then went in with the notion that since they were leftists and have read some theory or other, then everyone disagreeing with them is, at best, uneducated/unknowing
One of the biggest downsides to the “don’t talk to them, dunk on them” approach to dealing with chuds is that it’s easy to fall into the same pattern when disagreeing with other leftists. It’s also easy to dig in on that approach if someone points out you’re being an ass to people who are on your side, which often leads to the extremely productive “oh well if they disagree on [increasingly irrelevant dispute] they’re no comrade of mine.”
With the other leftist critic here is that I felt people where not willing to engage in the “both sides are right/wrong” thing because they’re used to centrism being a right wing option, this is not really a political problem unless you go deeply into systematic reasons, it’s a relationship issue.
And not even that they both have to be right, but that they both could be. Not even that really, because people seem to agree that he overreacted, but just that they understand how he interpreted it as he did.
I think you’re right that people have a reflexive apprehension towards anything that strikes them as “centrist”. It’s a good way to put it.
One of the biggest downsides to the “don’t talk to them, dunk on them” approach to dealing with chuds is that it’s easy to fall into the same pattern when disagreeing with other leftists. It’s also easy to dig in on that approach if someone points out you’re being an ass to people who are on your side, which often leads to the extremely productive “oh well if they disagree on [increasingly irrelevant dispute] they’re no comrade of mine.”
With the other leftist critic here is that I felt people where not willing to engage in the “both sides are right/wrong” thing because they’re used to centrism being a right wing option, this is not really a political problem unless you go deeply into systematic reasons, it’s a relationship issue.
And not even that they both have to be right, but that they both could be. Not even that really, because people seem to agree that he overreacted, but just that they understand how he interpreted it as he did.
I think you’re right that people have a reflexive apprehension towards anything that strikes them as “centrist”. It’s a good way to put it.