What happened to all the moderates?

[tristannarutofan]

Bernie Sanders I have a lot of respect for. Would probably have my preference if I live there. I can see what you mean it's happening in the UK as well. An individual on the right says something that's genuinely offensive and then someone on the left waaaaay over-corrects and then they just rebound off each other to see who wins - the offensive or the offended.

"yea it stinks. Someone does something wrong and then someone calls them out on it and then its a debate to see who did something wrong, the person who did something wrong or the person who didnt like it"

[Illuminance]

Democrats in the U.S are already moderate by any standard. You'll only find a significant number of Left extremists in European countries.

The U.S. has plenty. Start with college campuses :P

[Heladys]

There can be no moderates when the other side has embraced nazis.

[Adam Jensen]

No.

There's one side that went off the deep end (the far right) and one side that's always been fairly moderate (as a majority) who are seen as the "far left" by the nutjobs on the right that went off the deep end.

Moderates are still here, it's just the far right has skewed the spectrum so much that moderates are now somehow far left, in their minds.

[Ryme]

I enjoy how every meme on this subject portrays the "far left" as just a typical modern liberal, whilst contrasting them with an extreme "far right" example... Ignoring that there are actual fringe left elements in this country that are legitimately retarded.

Every time lol

[Deleted]

You simply don't hear from the moderate people.

The crazy extreme right- and leftwing nut cases, even though small in number, are making a lot of noise and the media constantly gives them all their attention which gives a twisted impression of the world today.

[Lahis]

I'm a moderate.

The extremists are putting on a good show. I am a little nervous about all the guns out there, the alt-right being big gun freaks. One of these demonstration-counter demonstration things is going to turn into a blood bath.

It's not a question of "if" but "when".

Whoever shoots first, "loses". Unless both sides join the firefight then and there, only one side started murdering people with weapons.

[Frogguh]

No.

There's one side that went off the deep end (the far right) and one side that's always been fairly moderate (as a majority) who are seen as the "far left" by the nutjobs on the right that went off the deep end.

Moderates are still here, it's just the far right has skewed the spectrum so much that moderates are now somehow far left, in their minds.

Or, to be accurate, there are far-left nutjobs, such as people who think the far-left nutjobs are fairly moderate.

[Priestiality]

are you for against freedom of speech?

Weird that Germany somehow manages to still have free speech without allowing literal Nazi symbolism in their streets. Maybe because they're disgusted by their past instead of proud of it.

[I Push Buttons]

There can be no moderates when the other side has embraced nazis.

Every Republican but Trump has denounced the fringe right. Hell even Steve Bannon, the patron saint of the alt-right, is in the news calling white supremacists retards...

This is why the fringe left is so retarded... You are literally arguing that moderates support Nazis via cursory support of some right wing policies, all while the actual right wing entirely denounces neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

[Astalnar]

Or they decided to be centrists. Might not be part of the American logic, but centrism does exist, Europe is full of centrist governments.

But the American parties are both right wings compared to many European centrist parties, so yeah.

I agree that centrist and moderate is not one and the same. But I doubt Europe has any real centrist government (talking from experience here). They might call themselves centre-left or centre-right, but that's like me painting some stripes over a dog and calling it a tiger.

[Doctor Amadeus]

well said. same as my post. We COULD have polite political debate between two sides. In an alternate universe we could be talking about how much income a family needs before it disqualifies itself from free college. But because of moderates we literally are having to talk about how "nazis are bad"

Or the Moon Landing, or fucking Lizard People or if the Earth is Flat.

Seriously, my life and nobody else's is made better or enriched by engaging in these lunatics. ZERO NONE.

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Except that he is right, moderates are the target of both extremes.

Moderates are targets because they come off as pretentious assholes who give way too much a damn about their own opinion on issues that they make it clear they either don't give a shit about or go either way.

[Tiravi]

"yea it stinks. Someone does something wrong and then someone calls them out on it and then its a debate to see who did something wrong, the person who did something wrong or the person who didnt like it"

Perhaps I should have been clearer. I did not condone the original act. I thought referring to it as 'genuinely offensive' would make that point for me. Condemn hate speech all day long just as long as what you are condemning is actual hate speech. 'Man who happens to be of ethnicity X convicted of this particular crime based on evidence.' - not racism.

[Adam Jensen]

Or, to be accurate, there are far-left nutjobs, such as people who think the far-left nutjobs are fairly moderate.

And most of those "far left nutjobs" are just tumblrists ranting on the internet, who can be ignored.

[I Push Buttons]

And most of those "far left nutjobs" are just tumblrists ranting on the internet, who can be ignored.

*looks at the various BLM and Antifa riots in the last couple years*

Indeed.

[Underverse]

There can be no moderates when the other side has embraced nazis.

No.

There's one side that went off the deep end (the far right) and one side that's always been fairly moderate (as a majority) who are seen as the "far left" by the nutjobs on the right that went off the deep end.

Moderates are still here, it's just the far right has skewed the spectrum so much that moderates are now somehow far left, in their minds.

These are not accurate statements. There is a radical, regressive 'left', namely the one that holds many similar beliefs to the far right, just directed at different groups of people. There have been tons of false equivalencies in this thread, and they're all aimed at justifying extremism to fight extremism. But guess what? You don't need extremism to fight extremism. In fact, in some ways it makes you worse, because you should know better. All extremism does is push more people away.

[Alydael]

Are there any left in the United States or has everybody been forced to pick an extreme side? A

Are there still people out there that research candidates based on their records and not their political affiliation?

What about people that think the government can be more fiscally conservative AND also be socially liberal?

Do people think for themselves any more or do they just look up whether a person is a Republican or Democrat before deciding to agree or disagree with them?

Please tell me I'm not the only person concerned that our government and media are being overtaken by extremes on BOTH the left AND the right?

I have been concerned about it and have been criticizing the parties (Dem and Pubs) about it for years.

I feel that the parties are purposefully dividing our country to extreme sides and then they just hope enough of their sides votes (get out that vote! energize the base!) so that they can win. They don't even bother concealing it.

I think, for their to be real progress in our country, that the parties have to go. They have had decades (maybe even longer) to enact their "vision."

Well, we have seen their "vision"- just look around you and look at the 2016 campaigns. I don't like their "vision" for our country and think we can do much better.

Just think about the end game for each party. For each party- they want to get as much as their candidates elected (all of them- if possible).

Now if one party achieves that- where does that leave us? With one party, one "vision" in control of all house of government- able to ignore the "checks and balances" built into our government to protect us. Who in their right mind would vote for that? Sounds an awful lot like fascism to me.

As for do people think for themselves- most of them don't. They just tow the party line. If you engage in a debate with them- they just regurgitate the "talking points" of the day. It is like debating a robot that just repeats a litany of talking points all day.

I reject all of that. I believe that people don't have to be divided, that they can come together. I also believe that although we do have our differences- we can come together and compromise on the major issues. For instance- when it comes to healthcare (something that is life or death important for many), maybe we could have a government where our officials sat down together and worked out a bill that was best for all instead of fighting about it like children.

I believe in our people, not our "leadership (if you can even call it that)." I also believe that as long as we have the Dems and Pubs- we will have what we have now, after all- we are living in their "vision" right now.

[Deleted]

Threads like this are the reason I keep popcorn around.

[Underverse]

Every Republican but Trump has denounced the fringe right. Hell even Steve Bannon, the patron saint of the alt-right, is in the news calling white supremacists retards...

This is why the fringe left is so retarded... You are literally arguing that moderates support Nazis via cursory support of some right wing policies, all while the actual right wing entirely denounces neo-Nazis and white supremacists.

To be fair, Trump failing to denounce them is not insignificant. He's the President, after all. People didn't vote for Bannon, they voted for Trump. And Trump holds much more influence over those voters.

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I have been concerned about it and have been criticizing the parties (Dem and Pubs) about it for years.

I feel that the parties are purposefully dividing our country to extreme sides and then they just hope enough of their sides votes (get out that vote! energize the base!) so that they can win. They don't even bother concealing it.

I think, for their to be real progress in our country, that the parties have to go. They have had decades (maybe even longer) to enact their "vision."

Well, we have seen their "vision"- just look around you and look at the 2016 campaigns. I don't like their "vision" for our country and think we can do much better.

Just think about the end game for each party. For each party- they want to get as much as their candidates elected (all of them- if possible).

Now if one party achieves that- where does that leave us? With one party, one "vision" in control of all house of government- able to ignore the "checks and balances" built into our government to protect us. Who in their right mind would vote for that? Sounds an awful lot like fascism to me.

As for do people think for themselves- most of them don't. They just tow the party line. If you engage in a debate with them- they just regurgitate the "talking points" of the day. It is like debating a robot that just repeats a litany of talking points all day.

I reject all of that. I believe that people don't have to be divided, that they can come together. I also believe that although we do have our differences- we can come together and compromise on the major issues. For instance- when it comes to healthcare (something that is life or death important for many), maybe we could have a government where our officials sat down together and worked out a bill that was best for all instead of fighting about it like children.

I believe in our people, not our "leadership (if you can even call it that)." I also believe that as long as we have the Dems and Pubs- we will have what we have now, after all- we are living in their "vision" right now.

How does a country come together when you have people like Steve Bannon riling up white supremacists with strategic reporting just to get a massive inflammatory reaction from the left that makes them look bad so Bannon and co can win elections?

[Doctor Amadeus]

Are you drunk? This seems to be 4 different ideas merged into one post and none of it applies to what i said.

No, see that is an over all sense of flow, being able to separate different ideas, without automatically leaping to the conclusions on something else because you didn't see a fucking period or you didn't and nothing in YOUR head told you to stop.

Read what is being written as if you were actually attempting to have a conversation.

I am talking about equating over all obvious observations and trying to merge them into an opinion backed by shitty or no logic and almost no pattern or sense, and that really is important when you have people that can tell you all day about theory as it pertains to what they learned on the interwebs.

But can't really honestly distinguish between two ideas, one being that of an opinion, the other being proclamation or a directive.


You can NEVER be wrong if you like Chocolate and I like Vanilla, and there can be no argument with that.


However fundamental issues concerning how we treat members of our society who are born NOT like everyone else, really isn't "well we will agree to disagree" No WE DON'T.

Period if you hate people because of the color of their skin, their gender, or orientation and have decided for yourself who these people are and what they should or should be doing, based n how they were born as opposed to what YOU CHOOSE for them based on your opinion despite the over whelming fact these are fucking people. Whether you agree or are indifferent.

No, there should be no place for you, in reality on this earth let alone in public spaces, but I don't control that, but I would be damned if I am told to tolerate someone who's primary mission in life is not to because of how they believe, and who other people simply are biologically.

As for anybody saying well you are extreme in the center, or moderate too fucking right.