I agree with most of what’s been posted but I have a slightly different theory. Libs have a pathological desire to be seen as wise and competent, the adults in the room. Therefore, when other people expect them to actually have a stance on a relatively complex issue with history they can’t bullshit through, they’ll resort to simple thought terminating cliches.
“They’re both bad” isn’t much different from “It’s complex”. Both have a silent implied “… So shut up and go away.”
Ding ding ding, this is my experience exactly. Not just because of all of the obvious times that liberals do it, but because I use to be one of them.
Okay a lot of us used to be, that isn’t special. But I’m in my mid 30s, I was a liberal up until 6 moths ago, as I started to learn what marxism, communism, and socialism, actually was.
This isn’t my life story, the point is I’ve spent the vast majority of my life in liberal culture, and yeah there is a lot of circle-jerking in the libsphere about being “wise and competent” as you put it. It always felt strangely good to “see both sides” and play the middle field. I also see both sides now, but I’m more… principled in my beliefs.
As a liberal I might have said “Hamas are terrorists, but also Israel has done bad things”. This is just playing the middle field, that’s it, it gets you away from a complicated conversation with a surface level ‘nuanced’ view, and most white middle class people accept that.
Nowadays I would say “Sure, both sides have done bad things, but Israel is the clear instigator in this matter, and Hamas is an understandable reaction to it, and frankly if your home was taken at gunpoint and your whole family was under settler colonial occupation and Apartheid, you’d probably be okay with killing the ‘civilians’ occupying your home too”. Which is so much more controversial, but also more correct, most people probably would be okay going to war under these circumstances. White middle class Usonians just have no concept of what it’s like to be oppressed. To them, it’s too easy to blame the victims being oppressed, because they’ll never have to face the same situation anyway.
I agree with most of what’s been posted but I have a slightly different theory. Libs have a pathological desire to be seen as wise and competent, the adults in the room. Therefore, when other people expect them to actually have a stance on a relatively complex issue with history they can’t bullshit through, they’ll resort to simple thought terminating cliches.
“They’re both bad” isn’t much different from “It’s complex”. Both have a silent implied “… So shut up and go away.”
Ding ding ding, this is my experience exactly. Not just because of all of the obvious times that liberals do it, but because I use to be one of them.
Okay a lot of us used to be, that isn’t special. But I’m in my mid 30s, I was a liberal up until 6 moths ago, as I started to learn what marxism, communism, and socialism, actually was.
This isn’t my life story, the point is I’ve spent the vast majority of my life in liberal culture, and yeah there is a lot of circle-jerking in the libsphere about being “wise and competent” as you put it. It always felt strangely good to “see both sides” and play the middle field. I also see both sides now, but I’m more… principled in my beliefs.
As a liberal I might have said “Hamas are terrorists, but also Israel has done bad things”. This is just playing the middle field, that’s it, it gets you away from a complicated conversation with a surface level ‘nuanced’ view, and most white middle class people accept that.
Nowadays I would say “Sure, both sides have done bad things, but Israel is the clear instigator in this matter, and Hamas is an understandable reaction to it, and frankly if your home was taken at gunpoint and your whole family was under settler colonial occupation and Apartheid, you’d probably be okay with killing the ‘civilians’ occupying your home too”. Which is so much more controversial, but also more correct, most people probably would be okay going to war under these circumstances. White middle class Usonians just have no concept of what it’s like to be oppressed. To them, it’s too easy to blame the victims being oppressed, because they’ll never have to face the same situation anyway.