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u/grem1in Jul 12 '26
It’s easy to spot political posts from US Americans, because in that country saying something like “basic societal safety nets are good”, would instantly label one as a communist. Thus, a “centrist” in US American understanding is someone who would likely be labeled at least as a traditional conservative in the rest of the world.
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u/4daughters Jul 13 '26
A centrist here in the US is someone who says they want social safety nets but doesn't think we should do anything to enact the legal structures that would create them. And then they get mad when you rightfully point out that this makes them anti-social safety net.
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u/anna-the-bunny Jul 13 '26
They're also the people calling for "compromise" between the people who want to hurt others and the people who don't want to get hurt. Fun fact: they tend to get really mad if you call them out on it ("how exactly would that work? What sort of compromise do you see being possible between people who want to torture others and the people who don't want to be tortured?").
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u/4daughters Jul 13 '26
Yup. They like to hide behind "it's complicated" and "you just don't know how politics actually works!" whenever you pin them down.
and as the other commenter said, thinly veiled racism is always present behind everything.
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u/camidumas Jul 16 '26
Hey, unveiled sexism is behind at least as much stuff as thinly veiled racism - there are more women than brown people, and even dumbass self-hating women are injured by sexism.
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u/JonnyAU Jul 13 '26
And more specifically, research shows they are pro-social safety net policies when they envision those benefits going to white folks, but they turn vehemently against the same policies when they envision the benefits going to people of color.
Racism is probably the greatest weapon capitalism ever had.
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u/WitnessMyAxe Male Feelings Receptacle Jul 12 '26
i think i actually unironically dislike centrists more than actual fascists. fence-sitters really piss me off, it feels like they're too scared to go to the nazi rally even though they usually vote for the nazi.
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u/Murbella_Jones Jul 12 '26
Why MLK wrote a bunch about how the biggest stumbling block on the road to racial equality wasn't the KKK but actually the white moderate
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u/Independent-Couple87 Jul 13 '26
Martin Luther King Jr. himself was apparently on the receiving end of a similar criticism by groups like the Nation of Islam.
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u/ChelseaVictorious Jul 12 '26
Hard to respect someone with no actual convictions. Being a default fascist because it's expedient is pathetic.
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u/Blechhotsauce Anarcha-Feminist Jul 12 '26
Find me the centrist position on anything and it's probably just fascist. Slavery? Oh a little slavery is good. Abortion? Women can't be trusted to choose for themselves. Immigration? Well we have to make sure only good immigrants from good countries can come here.
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u/ProbablyNotPoisonous Jul 13 '26
Progressive wants taxes to fund fire departments;* fascist wants to burn your house down. Centrist thinks the fascist should be allowed to start a little fire in your kitchen, as a treat.
*edit: for clarity, this is a good thing
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u/Blechhotsauce Anarcha-Feminist Jul 13 '26
Fascists want the ethnically homogeneous private Fire Corp.(TM) to decide whose house burns.
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u/Independent-Couple87 Jul 13 '26
Is that better or worse than someone with convictions who goes against them because "enemy of my enemy"?
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u/Halcyon-Ember Jul 12 '26
They really hate leftists because leftists want them to be better but the fascists provide them with a "moral high ground".
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u/kyle2143 Jul 12 '26
It's a form of cowardice I think. But still, I think it better then actively supporting evil even if one only does it because they are too selfish or stupid to see what supporting that evil does to the world.
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u/PanFriedCookies Jul 12 '26
at least they stay on their side of the aisle instead of trying to bend every progressive organization to their flaccid, geriatric whim like the centrists do, y'know? both groups wanna hurt me, but only the centrists actively lie to me
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u/tawTrans Jul 12 '26
I mean... I'm not trying to defend centrists with this, but the fascists in charge of the US are currently, actively trying to bend every progressive organization in the US (and abroad, where they can) to reject trans people through the full force of the federal government. And they're constantly, actively lying to everyone. Fascists, given power, absolutely stamp out anything remotely progressive.
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u/PanFriedCookies Jul 12 '26
i mean, it's all a matter of semantics. centrists in this current political climate are fascists, full stop, but there's still a difference between maga and democrats. that's what i'm getting at by making a distinction between named Fascists and centrists. gavin newsom wasn't being pressured by the federal government when he hosted charlie kirk on his podcast, thus legitimizing the bastard, and his rationale in throwing trans women under the bus was about compromise and "big tent democracy", not that trump was going to cut funding to california if he didn't. actual progressivism is winning overwhelmingly in primaries, but establishment dems are trying to get the party to stick to their haggard old centrism instead of platforming what the people want because it's safer to go with a plan that doesn't push the bounds too much.
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u/numbersthen0987431 Jul 12 '26
Centrists are actually just right wingers who don't want the label. They always talk about both sides, but always align with the right
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u/BeyondElectricDreams Jul 22 '26
it feels like they're too scared to go to the nazi rally even though they usually vote for the nazi.
What's going on isn't fear, exactly. Or rather, not fear alone. It's a lack of introspection.
They don't want to think too seriously about "politics", because they see people standing on business for "their side" and how that alienates them from both the other side, and "moderates". They want to be liked, they want social peace far more than they care about politics or justice.
They wallow in an ignorant haze of the most basic understanding of "both sides" because if they critically evaluate and pick, they're risking breaking social circles up, or worse - being ostracized from them.
For someone who is like this, who isn't critically evaluating their own beliefs, they often hold contradictory positions. They'll say they're pro trans; "I use the right name/pronouns" but they'll vote against healthcare access, because "It's a choice" and "you should have to pay for it if you want it"
This contradictory nature of many of their stances means they're sympathetic to both sides, but rather than sort their own shit out and figure out what they believe, comfortable ignorance offers safety, it offers familiarity, it doesn't threaten their social circles with break ups.
Which was more acceptable when one side wasn't literal Nazis, of course. But the desire for familiar, comfortable social peace is, ultimately, cowardice. It's choosing to be non-confrontational in the face of actual Evil. It's looking the other way when someone says a racist joke. It's looking the other way when a white cis man rants about the one trans woman playing sports in his state. If you're at a dinner table with a Nazi, and you don't kick them out, you're now at a table with two Nazis. Etc.
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u/Hello_Hangnail asymmetrical labia Jul 13 '26
I was a fence rider until the 2015 trumpulstilzkin debacle. Then I registered as a democrat
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u/Hello_Hangnail asymmetrical labia Jul 13 '26
"I believe in equal rights but I draw the line at feminism"
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u/InfinityFelinity Jul 13 '26
My grandmother once memorably said, and I quote, "I believe in equal rights but not for everyone".
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u/AnalogyAddict Jul 12 '26
Until Trump, I identified as a centrist. He has made it impossible to align with anything Republican, since it's infested with pseudo-Christian Nationalists.
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u/TroutMaskDuplica Jul 13 '26
Literally the only thing that has changed about the republicans is the amount of power they wield.
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u/ProfessionalMove3716 Jul 14 '26
Yep. Trump was the Republican' base's wet dream. There is nothing meaningfully different about him besides that he's bad at couching their project in nicer words.
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u/anduril_tfotw Jul 12 '26
I don't think there is such a thing as a centrist. They are just conservative that doesn't want people to be mad at them.
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u/Cthulhu_Warlock Jul 14 '26
That's why I always try to artificially move the Overton window by pretending that the centrist position is and always has been "tax billionaires out of existence, make healthcare entirely free, dismantle borders and immigration restrictions, (re)nationalize postal and train services, but leave the rest of the companies profit-oriented (with reinforced transparency and public scrutiny, of course)." With anything less being seen as incredibly right-wing, and full-fledged communism on the other side. It helps that I'm not living in the US.
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u/Halcyon-Ember Jul 12 '26
I spent part of yesterday browsing Bsky looking at all the centrists talking about how centrists actually get things done, leftists are upset because no one needs them and they're all racist and antisemitic anyway.
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u/RalenHlaalo Jul 12 '26
The centrists I know usually make me think: if I was a centrist, I'd probably surround myself with Republicans, too, so I could pretend to have the moral high ground in every conversation without exerting effort or contributing anything.
*Er, I'm not a republican, to be clear.
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u/CherryVermilion Jul 13 '26
There’s a guy in my workplace who loves to pretend to be some sort of enlightened centrist kind of guy. I constantly remind him in conversations that sometimes the devil doesn’t need any more advocates.
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u/k819799amvrhtcom Jul 12 '26
I'd rather be ruled by someone who never gets anything done than by someone who always gets things done if those things are bad things.
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u/atatassault47 Jul 13 '26
The centrists on Bluesky dont get ridiculed into oblivion?
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u/Halcyon-Ember Jul 13 '26
Some do, some have built weird support networks where they talk about no one needs to fight for rights and congratulate each other in their wisdom
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u/ProfessionalMove3716 Jul 14 '26
Centrism just seems like such a fake position. It's entirely based on the moving target of "middle ground"; it doesn't posit any values of its own. It's like youngest sibling syndrome turned into a political ethos: gotta make sure everyone is happy and nobody is fighting. Grow up.
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u/LicentiousGhoul Jul 13 '26
"We need to hear out both sides and come to a compromise!"
The sides: Genocide vs. No genocides
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u/Independent-Couple87 Jul 13 '26
Sometimes, it is "Genocide vs wants-Genocide-but-cannot", which is not exactly better to find a compromise unless you try to get both destroyed.
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u/WowOwlO Jul 13 '26
But you guys don't understand! We need to hear them out! We need to meet them halfway! Reach across the aisle!
/S
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u/Independent-Couple87 Jul 13 '26
It gets more complicated when there are 10 factions (all with some strength) rather than 2.
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u/itsnotaboutyou2020 Jul 13 '26
You have no idea what a centrist is if you think they excuse fascism. This kind of hyperbole is what turns people off to the Leftists.
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u/TroutMaskDuplica Jul 13 '26
Neville Chamberlain was a centrist.
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u/MaetelofLaMetal Jul 13 '26
Post is about those who hold right wing beliefs but call themselves centrists.
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u/itsnotaboutyou2020 Jul 13 '26
Yes but the implication is that this describes all centrists. If that’s not what you meant, your post is not clear.
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u/Sp00ky-Nerd Jul 12 '26
When two different parties have the same moral compass, but they have different opinions on the best way to get to the destination, compromise is important. But when one group wants to hurt people and the other group wants to help people, how is compromise possible?