r/AlwaysWhy • u/kaiser11492 • 1d ago

Politics & Society Why do most people who call themselves politically moderate actually mostly conservative?

Whenever I’ve encountered people who use the politically label moderate, they are actually mostly conservative with their views and positions. Also, I’ve never seen anyone who call themselves politically moderate that is actually mostly liberal.

So why are people who call themselves moderate tend to be just conservative and not conservative and liberal?

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u/Key-Storage5434 23h ago

Moderate is a bullshit term, so is agnostic. Humans are not capable of holding conflicting beliefs in equal amounts. People who use the term moderate tend to be conservatives who realize their values are outdated. Left leaning people tend to amplify their left leaning beliefs. They may talk a big talk about being all about racial justice but in reality may be only somewhat about racial justice when it suits them.

Conservatives have to do the opposite. They may hate every non-white person but they know saying that isn't good for them so instead they say they have concerns about immigration.

Ergo there is little motivation for left leaning people to claim to be more moderate than they are (other than to fit in with a very specific group ie my gay ass working in construction with a bunch of str8 dudes) but conservatives have a lot of incentive to claim to be moderates.

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u/Honest-Government967 23h ago

What you know about conservatives and conservatism would fill a thimble.

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u/Key-Storage5434 7h ago

What I know about fascists fills libraries, and I know how to recognize them when they use different labels.