The Lunatic Centre

[wayneL]

Ok admitted the title is partly clickbait. But increasingly both the extremist left and right see the other as extremist from their own point of view.

Indeed my client I sometimes mention here, and an Economist professor... Well, we had a discussion on this this morning.

He is of course a little bit left of centre and I of course am a little bit right-of-centre. But we both take pride in that we can have reasonable discussions about issues without getting stupid, even though we often agree to disagree they are some of the most satisfying discussions that I have.

Anyhoooo, it left me wondering what it is that we consider extreme?

What ideology is extreme left? What ideology is extreme right? What encompasses a relatively centrist viewpoint? Where can the centre left and the centre right come together and agree, while excluding the extremes of both sides? Where can we agree that we are not that far apart?

Where the hell can we agree on a sensible compromise for the benefit of all Australians?

 

[SirRumpole]

First there are two subgroups of political thought, economic and social.

Economic Left = more government control of the economy, business.
Economic Right = less government control of the economy, more private enterprise
Social Left = looking after each other, more welfare
Social Right = looking after oneself, lower taxes, less welfare, survival of the fittest (or fattest).

Frankly I think reasonable people should be able to agree on how things should be done if they forget ideology, look at the problems that need to be solved, look critically at all proposed solutions and weigh them up based on evidence (eg have the ideas worked before in other parts of the world perhaps).

Ideology is the enemy of progress.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Ok admitted the title is partly clickbait. But increasingly both the extremist left and right see the other as extremist from their own point of view.

Indeed my client I sometimes mention here, and an Economist professor... Well, we had a discussion on this this morning.

He is of course a little bit left of centre and I of course am a little bit right-of-centre. But we both take pride in that we can have reasonable discussions about issues without getting stupid, even though we often agree to disagree they are some of the most satisfying discussions that I have.

Anyhoooo, it left me wondering what it is that we consider extreme?

What ideology is extreme left? What ideology is extreme right? What encompasses a relatively centrist viewpoint? Where can the centre left and the centre right come together and agree, while excluding the extremes of both sides? Where can we agree that we are not that far apart?

Where the hell can we agree on a sensible compromise for the benefit of all Australians?

Well you can strike @SirRumpole off the list of centrists.

He has been hoisted by his own petard.

gg

 

[SirRumpole]

Well you can strike @SirRumpole off the list of centrists.

He has been hoisted by his own petard.

gg

Please explain ?

How would you know what a centrist is anyway ?

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Please explain ?

How would you know what a centrist is anyway ?

I am at the Centre.

I know by reading what others write whether they are at the Centre or not.

gg

 

[moXJO]

I am at the Centre.

I know by reading what others write whether they are at the Centre or not.

gg

Is he a basket weaver, or pig whistler GG?

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Is he a basket weaver, or pig whistler GG?

Thank you for the question which is a very good one.

Speaking as a Centrist

I must say that @SirRumpole has elements of both.

gg

 

[wayneL]

I think it might be useful to pull on the skin of our opponents and see from their eyes.

Tough ask, it seems.

It has to be a two-way street.

If we don't find the middle ground, there will be civil war... That won't serve anyone well.

 

[SirRumpole]

Thank you for the question which is a very good one.

Speaking as a Centrist

I must say that @SirRumpole has elements of both.

gg

So , taking an average, puts me at the Centre, Right ?

 

[moXJO]

So , taking an average, puts me at the Centre, Right ?

Authoritarian left.

 

[SirRumpole]

Authoritarian left.

If you say so.

A good thread ruined.

 

[PZ.]

If centre is looked upon as an average of all ideologies it will always be distorted by extremes.

That's why I consider myself as "mixed" instead

 

[Knobby22]

If you are centrist you look at the issues.
You ignore the continuous falsehoods and whipped up controversy by outside forces designed to install rage and make you hate the opposite end.

Its purpose is designed to pull you into one line or another based on your psychology and limit your behavior. Become what I call the unthinking left or right. Trained to have a Pavlovian rage response to any issue or person. Trained to hate. Trained like a dog.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

If you are centrist you look at the issues.
You ignore the continuous falsehoods and whipped up controversy by outside forces designed to install rage and make you hate the opposite end.

Its purpose is designed to pull you into one line or another based on your psychology and limit your behavior. Become what I call the unthinking left or right. Trained to have a Pavlovian rage response to any issue or person. Trained to hate. Trained like a dog.

I am in total agreement.

To quote one of the great philosophers Groucho Marx, who as well as being a great humourist was also a great aphoristic philosopher.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."

gg

 

[explod]

This topic reminds me of Malcolm Fraser. In the sixties was on the right side of politics, in his last years on the left and became a supporter of the Greens. He had great vision. We lived in his electorate in the sixties and my Dad loved the way he would visit the local hotels and not only talk with the farmers but the shearers also. Then the ground level got their message onto the floor of Parliament.

So can one really define it today. Yes, "it's the money Ralf"

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

This topic reminds me of Malcolm Fraser. In the sixties was on the right side of politics, in his last years on the left and became a supporter of the Greens. He had great vision. We lived in his electorate in the sixties and my Dad loved the way he would visit the local hotels and not only talk with the farmers but the shearers also. Then the ground level got their message onto the floor of Parliament.

So can one really define it today. Yes, "it's the money Ralf"

There is no doubt that life experience changes one's outlook and as long as one has the basics, the Centre beckons most people as they mature through life.

This is not to malign the young who traditionally took a left stance but increasingly are being challenged by the right, the 3rd or 4th generation poor, addicts and rogues.

And then again, out there be monsters and bogans of right and left, and couldn't give a crapville.

gg

 

[Dona Ferentes]

"Celui qui n’est pas républicain à vingt ans fait douter de la générosité de son âme; mais celui qui, après trente ans, persévère, fait douter de la rectitude de son esprit. "

 

[MovingAverage]

What ideology is extreme left? What ideology is extreme right?

For me personally I generally put those nut bags (on both the right and left side) who resort to extreme divisive measures to advance their beliefs on those that don't agree with them. Example, David Shoebridge recently coming out with a public vote of support for his little disciples that engaged in public and criminal acts of vandalism. At the other end of the spectrum we have someone like Fraser Anning who appallingly referred to the Final Solution in his maiden speech in parliament. This is just one of the many controversial public comments made by Anning aimed at driving further division and hatred.

 

[wayneL]

More and more I am seeing taking the centrist position as the most radical.

Why?

Because the centrist position is the most attacked by both the left and the right.

The centre is accused of being both Nazi and communist, both at the same time.. or at least wishy-washy and without conviction.

Yet the centre is where we can survive as a culture. Not by being acquiescent to foreign cultures, but by being resolutely reasonable and insisting that others are reasonable too.

That may mean being violently moderate.

Sort that one out 4ssholes!

 

[SirRumpole]

More and more I am seeing taking the centrist position as the most radical.

Why?

Because the centrist position is the most attacked by both the left and the right.

The centre is accused of being both Nazi and communist, both at the same time.. or at least wishy-washy and without conviction.

Yet the centre is where we can survive as a culture. Not by being acquiescent to foreign cultures, but by being resolutely reasonable and insisting that others are reasonable too.

That may mean being violently moderate.

Sort that one out 4ssholes!

I thought Malcolm Turnbull was a centrist, but a lot of people here think he was a commie.

Sort that one out !