A lot of the lowest-rung, easiest targets for ridicule are those who are very loudly, uncritically on one side of an argument or another. People who are of middling intelligence correctly identify this as an opportunity for themselves to demonstrate that they are very clever and superior by taking the piss out of the silliest of the left and the right. This leads to Enlightened Centrism™.
This works phenomenally well until they meet someone who has genuine convictions based on their own individual morals and rationale and not how they can differentiate themselves from others.
This is my own slightly bitter, slightly drunken, leftist rant. My own bitter POV is that Enlightened Centrism is a shortcut to smug emotional and intellectual superiority for those who can’t come up with their own convictions.
A lot of the lowest-rung, easiest targets for ridicule are those who are very loudly, uncritically on one side of an argument or another. People who are of middling intelligence correctly identify this as an opportunity for themselves to demonstrate that they are very clever and superior by taking the piss out of the silliest of the left and the right. This leads to Enlightened Centrism™.
This works phenomenally well until they meet someone who has genuine convictions based on their own individual morals and rationale and not how they can differentiate themselves from others.
This is my own slightly bitter, slightly drunken, leftist rant. My own bitter POV is that Enlightened Centrism is a shortcut to smug emotional and intellectual superiority for those who can’t come up with their own convictions.
It also reinforces privilege, so it’s a double feedback loop