservatives are not clubs that you enter and define your viewpoints based off of, with centrists being people who haven’t chosen a club. Rather, “liberal” and “conservative” are rough categories of related opinions and systems of thought that one may be closer or further from. The degree to which someone is centrist is the degree to which they hold simultaneous opinions from opposing groups, or opinions that are not close to those of any group. There is a scale on which some people will be “more liberal” or “more conservative” or “more centrist” or what have you. Again, to summarize, if everyone is a centrist then noone will be. You don’t have to be “smack dab on one end” to fit into a category. Just close enough. You can even define it more fuzzily (ie. center-left).

Now, given that I’ve estaished the common definition of centrism that the OP and I and everyone else in the tread is using, centrism in the context of American politics necessarily means that you hold a non-negligible number of conservative views, or simply don’t hold strong views at all.

I can see how, but I’m not defending centrists here so much as I am opposing mob rule based on disinformation

And given what I said above, calling centrists out for republican policies may be less accurate than calling republicans out for them, but there’s a good chance it’s still true and it’s a more importsnt target for the message the OP was conveying.

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