The Fallacy of Centrism

[Stellar Colonies]

Just lemme grill man

[Terminus Station]

the problem with centrism is depending on what country youre from, it might be considered far right conservatism in other countries.

[Rary]

Yeah, taking away people's healthcare, taking their children, denying them their very identities, crafting a moral panic over a whole demographic being rapists and kiddy diddlers. Yeah, not genocidal at all

It wouldn't kill yall to be honest for once, you know.

Facts.

You're one of the few sane people here, Necro!

Your political views have no say on how sane you are.

[Cannot think of a name]

This is so bad it's kind of awkward.

Yes, when you decide to go the legalistic route with your argument and someone points out the flaws in it, it certainly can get awkward.

The flailing continues unabated. You know, when it's this hard to defend shit, maybe it's not worth defending?

[Floofybit]

Facts.

You're one of the few sane people here, Necro!

Your political views have no say on how sane you are.

Seriously

[Rary]

Your political views have no say on how sane you are.

Seriously

Are you gonna put up an argument or just say one word?

[Syria and Lebanon]

Seriously

Are you gonna put up an argument or just say one word?

I think he was agreeing with you.

[Rary]

Are you gonna put up an argument or just say one word?

I think he was agreeing with you.

Yeah it’s a very vague response.

[Vadterland]

Dear God, that poll has the most aggressive Redditor energy I've ever seen.

[Floofybit]

I think he was agreeing with you.

Yeah it’s a very vague response.

I am agreeing, sorry, I'm short on free time today

[Saor Alba]

What is the purpose of this thread? The OP is just your rambling on "centrism".

I think that your opinion is wrong anyway. Centrism is a big tent encompassing people with liberal (ex. third way) and conservative (ex. christian democrats) approaches to politics. Regardless, even conservative centrists like the christian democrats have never been opposed to change in principle. I think you should familiarise yourself with centrism before attacking them like this.

[Terra dei Cittadini]

What is the purpose of this thread? The OP is just your rambling on "centrism".

I think that your opinion is wrong anyway. Centrism is a big tent encompassing people with liberal (ex. third way) and conservative (ex. christian democrats) approaches to politics. Regardless, even conservative centrists like the christian democrats have never been opposed to change in principle. I think you should familiarise yourself with centrism before attacking them like this.

Centrism has been complicit in right-wing attacks on human rights.

Nobody loves this complicit ideology, and I'm in North America jsyk.

[Vrbo]

Centrism is defined as taking "moderate positions" on issues. However, this is the issue.

Centrists oppose change. They's rather compromise a person's rights than to fight for their liberty. Destroy the planet rather than take action against climate change. Hell, today's genocidal GOP is being praised by centrists; if you laud the GOP's crusade against human rights, progress, and marginalized groups, you're either centrist or rightist.

Also, while a centrist may somewhat support someone's rights, they'd also uphold the institutions that cause inequity. Hence, centrism is a fallacious, complicit conservative ideology.

Overall, centrism is a flawed position due to being a complicit, conservative ideology in disguise.

Who let this man in the kitchen, because he is NOT cookin.

This post hits like a huge guilt trip which has historically never worked in convincing groups to join the other side. All it says is that you are complicit in genocide, you are not going to change minds and you are certainly not going help anything by confusing centrism with apathy.

[Galactic Powers]

What is the purpose of this thread? The OP is just your rambling on "centrism".

I think that your opinion is wrong anyway. Centrism is a big tent encompassing people with liberal (ex. third way) and conservative (ex. christian democrats) approaches to politics. Regardless, even conservative centrists like the christian democrats have never been opposed to change in principle. I think you should familiarise yourself with centrism before attacking them like this.

Centrism has been complicit in right-wing attacks on human rights.

Nobody loves this complicit ideology, and I'm in North America jsyk.

Basically, you hate right wing viewpoints. And since centrism involves potential compromise and acceptance of some right wing viewpoints, you hate centrism.

Wouldn't it be simpler to just say you hate right-wing viewpoints?

[Saor Alba]

Centrism has been complicit in right-wing attacks on human rights.

And the left-wing has not been? Need I remind you who invaded Poland with the Nazis? The human rights record of left-wing extremists is just as bad as that of right-wing extremists. Centrism is not to blame. There are certainly some politically moderate people who have been complacent but the very idea of human rights comes from politically moderate thinkers. Conservatives, liberals, social democrats. It was those people who spent the next 80 years promoting them globally while far-right and far-left dictatorships infringed on them.

Nobody loves this complicit ideology, and I'm in North America jsyk.

Yes, after your justification of the riots in Derry I could tell.

[Saor Alba]

If we want to emphasise the "complicity" of centrists in attacking human rights, we must first acknowledge the pivotal role that centrists played in creating the concept of human rights. You can thank centrist thinkers like Jacques Maritain and Eleanor Roosevelt for them.

[Rary]

What is the purpose of this thread? The OP is just your rambling on "centrism".

I think that your opinion is wrong anyway. Centrism is a big tent encompassing people with liberal (ex. third way) and conservative (ex. christian democrats) approaches to politics. Regardless, even conservative centrists like the christian democrats have never been opposed to change in principle. I think you should familiarise yourself with centrism before attacking them like this.

Centrism has been complicit in right-wing attacks on human rights.

Nobody loves this complicit ideology, and I'm in North America jsyk.

Have the left also not attacked human rights?

[DeMoNiC sAtAn]

Would someone apathetic to politics be centrist?

[Vrbo]

Would someone apathetic to politics be centrist?

I would argue apathy crosses any line of political alignment.

[Syria and Lebanon]

Would someone apathetic to politics be centrist?

Either centrist or apolitical, I guess.

[Urkennalaid]

I mean, the OP is right. You guys are saying how centrists are always about compromise. Except some politics don't DESERVE compromise. During the times of Nazi Germany, centrist politicians tried to compromise with Adolf Hitler, while the German Left was being wiped out from the MOMENT he gained power, and in the end, centrists were thrown to the copping block too. The same Christian conservative Democrats are also the same ones to deny raising the minimum wage, or block any progressive laws, like Joe Manchin. The same middle Democrats are also the ones who supported America's interference in Latin American countries. They'd rather have dictators like Pichochet than any sort of democratically elected socialist.

It's why, to this day, they continue to sanction Cuba and Brazil. Despite that, Brazil through a barrage of sanctions and America's refusal to let them do whatever they wish, they've still been able to push through in the medical field and implement free healthcare systems that are certainly better than America.

Centrists were the "moderate" white men and women who tried to work with pro-segregation politicians, while they viewed leaders like Malcolm X and MLK as radicals. Now we white-wash American history, but we forget how relatively recent it was that pro-segregation Americans were wishing MLK was killed, and the moderate liberal was the one trying to compromise with those people. To the Civil War, the moderate didn't want slavery to end, in fact, it was pretty unpopular. Most simply wanted to preserve the Union, and even hated war generals like Ulysses S. Grant for killing confederate generals. Centrists uphold the system, and if there's anything history has taught us, is that many systems need to be broken down. I suppose if we capitulated to the centrists every time, segregation and slavery would still be legal, Nazi Germany would have gained even more power than it has and more. It'd be a very different world.

[Juansonia]

Please tell me how and when the Republicans committed genocide.

Banning HRT, gerrymandering, pardoning white supremacists, forwarding rhetoric that causes hate and violence, calling out shooting victims on their "legal" status, calling for legalization of lynchings, asking a trans woman what genitals she has, cutting social security and food stamps, opposing workers' rights, criminalizing drag, curtailing abortion, and feeding lies to people like you.

LGBTQ+ status isn't a "protected characteristic" for genocide purposes(trans people arise in all national/ethnic groups, they don't have their own), unfair redistricting isn't genocide, issuing political pardons isn't genocide, rhetoric isn't genocide, mean questions aren't genocide, political speech isn't genocide, sexual harassment isn't genocide, welfare reduction isn't genocide, labor policy isn't genocide, dress codes (usually) aren't genocide, abortion policy isn't genocide, dishonesty isn't genocide.

At most, two could be stretched to being "genocidal".
The english language has hundreds of words for "morally bad stuff"; please stop using "genocide" as a catch-all-term

It has been their plan for centuries. Stop. Being. A. Complicit. Liar.

The GOP hasn't even existed for 170 years, let alone had these policies in mind the whole time. Less than 150 years ago, the Democrats were far more "genocidal" (by what's on the list) than Republicans were.

---

UN's genocide resolution? Here it is:

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

In Florida, DeSantis is signing a bill to transfer trans kids to non-trans guardians' care. This is a violation of section (e). HRT restrictions/bans are in Republican states with the intent of genocide. in section (c), the banning of HRT will increase trans suicide, which is an example of a condition of "inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part". You say this "isn't genocidal", but it makes you look foolish in the name of evidence arguing otherwise.

Genocide requires the intent of wiping out a protected group, one could argue that transphobic legislators are too stupid to be culpable. Also, sex/gender status isn't covered by the convention.

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Nah bro Centrism is good, it's just not caring about politics which is chadlike

I think that not giving a damn about politics is called Apolitical, not centrist.

Apoliticalism is a type of centrism.

---

lul, wot.
"genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such"
Curiously, I seem to be unable to locate gender on the list of groups there.

They intend to destroy. This wouldn't be happening if they didn't intend to destroy.

You're wrong. I think that the GOP simply wants to impose conformity standards, and has underestimated how many eggs will be destroyed in the name of this omelette.

Also, "national group" can encompass gender identity.

That is one of the stupidest things which you have said so far. If being trans is a national identity, so is being cis. "Are you cis or trans" I'm a Pole. There is no concrete "culture" for any LGBTQ+ group, such cultures only exist as either very-loose commonalities or within the context of a larger national identity. The average American trans woman has more in common with the average American TERF than with the average Japanese trans woman.

[Saor Alba]

Would someone apathetic to politics be centrist?

No.

During the times of Nazi Germany, centrist politicians tried to compromise with Adolf Hitler

This is correct, though there was also collaboration between Nazis and the KPD to weaken the SPD (the largest moderate party) and German democracy. Not sure why you omitted that.

while the German Left was being wiped out from the MOMENT he gained power

All opponents of the regime were targeted from the moment Hitler gained power. The Night of the Long Knives? A persecution largely of dissidents within the party and conservatives.

[Necroghastia]

Yeah, trying to wipe out queers doesn't count as genocide. The pink triangles were just for show.

[Saor Alba]

The idea that being apolitical is "centrist" is one of the biggest popular myths about there. Another dumb lie spread by extremists on social media. Someone who is apolitical is simply not interested in politics. Someone who identifies as a centrist has an interest in politics.