I agree with some here that there's a difference between a fence sitter and someone who sees a path between extremes.
I will say that defining your position as being between two (or more) other positions is weaker than having your own position, but the centrist mindset can be valuable, in that it represents a willingness to reject dogma and peer pressure, and judge individual issues on their own merits. Besides, centrists are so universally maligned it probably takes some courage to identify as one.
Still, centrism can be nothing more than a cowardly lack of commitment, or a thoughtless, surface-level understanding of political issues.
So I suppose my opinion on centrism depends on where the centrism comes from - whether it's informed and principled centrism versus a lazy or cowardly take on Current Issue. The former is valuable, the latter is not.
"extreme" is a pejorative that is almost always defined as "someone who doesn't agree with me" and in modern times is defined as "someone who effectively resists the gay commie agenda"
I agree with some here that there's a difference between a fence sitter and someone who sees a path between extremes.
I will say that defining your position as being between two (or more) other positions is weaker than having your own position, but the centrist mindset can be valuable, in that it represents a willingness to reject dogma and peer pressure, and judge individual issues on their own merits. Besides, centrists are so universally maligned it probably takes some courage to identify as one.
Still, centrism can be nothing more than a cowardly lack of commitment, or a thoughtless, surface-level understanding of political issues.
So I suppose my opinion on centrism depends on where the centrism comes from - whether it's informed and principled centrism versus a lazy or cowardly take on Current Issue. The former is valuable, the latter is not.
"extreme" is a pejorative that is almost always defined as "someone who doesn't agree with me" and in modern times is defined as "someone who effectively resists the gay commie agenda"
Yes, but it's also a word to describe the opposing ends of a spectrum, which is pretty apt in this case.
nazism and communism are the same end of the spectrum, though.