I get what you’re saying, but an “enlightened centrist” is someone that argues for compromise between a sane position and an insane or evil one – their “middle ground” is still awful.
A “centrist” take between two relatively sane positions isn’t enlightened centrism. “Moderate” used to be the word for that, but given how extreme the political discourse has become the meaning of that word is changing too. You’re better off qualifying what positions you’re moderate on and how, or people will make unkind assumptions.
That’s the cartoon, but it’s not accurate. A centrist is just someone whose positions aren’t strongly correlated with each other the way they tend to be on both the left and the right. Like there’s a reason I can accurately guess your position on abortion and climate change if I know whether you live closer to a Cracker Barrel or a Whole Foods; a centrist is just one of the people whose position on abortion isn’t strongly correlated with their position on climate change.
That’s not what a centrist is, lol. People tend to have similar stances on seemingly unrelated topics because the underlying knowledge and values required to coherently support one view can be applied to others.
As an example: someone who is anti-racist is also likely anti-homophobia, as usually those stances are both related to anti-bigotry.
Centrism, however, seeks to pay attention to both sides as equally valid, regardless of the merits of either position, and then seek compromise as a way to maintain the status quo. Centrism is, in all reality, the most privileged position one can take, as they seek to avoid change and preserve their already stable way of life.
Usually what crashfrog described is someone who only has positions as a relation to others, and is described by their lack of alignment. This person would likely be called an Independent if they held strong, multidirectional views (like a Libertarian that loves the idea of universal Healthcare and UBI), and as such doesn’t align with any mainstream party. If they hold relatively weak, multidirectional or otherwise views, they would be considered “moderate,” though it’s worth noting that the Democrat party is the moderate, liberal party, and as such the republican party and those between the democrats and Republicans are not moderates, but right-wing.
That’s why it gets messy, the US only has right wing parties of varying degrees.
I get what you’re saying, but an “enlightened centrist” is someone that argues for compromise between a sane position and an insane or evil one – their “middle ground” is still awful.
A “centrist” take between two relatively sane positions isn’t enlightened centrism. “Moderate” used to be the word for that, but given how extreme the political discourse has become the meaning of that word is changing too. You’re better off qualifying what positions you’re moderate on and how, or people will make unkind assumptions.
That’s the cartoon, but it’s not accurate. A centrist is just someone whose positions aren’t strongly correlated with each other the way they tend to be on both the left and the right. Like there’s a reason I can accurately guess your position on abortion and climate change if I know whether you live closer to a Cracker Barrel or a Whole Foods; a centrist is just one of the people whose position on abortion isn’t strongly correlated with their position on climate change.
That’s not what a centrist is, lol. People tend to have similar stances on seemingly unrelated topics because the underlying knowledge and values required to coherently support one view can be applied to others.
As an example: someone who is anti-racist is also likely anti-homophobia, as usually those stances are both related to anti-bigotry.
Centrism, however, seeks to pay attention to both sides as equally valid, regardless of the merits of either position, and then seek compromise as a way to maintain the status quo. Centrism is, in all reality, the most privileged position one can take, as they seek to avoid change and preserve their already stable way of life.
Valid question here, how is what crashfrog described named?
Usually what crashfrog described is someone who only has positions as a relation to others, and is described by their lack of alignment. This person would likely be called an Independent if they held strong, multidirectional views (like a Libertarian that loves the idea of universal Healthcare and UBI), and as such doesn’t align with any mainstream party. If they hold relatively weak, multidirectional or otherwise views, they would be considered “moderate,” though it’s worth noting that the Democrat party is the moderate, liberal party, and as such the republican party and those between the democrats and Republicans are not moderates, but right-wing.
That’s why it gets messy, the US only has right wing parties of varying degrees.