THERE IS NO CENTER.
The only way to think there is a "center" in politics is to buy into the fallacy that there is a single continuum, a straight line, between "left" & "right" or "conservative" & "liberal".
Peoples' beliefs actually encompass a vast milieu of (often quite uncategorizable) ideas.
The people who believe most strongly that there is such a clear definition of beliefs are most likely REACTIONARIES. Despite the word reactionary having come to be misunderstood as being a person with extreme "conservative" beliefs, the so-called "knee jerk liberal" is also a reactionary.
The key to being a reactionary is having a "menu" of ideas which elicit a fixed reaction.
One example is found in the issues regarding "gun control". It appears that there are only two possible responses to the issue of gun control, the "NRA model" and the "Brady model", when in fact there are many ideas that could both decrease the needlessly high numbers of accidental & intentional gun deaths in this country and protect the rights of citizens to defend themselves against both criminals & government tyranny. I believe both of these are relevant & worthwhile goals.
The "one gun death is too many' reactionaries are unconcerned that gun deaths are actually a miniscule fraction of the unnecessary deaths caused by automobiles or that the only two so-called democracies that have survived for over a century, the U.S. and Switzerland, have laws providing for any law abiding citizen to possess firearms.
The "cold dead hands" reactionaries are opposed to the kind of licensing & competence testing that any dangerous device should require (again think of automobiles) as well as being contemptuous of the suffering of those whose loved ones have needlessly died by gun violence.
Only the reactionary ideas get expressed by media because conflict sells. This is true of both the so-called mainstream media as well as alternative media.
Peoples' beliefs actually encompass a vast milieu of (often quite uncategorizable) ideas.
The people who believe most strongly that there is such a clear definition of beliefs are most likely REACTIONARIES. Despite the word reactionary having come to be misunderstood as being a person with extreme "conservative" beliefs, the so-called "knee jerk liberal" is also a reactionary.
The key to being a reactionary is having a "menu" of ideas which elicit a fixed reaction.
One example is found in the issues regarding "gun control". It appears that there are only two possible responses to the issue of gun control, the "NRA model" and the "Brady model", when in fact there are many ideas that could both decrease the needlessly high numbers of accidental & intentional gun deaths in this country and protect the rights of citizens to defend themselves against both criminals & government tyranny. I believe both of these are relevant & worthwhile goals.
The "one gun death is too many' reactionaries are unconcerned that gun deaths are actually a miniscule fraction of the unnecessary deaths caused by automobiles or that the only two so-called democracies that have survived for over a century, the U.S. and Switzerland, have laws providing for any law abiding citizen to possess firearms.
The "cold dead hands" reactionaries are opposed to the kind of licensing & competence testing that any dangerous device should require (again think of automobiles) as well as being contemptuous of the suffering of those whose loved ones have needlessly died by gun violence.
Only the reactionary ideas get expressed by media because conflict sells. This is true of both the so-called mainstream media as well as alternative media.
posted by jaycubed at 6:24 PM
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