Jump to navigation
Quote of the Day: The Second Myth of the Middle
R. Alex Whitlock
Yeah, yeah, I'm still on hiatus. But I've got a few moments as I've reached a temporary stopping point. Via
Kev I ran across
this article and I thought this quote was on the money:
Self-described moderate or independent voters also indicate they shifted for reasons other than a lock-step move to the middle of the ideological spectrum. In fact, it's not even clear "centrists" are a unified group. Research suggests these voters are among the most ill-informed, volatile, and unpredictable groups. They are also not ideologically homogeneous, but in many ways what University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter, speaking at a recent Pew Forum, called a "statistical phenomenon."
What ever would we do without these voters? They're not so much admirable pragmatists as avoidant, fickle-minded people most afraid of actual
ideas, liberal or conservative. Sometimes, and this may be one of those times, they are the true saviors of democracy.
One of my contrarian joys is puncturing holes in the fallacy of a united, socially liberal and economically conservative moderate consensus.
Posts will resume December 1. I may or may not respond to comments before then.
buy cheap softwarecheap softwareoem softwarecheap adobe acrobat
Observations
"One of my contrarian joys is puncturing holes in the fallacy of a united, socially liberal and economically conservative moderate consensus."
So one of your joys is debunking a position that nobody holds?
Ever think that maybe the positions those voters are afraid of most aren't "liberal or conservative" but just plain extremist? ... and from both sides? Last I checked, there's loads of people who sign up for good schools, great homes, and excellent infrastructure, yet were never informed that they were also supposed to be a culture warrior, immigrant-basher, abortion clinic protestor, or school textbook critic.
The fear of taking those particular sides isn't an indication of fickleness, so much as it is of sanity.
~ Greg
If your last name isn't Wythe, let me know. Otherwise, I've spent enough time on futile debate this month in the comment sections here and have other things to be doing.
[note: if anyone has looked in the past half-hour or so, you're not crazy and there was a response here until I figured out who I was probably talking to]
Add an Observation
Comment spam is an ongoing problems that we're trying to address. Previously we required people to create accounts and log in. I am thankful to say that is no longer the case. We're giving Captcha another try and are playing around with a text-based Q&A variant of Captcha. So bear with us as we try to figure out how to best get a handle ont he problem. Please note that any comment on a post more than 30 days old will go into the moderation queue, where I will get to it when I can which could be once a week.
