mercredi 6 octobre 2021

Where Did the Middle Go?

I said a couple of days ago in a post responding to Butter! that the middle ground seems to have disappeared.

I see it a lot since I sit on a strange piece of ground where I describe my political leaning as "democratic socialist libertarian capitalist". I don't fit any one political ideology and accordingly I am labelled a fascist Trump supporter by people on one side, and a commie totalitarian pawn of China by people on the other, when I think my views are midway between the two. Some parts of the right are good, some parts of the left are good, and both have ideologies I detest.

Balance seems impossible, apparently driven by the polarisation caused by online discussions, so it seems entirely apposite to hold this discussion online. I've kicked it off a subject because today, I see this in our local newspaper and it struck the chord I'm talking about: https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-pos...es-of-an-issue

I'm not saying there are "fine people on both sides", but the Mongrel Mob issue in that piece is a perfect example of what I mean, and the journo puts it very well - just because a group is outside the law doesn't mean they're irredeemable scum who can't have a place in society. I have two mates who each received sentences of nine years in jail for dealing methamphetamine, and one of them is one of very few blokes I'd trust with my life. Redneck racists refusing the vaccine in Kentucky while wearing "Better Russian than Democrat" shirts might well be the type who beat their wives, but they might equally be the people who stop others doing so, and while we demonise them for one thing we might be overlooking an important contribution to society in other ways.

Where did the middle ground go, and how do we get it back?


via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/3DjwjAY

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