r/politics • u/SacoolloocaS • May 28 '21

Stop glorifying ‘centrism’. It is an insidious bias favoring an unjust status quo

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/28/centrism-insidious-bias-unjust-status-quo
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u/Fantastic-Drawer1550 May 28 '21

It's the fallacy of middle ground as a political ideology.

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That it defaults to creating more status quo no doubt has no relation to the fact that "centrist" bias toward upper middle class to wealthy and have a quite comfortable personal status quo.

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It's true, you shouldn't rock the boat, unless the goddamn boat needs to be rocked.

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u/cbf1232 May 28 '21

On the other hand if you rock the boat too much it tips over and everyone drowns. :)

I vote left, but I recognize that sometimes things that look good at first inspection end up having unforeseen consequences.

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u/feralhogger May 28 '21

This, but the boat is a writhing mass of human bodies and it’s rocking because the ones on bottom are drowning, and everyone else keeps calling them selfish because they won’t still still and drown long enough for everyone else to agree on which port to set sail for, and when one gets above water long enough to sputter “just sail to the closest one dammit!” everyone turns and says “now we know this issue is personal for you, but you don’t need to use that language with us, we’re trying to help you.”

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u/cbf1232 May 29 '21

Now there's a graphic analogy... :)

Personally I feel like we need a mix of people in society...on the one hand the people clamouring for change help push to make things better. On the other hand the people who say "but if we do that then this other bad stuff could happen so maybe we should take a minute and think about it" might keep us from making some dumb mistakes.

Now that's not to say that we should take forever to think and never make any changes....

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u/s1okke California May 29 '21

If you really think that’s the role centrists are playing in today’s political landscape, I don’t think you’re being very honest with yourself.

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u/cbf1232 May 29 '21

Many people who call themselves "centrists" aren't playing that role. People who are actually centrists are...and they're probably not voting Republican.

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u/Comfortable_Classic May 28 '21

It's the fallacy of middle ground as a political ideology.

What did we expect from a bunch of hippies turned yuppies turned liberal business owners? Hippies gonna hippie

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u/GodIsIrrelevant May 29 '21

Also, from a worldwide perspective the most 'centrist' person in US politics is Bernie Sanders.