The Centrist.
Sep. 6th, 2008 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blimixA little writing project I was just inspired to do. Is it worth continuing?
Being a centrist is a balancing act — a harder one than it might seem. We're here to help you make sense of it all... But not too much sense. (Too much sense leads to fringe concepts such as "informed decisions," and as centrists, we know that "fringe" is never a good idea.)
So how do you do it? If a democrat in office would secretly allow industry to kill a million people for money, and a republican would openly allow three million to die, for a lot more money, does a centrist hope to see two million people killed, semi-privately, for moderate kickbacks? NO. Caring about the number of people killed is solely the realm of liberal democrats. If we do that, then we are no better than they are. What we strive for is a moderate attitude toward all subjects.
Where a democrat might decry government corruption that allows polluters to kill millions of people and wreck entire ecosystems, and a republican happily insists that there is nothing wrong with the environment, a centrist must express halfhearted sympathies toward dying people and animals, bewilderment over liberals getting all worked up about it, and firm blindness both to underlying causes and to the idea that something can be done about it.
Where policies are regarded, it seems our ideals have had to shift. The democratic party has hardly changed, but because republicans have slid far to the right, today's centrist is yesterday's conservative. Luckily, we never have to form opinions. All we need to do is find the middle ground in any debate, which will allow us to be clearly superior to either side. And if you are ever asked for your opinion on a matter, outside of the context of a debate, it is always safe to say, "It's not my problem."
Race
Whom can you hate, and how much?
We centrists have it pretty good in this regard. We do not need to hate with all the zeal and energy of republicans, or with the excuses and disguises of democrats.
You may envy the republicans, who get to decry and oppress anyone different from them. They even get to keep blacks from voting: It's like the Civil War never happened! But here's the thing: They have to keep it up. If they're not loud enough about people with the wrong skin colors, all the time, then they are unpatriotic. The 2008 presidential primary contest demonstrated this superbly.
Democrats get to feel smug about not being racist bastards. They get an ego boost from pretending to like another culture's music, or from forcing themselves to smile at someone instead of giving in to their urge to cross the street. But just like the republicans, they have to work at it. There's only so much sympathy that anyone can feel for oppressed people. And when democrats run out of sympathy, they'll blame the victim, just like everyone else was already doing. The only difference is that democrats have to feel like they're still not being racist. They can't do it the way a republican does it, with a harsh insult followed by, "I'm not racist; I just call it like I see it." No, a democrat has to pretend that they have a problem with the personal choices of an entire race. Like choosing to get thrown in jail. Or choosing to follow a violent religion. Because disapproving of people's choices is not racist. A democrat is allowed to be aware that the U.S. justice system is far more likely to incarcerate a black man than a white man for equivalent crimes, and still have a problem with black men for getting thrown in jail a lot. It's called doublethink, and frankly, in our opinion, it takes too much work. (Also, democrats have to say, "African American".)
We centrists can believe that which requires the least work: Other races have problems, and that's their problem, not ours. It's certainly not our fault, or our responsibility to do anything about it. They should strive to be more like us, and then they'd be fine. Until they do that, we're justified in not liking them. That's not racism. We don't shout at them to go home, threaten to burn down their shops, or burn crosses. We just mutter epithets under our breath: Loud enough for them to hear, but not quite loud enough to invite response.
We're artists that way.
The Centrist
Being a centrist is a balancing act — a harder one than it might seem. We're here to help you make sense of it all... But not too much sense. (Too much sense leads to fringe concepts such as "informed decisions," and as centrists, we know that "fringe" is never a good idea.)
So how do you do it? If a democrat in office would secretly allow industry to kill a million people for money, and a republican would openly allow three million to die, for a lot more money, does a centrist hope to see two million people killed, semi-privately, for moderate kickbacks? NO. Caring about the number of people killed is solely the realm of liberal democrats. If we do that, then we are no better than they are. What we strive for is a moderate attitude toward all subjects.
Where a democrat might decry government corruption that allows polluters to kill millions of people and wreck entire ecosystems, and a republican happily insists that there is nothing wrong with the environment, a centrist must express halfhearted sympathies toward dying people and animals, bewilderment over liberals getting all worked up about it, and firm blindness both to underlying causes and to the idea that something can be done about it.
Where policies are regarded, it seems our ideals have had to shift. The democratic party has hardly changed, but because republicans have slid far to the right, today's centrist is yesterday's conservative. Luckily, we never have to form opinions. All we need to do is find the middle ground in any debate, which will allow us to be clearly superior to either side. And if you are ever asked for your opinion on a matter, outside of the context of a debate, it is always safe to say, "It's not my problem."
Whom can you hate, and how much?
We centrists have it pretty good in this regard. We do not need to hate with all the zeal and energy of republicans, or with the excuses and disguises of democrats.
You may envy the republicans, who get to decry and oppress anyone different from them. They even get to keep blacks from voting: It's like the Civil War never happened! But here's the thing: They have to keep it up. If they're not loud enough about people with the wrong skin colors, all the time, then they are unpatriotic. The 2008 presidential primary contest demonstrated this superbly.
Democrats get to feel smug about not being racist bastards. They get an ego boost from pretending to like another culture's music, or from forcing themselves to smile at someone instead of giving in to their urge to cross the street. But just like the republicans, they have to work at it. There's only so much sympathy that anyone can feel for oppressed people. And when democrats run out of sympathy, they'll blame the victim, just like everyone else was already doing. The only difference is that democrats have to feel like they're still not being racist. They can't do it the way a republican does it, with a harsh insult followed by, "I'm not racist; I just call it like I see it." No, a democrat has to pretend that they have a problem with the personal choices of an entire race. Like choosing to get thrown in jail. Or choosing to follow a violent religion. Because disapproving of people's choices is not racist. A democrat is allowed to be aware that the U.S. justice system is far more likely to incarcerate a black man than a white man for equivalent crimes, and still have a problem with black men for getting thrown in jail a lot. It's called doublethink, and frankly, in our opinion, it takes too much work. (Also, democrats have to say, "African American".)
We centrists can believe that which requires the least work: Other races have problems, and that's their problem, not ours. It's certainly not our fault, or our responsibility to do anything about it. They should strive to be more like us, and then they'd be fine. Until they do that, we're justified in not liking them. That's not racism. We don't shout at them to go home, threaten to burn down their shops, or burn crosses. We just mutter epithets under our breath: Loud enough for them to hear, but not quite loud enough to invite response.
We're artists that way.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-06 07:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-08 05:08 pm (UTC)seconded.
; ^ D
(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-07 11:31 am (UTC)