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It always amuses me how the prevailing criticism of moderates or centrists is always some compliment levied in a scathing tone. Those dastardly centrists, alway
by throwaway894345 5y ago
It always amuses me how the prevailing criticism of moderates or centrists is always some compliment levied in a scathing tone. Those dastardly centrists, always waiting for conclusive information before jumping to conclusions!
- kaibee 5y ago> Those dastardly centrists, always waiting for conclusive information before jumping to conclusions! While it is appealing to believe that moderates/centrists really did look at all available data and came to a principled conclusion from first principles, I somehow doubt that that is the case.
- throwaway894345 5y agoThat’s not necessary. Centrism and moderation are justified merely by a lack of evidence. E.g., I don’t know enough so it’s imprudent to make a drastic change in either direction.
- co2benzoate 5y agoThe moon is made of cheese, agreed?
- throwaway894345 5y agoI'm either too smart or not smart enough to understand your quip.
- co2benzoate 5y agoThe average person does not have enough evidence to refute that the moon is not made of cheese. That does not mean one should hear out a lunarcheesist.
- throwaway894345 5y agoMy argument is that we shouldn’t make drastic changes without ample evidence. Your moon cheese analogy doesn’t address this at all.
- co2benzoate 5y agoYou should still use common sense to determine courses of action when you don't have evidence.
- throwaway894345 5y agoAbsolutely, common sense is almost always avoiding drastic, often absurd changes (e.g., abolishing police). You might say that common sense is fundamentally a moderate position.
- rnd0 5y ago>Those dastardly centrists, always waiting for conclusive information before jumping to conclusions! The problem isn't that they are waiting for conclusive information -but that they pick "both sides" out of moral cowardliness. When people accuse them of "both sides" it's cowardice that they're being accused of. Cowardice aside, Centrists and Moderates are not people who are sitting on the sidelines carefully weighing the issues. Far from it! It would be useful to do some reading on who and what "Centrists" really are about: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-moderate-middle-is-a-myth/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-moderate-middle-is-... https://novaramedia.com/2019/12/11/the-centrist-delusion-middle-ground-politics-isnt-moderate-its-dangerous/ https://novaramedia.com/2019/12/11/the-centrist-delusion-mid... https://www.vox.com/2014/7/8/5878293/lets-stop-using-the-word-moderate https://www.vox.com/2014/7/8/5878293/lets-stop-using-the-wor...
- throwaway894345 5y agoIt’s not cowardice, it’s that centrists or moderates are looking at issues rather than teams, so on some issues they’ll vote Republican and others Democrat. But partisans don’t understand the concept of “trying to do what’s best for one’s country”, so they can only understand this as “fear of committing to a team”.
- rnd0 5y agoIt is cowardice when it's used as an excuse to not commit to a stand on an issue, and a lot of people do take issue with that.
- throwaway894345 5y agoBut this is a strawman. There’s no evidence that any significant portion of centrists are so motivated.