196

In Spain, when someone says "I'm neither left or right", that person is on the right, most of the time (if not always).

Conservatives frequently refer to themselves as centrists or neither. In the U.S., it is obvious someone is a right wing asshat if they claim to be centrist or neither.

"bOtH sIdEz r EqUaLlY bAd!!!"

People that claim themselves to be centrists in this economy, are either plain stupid or republicunts in disguise.

Yes, they are not mutually exclusive.

More accurately, I would say these types react to someone criticizing the status quo, which is typically right wing. These types are usually sheltered white guys who have had very few problems with the status quo because, well, they're white men.

"I don't like the Right or the Left!" only criticizes the Left

I feel like the very idea of "centrist" is flawed. Sure you can choose not to identify with either party.

But for most of these issues you can't reasonably pick a "center" option for most issues. Sure we can argue implementation but you're either ok with abortion, gun control, gay rights, civil rights, or your not.

Is it really useful to have the "control guns" and "control guns only a little" groups fighting when there's a "school kids are a worthy sacrifice for guns" party?

The reason that you are running into situations like this is because you (the meme creator position) don't witness the Centrist also vehemently argue with right-wing policies frequently.

You only see them argue with you and therefore have a skewed view of them and their politics. If you are left wing, and argue for left-wing policies in every case, that means you will also be argued with by somebody who believes political nuance and not just waving a party flag.

The right wing also shits on centrists because they think they are secretly left-wing since they argue with some of their stupider points as well.

These people are not secretly right-wing and just don't have the balls to say it. That is a horrendous take no matter where you fall on the political spectrum the only serves to limit conversation.

This comment section is a riot.

So if someone truly has values that fall on both sides of the aisle, and can tell you what they don’t agree with on both sides, and can admit fault to each side… that makes them Republican?

I’d rather take someone any day that will take a stance on individual issues over just agreeing with what a specific political party says.

Everyone saying in this comment section that you aren’t strictly a Democrat you’re wrong/the problem… are indeed themselves the problem and are kidding themselves.

I'm not one of those people, especially since I don't live in the US but is it so hard to envision having different views on different issues?

All of the stances taken by one side need not resonate with you.

I for example am not in support of social media witch hunts when someone is accused of being racist/sexist/classist and and so on. I firmly believe that we should be instituting bodies that have the power to investigate issues like this and take appropriate actions, with more freedom than the typical judicial process. This however does not mean that I don't support gender equality, climate action or social welfare measures.

Another example would be affirmative action. I find it horrible that the supreme court gutted it the way it did but I also find it quite unpleasant that the elected representatives, in all this time, did not try to replace it with grassroot level measure such as food security, free tuition, books etc. higher school and teacher density in lower income or low performing areas. I feel that affirmative action was a stop gap measure, but it ended up being the prop used by politicians to not act on more fundamental issues.

Honestly, I would rather forgo the label altogether. In my experience label makes people into tribes and tribes aren't really conducive to nuanced dialogue or individual opinions, rather, they're good at collective action.