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Let the overwhelming centrist majority in 1930's Germany tell you otherwise. People who peacefully ignore evil, even if it's preserve their own safety, are not good at heart. People just don't want trouble or disturbance, that's why people are naturally kind from day to day. But ignoring the piles of bodies while saying "no politics at the dinner table" is literally how the holocaust happened - the majority failed to act.
1930's Germany at least had the excuse of limited information/education, all they had was radio from which only Hitler's voice was present. 100 years later with the worlds knowledge at our fingertips, ignorance to politics is a choice. Might I say an evil one, all things considered.
I agree, people understimate the amount of assholes in the world
That's not a very generous interpretation of people... Though I can't exactly contradict you.
-MLK Jr. in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail
This depresses me beyond belief.
I've been lied to, gaslit, and blamed by my self-proclaimed "centrist" family my whole life, been called alarmist my whole life when i've been pointing at these very same things coming from a mile away. There are tons of others that did the same, at least alt-right MAGA freaks give you the time of day to argue. Centrists though? They're the first to say they "dont really care much about politics" yet hold their heads high with masturbatory egotism and confidently proclaim "both sides are wrong, I disagree with extremists of any kind." They're betting their childrens lives and future on their own malicious ignorance, like that joke with the priest who denies life saving medication because "Don't worry, God will take care of me," but replace God with the Markets and you have the modern day peasant that'll rat you out to soldiers for "heresy" and have you hung, disembowled, or burned at the stake. A person of self-interest is not a person of reason.
"Centrist" is often a word for unscrupulous fence-sitter... It's a shame you've experienced that. I despise self-proclaimed centrists as much as the next guy.
Do you think they are the majority, though? Maybe it's my echo-chambers, but that doesn't feel like it's the case. I'm not American, mind you.
Pretty much my entire family fit under this category, plus at least 75% of the people i've met in my entire life, including schoolmates and work colleagues. Of the 25% that are barely conscious, 80% of them are (somehow and unfortunately) MAGA while 20% have moved into a tiny home or cabin somewhere to grow their own food. The MAGA crowd are at least looking around going "wtf, workers need to seize the means of production" meanwhile the centrist liberals are the ones going "things would've been better with Hillary or Kamala."
MAGA, those voting for a privatizing fascist cutting taxes for the rich working with the richest people in the world to further the goals of the owner-class, are looking around going "wtf, workers need to seize the means of production?" Are you sure?
I can't tell if you're joking...
Yeah, those MAGA. The ones you typically see on youtube videos or twitter aren't your average MAGA supporter, if you actually talk to one and ask them what they want, they start going off on things that even the most far-left Star Trek commie eutopianist could agree with, only to right at the end blame "the libtards!" or "DEI" or "immigrants" etc. They're uneducated, they're seeing things aren't good and rightfully so, but they're tricked into scapegoating before coming to the right conclusions.
Centrists? They say "You shouldn't pay attention to these things."
Doubt I'll ever get the opportunity, but I'll take it if it presents itself.
Fuck...
If you do, don't push. Instead, pull. Ask them questions, ask them "What do you want at the end of the day?" "To get the illegals out!" "Yeah but why? What is that a step towards?" Fact checking doesn't work, lecturing doesn't work, understand that they know no better than you know better than them. At least then there's a fighting chance of having a conversation, seeing eachother as on the same side, and agreeing on who the real enemies are.
I'll take your advice to heart. Thank you :D
Good luck, it's not easy, study their common arguments and give it only so much benefit of the doubt in so far as there's a rational human being that has come to those conclusions. The ones who care enough to be swept up by populism are ironically some of the good ones, they're some of the biggest victims of fascists as well. The truely evil ones, the ones that keep fascism strong, are the ones who won't even engage in the discussion, who don't really care, who are "too busy taking care of myself to pay attention to politics," who donate xx.x% of their salary to charities but can't take 20 minutes to read Albert Einstein's "Why Socialism?"** or even less time reading the communist manifesto.**
** This is less an advertisement for socialism/communism so much as how lazy one must be not to be able to digest those small pieces of leftist perspective by people who claim to be "balanced" or "centrist" while being anti-communist and pro-capitalism.
All in all don't bother trying to have a discussion with centrists, they're the most hopeless and selfish people with no code, no morals, no higher belief, just "I'm a mechanistic robot chemical bag trying to survive, the world is a zero-sum game, I get mine and if you don't it's your fault."
That's just so bleak. Sorry, but I refuse to believe you.
Still, I do think many people can be swayed, and I need to work on my argumentation and persuasion... I do feel like, if people just take the time to read a little, to engage with politics on a level deeper than what the loudest voice screams on the news, they'll see that there's a way forward that doesn't have hatred of one's neighbor at its core.
I was with you until that last statement, I haven't met a single centrist that supported (voted for) Hillary or Kamala
I haven’t met a single centrist that ~~supported~~ (voted ~~for) Hillary or Kamala~~ let alone attended a protest or demonstration.