Being Centrist

Jachimike
Jachimike
Nov 7 · 6 min read
Photo by icon0.com from Pexels

Our desire to categorize in order to characterize is one of humanity’s interesting features. We have a supreme ability for pattern recognition and when one possesses a skill as powerful as this, honed through evolution over hundreds of thousands of years, it is unlikely that the possessor will focus this power on everything other than their own kind.

As human thought has evolved over the years, this ability to identify and analyze has made its appearance known. In everything from Christianity to Platonism, from Islam to Liberalism, we have repeatedly attempted to condense our beliefs, the complexity of our humanity, neatly into these catalogs and it is disheartening to see how we struggle so intensely in thse self-imposed prisons. It is clear that this system through which we label ourselves is untenable and yet it persists; here, you find many believing in things whose cores are in complete opposition to each other and further still, you find people who believe that two things are in opposition to each other (when they are in fact, not). What’s worse? We justify this.

Our world is exceedingly complex, and in many ways it mirrors the complexity of our species. However, much of this complexity is of our making, as though we relish in it. Even knowing that there is a natural complexity to our universe and our reality, we worsen it by attempting to distill ideas into chew-able soundbites for those who would like to understand but restrictions (both external and internal) prevent them from doing so. This is not necessarily bad, attempting to do that work for others where they cannot, but there must be a recognition that we have to work hard to truly understand the world’s problems in order to provide the solutions that will create the world we believe in.

The system we have now prevents this. Dogma is the order of the day and labels are the method through which we navigate the world. To be a conservative, one “must” believe certain things to be true regardless of whether or not it holds to be true or what the nature of our reality actually says. This is similar to the left, to capitalists, socialists, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, and so on. Political parties are not exempt from this and it appears that nothing is. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this, everything has a core, a central idea on which that thing is built and through which adherents make decisions. The problem is not this central idea, it is that we conflate the things that have been built on this central idea with the central idea itself.

Labels are an indisputable feature of human society. Without question, they are useful and certainly important. The problem, however, is that we seem to lack the will to understand what these labels actually mean. Centrism is not a rejection of a label for it too is a label. As a centrist, I hold certain ideals in the highest esteem and it is through these virtues that I hold myself and the society I have been born into. It also means that in the application of these virtues, in attempting to understand and find my place in this world, I must be as honest with myself and my society as possible, in the pursuit of truth (though I may never reach it). In order for me, the centrist, to take a position on every issue, I must be able to see that issue clearly. Because I am unbound to labels (capitalist, socialist, left, right, Christian, Muslim), I am forced to drill down on every issue as deeply as I can until I reach a point where I can go no further (Atheist, Democrat).

Knowing this, the difficulty and immense time necessary to engage in this, I understand why we so readily accept labels we do not understand. I, however, cannot do this. I am too acutely aware of my responsibility to myself and though it is perhaps exaggerated, all I can do is do the work. To me, that is what it means to be centrist. To examine everything on the basis of its own merits, through the lens of the things that form it and its external influences, and then decide what my position on that particular matter is. Any other method is, to me, inadequate and will lead to unnecessary additions of complexity. Technology has made this easier (although not easy), and cutting away distractions will allow me to invest more of my time in being better at this. I have failed many times in this, obviously. Failure is a feature, not a bug, of the human condition. But failure is simply a stepping stone for progress, even as we all inch towards the sweet embrace of death.

Centrism therefore is not moderation (in the manner that it is often used). It is extensive and methodical, painstaking as all things should be. The idea then that a centrist cannot be radical is hilariously myopic but certainly understandable. When people like Joe Biden are being referred to as centrists, I totally see why that external label has been placed on it. But it is nonsense. As a centrist, it is clear to me that our world is ferociously flawed and the systems that underpin our reality must either be destroyed and remade where their flaws are inherent to the ideas themselves (we count patriarchy, racism, tribalism among these) or they must be remolded based on the destruction of the aforementioned systems that cause them to be broken (capitalism, democracy, socialism rest here).

It smacks of a general mental laziness that prevents many of us from displaying the full range of our clearly immense natural intelligence when we say certain things. Nigerians generally pursue a messiah figure to rid them of their ills. It is the easy method, the one that allows us to kickback, relax and allow Moses lead us to the promise land. It has also gotten us a regressive President and perhaps the worst economic and social landscape since…the same President was in power. This mental laziness and a lack of diligence rears its head when we discuss the nature of our society and how progress can be made. The ease with which we slip into labels [or criticize labels] without understanding what these labels actually mean is fascinating.

Why, for example, do people rip at the idea of religion so much? I have seen it often done, especially on social media, that most holy of places. We seem unable to separate the idea of religion from the practice of it. We have a tendency to talk about things as though we were talking about their nature when we are in fact talking about the practitioners. So we say that religion is the worst thing to ever happen to human society (arguable) but somehow extrapolate this to mean that religion is inherently bad. So many of us (of course, I am not exempt) criticize Christianity (as is practiced i.e. criticizing Christians) and then extrapolate that the idea of Christianity is itself inherently bad. It is easy to make this error especially when you are constrained to ferocious battles of 240 characters but this ease is not an excuse if we are to be honest in our critique and condemnation.

Make no mistake, there is absolutely nothing wrong with criticizing a group in its totality (for example, critiques of men and of women are perfectly valid if they are true) but to interpret behavior of adherents as critique of the idea itself is, I think, a critical flaw in reasoning and a red flag of disingenuity. This tendency to be inflexible in our ideologies and labels, filtering our minds and thoughts through them causes us to embrace stupidity, reading meanings in a way that otherwise we might not.

Being centrist forces you to work a bit harder. Like anything else, it is not something you can simply become, failures will be numerous but I think there is a diligence required to understand the world as it truly is in order to work towards making your own contribution to how it ought to be.

As a centrist, I am steeped in reality, I must be; to attempt to contribute to change without an understanding of not just how the world is the way it is but why it is? I think this is harmful not just to myself but to the society I even claim to want to help. Centrism demands that there is first a recognition that you are as broken as the society you purport to help and your first responsibility is to work on yourself, to better your body and your mind because marathons demand that diligence. Lodged firmly in reality, a course towards progress can then be charted, optimistic in our chances and navigating how to get from where we are to where would like to be. It is painstaking, and perhaps lacks the sensationalist nature of dogma but that’s okay, I have faith.

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