I mean, no duh? Of course we are? When the most extreme factions are the ones largely in control of the political dialogue, there's no point in even speaking if

I mean, no duh? Of course we are? When the most extreme factions are the ones largely in control of the political dialogue, there's no point in even speaking if you don't hold extreme views. In part, we got here because Internet discourse is controlling the narrative, and Internet discourse is typically the most extreme discourse possible. (Places like HN are exceptions to this rule.) Plus, since we have a two-party system and we categorize everything as "left" and "right", those parties have become symbols of the most extreme ends of the debate going on within their own movements. I don't want to be cryptic about my political beliefs on here: I am an extremely progressive person, what someone on the right would call a "leftist". I am far to the left of most currently elected politicians in the Democratic party. I think the US as a country is systematically racist, sexist, and transphobic. I don't think billionaires should be allowed to exist. If you name a "liberal" policy, I'm probably in favor of it. In most conversations in real life, I come off as an extremist among people who share most of my preferences. And yet there are many people, and many online spaces, with whom and where I am still not extreme enough on every issue. And there are a lot of issues where my position is essentially "fine, I don't care very much", where the consensus seems to be that I should be spending all of my time on it - on multiple issues simultaneously! That if I am not doing "the work" all the time with every fiber of my being ("the work" mostly being tweeting and protesting, apparently) I am insufficient. I read an article the other day which argued, straight-faced, that it is sexist (and therefore insufficiently progressive) to... think that Zodiac signs are not based in science. It's the same on the right, if not worse. I have family members who would be considered "RINOs" online because, while politically conservative, they don't support a literal violent uprising against the US government to install a leader who wasn't actually elected based on fraud that had no evidence. Someone who's in favor of school choice but doesn't think books about gay people in libraries is "grooming" would be laughed at. I know people who have every stereotypically conservative view in the book, yet, because they don't happen to support one particular politician strongly enough (or would rather see someone else with similar views elected), they're considered to be on the fringes. So, like I said, no duh. There's no midpoint because everyone is running to the edges so fast. As a result, honestly... I think we're probably fucked. I'm not sure this is fixable. But I am sure it's exhausting.