• assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    “Why don’t you listen to both sides of the argument and make your own opinions and arguments based on that?”

    Bitch, why do you think I’m a fucking leftist???

    The enlightened centrist here comes across as a Republican too embarrassed to admit it – it seems to be a core thought in conservatism that anyone who isn’t conservative just hasn’t formed an independent opinion, and if they did that, they’d be conservative.

    • OrteilGenou@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Actually, I lean fairly hard left on most things but I often say I’m centre-left to leftists because the average person I meet online who identifies as a leftist is so sure they’re right about everything that my response contrary by reflex.

      Call me old fashioned, but a key component to being a responsible person is to maintain an open mind, even if that means considering shit for a quarter of a second before telling someone to go fuck themselves, rather than presupposing that they should go fuck themselves. That feels wrong.

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I completely agree, and I usually describe myself the same way online because of how left some people are. Someone center left here is very left in reality on the American (and probably Western overall tbh) spectrum.

        I think there’s a saying that intelligence is the ability to consider a conflicting idea? It’s almost always worthwhile to consider what someone’s saying because there’s no guarantee I’m actually right. The exception is things like “hey maybe the Nazis weren’t so bad”, and those are just absolutes where I can firmly say absolutely not. People just put too many things into that category sometimes.

    • Pengui@feddit.nl
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      8 months ago

      That’s not what he’s saying though. That’s all you and your prejudice making it up on the spot because you dislike people who are not into polarised politics. Being quite new to lemmy i must say there seems to be a whole lot of leftist echo chambers. Also what is the issue with the person possibly being female? You probably shouldn’t be using a derogatory term like that…

      • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Bitch is no longer really a gendered put down any longer any more than asshole is. Languages change. Back to centrism. Fundamentally the language is deceptive. Left and right implies they are equally valid choices like tacos or burgers. The problem is that what is being described as “left” or “right” is in fact fact based positions vs fantasy. Lets do one. Climate change.

        Far right: Climate change isn’t real the earth is only 6000 years old made as is. Nothing needs to be done.

        Middle right: Climate change isn’t real the Earth is just going to natural cycles nothing needs doing.

        Moderate right: Climate change might be real but its just a natural process having nothing to do with people nothing needs doing.

        Centrist: Climate change is real and people might be causing it but we shouldn’t do anything that would effect my 401K

        Moderate Left: Climate change is definitely caused by people lets not do anything that will effect my 401 but lets give a bunch of money to people with green in the title

        Center Left: Lets give even more money to things with green in the title and TRY not to effect my 401k too much

        Radical Left: We need to make substantial change to preserve the only home we have even if it tanks grandpas 401k

        Herein the radical position is just plain actual unvarnished reality and retreats from same are just different levels of self delusion. The climate really is changing and humans have a huge part in it and we really do need to change how we are living.

        • Pengui@feddit.nl
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          8 months ago

          Yea I agree there’s too little focus on the climate challenges om the right side of the political spectrum. Not gonna lie. Thanks for your perspective, I do appreciate it. I also think there’s an issue in labeling people left/right when in fact it has nothing to do with that. It’s a question of living in a fantasy world or not, truly. I don’t like that at all. It’s hard to be a liberalist (in the classical sense, I know you have quite special political environment in the US where “liberal” is more like slightly socialist) and yet not be segmented as a climate denier. Actually I vote blank on purpose because none of the 10 parties here are able to represent my views.

      • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I don’t like polarized politics, it’s just the reality. The mainstream right are fascists who reject science, reason, and ethics, so of course I feel the need to take a hard stance against it. You don’t get to will an unpolarized world into existence when calls for genocide are a common phenomenon.

        I spend an inordinate amount of time listening to the right, but what i find more important than listening to them is seeing the effects of their policies. A right winger can talk all they want about trying to create a better America using good Christian values, but if the policies and politicians they support are discriminatory or terrible for everyone, their words don’t mean shit.

        Anti-abortion advocates claim to oppose bodily autonomy for the sake of the potential children, but they consistently oppose policies that help those children once they’re born. Anti-Trans advocates also claim to be protecting children, but their policies are terrible for trans and cis people alike. Republicans claim to care about the budget, but always balloon the national debt through tax cuts on the rich while Democrats sometimes even lower the debt. The right claim to be better for the economy, while their policies basically always worsen the lives of almost everyone through externalities and increased inequality.

        I look at fucking reality when considering opposing views, and the right’s arguments are rarely supported by reality. Right wingers aren’t tolerated here because they’re intolerant assholes who base their entire worldviews on lies.

          • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Why? I’m kind of dealing with an existential threat, and certain geniuses think I should just listen to the other side, listen to the points made by the people who want me gone. I have no obligation to be chill as I don’t exist to simply make you feel comfortable. So no, I don’t “need to chill.” You need to recognize the temperature.

        • Pengui@feddit.nl
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          8 months ago

          Well that probably explains it haha 😅 Haven’t heard about exploding heads. To be honest i would prefer something more balanced. I have a nagging suspicion that the suggested platform is right leaning. I certainly would not want that. I might just be using lemmy the wrong way (admittedly, I am a noob at the fediverse) but most of the content I am presented with is actually political stuff. And it’s mostly just people with the same opinions upvoting each other.