Darned right I'm an "enlightened centrist" in terms of left wing infighting

 So, a community I have been a part of the past few years has undergone a lot of drama in the past few months. Essentially, it's bifurcated between liberals and leftists. Leftists control the community moderation, and in time for election season made a rule against voter shaming. Now, I HATE voter shaming with a passion, so I considered this a good move. However, a few months later, the mods have kinda...gone mad with power. They did ban me a few weeks ago, but then I got unbanned. I documented that a few weeks back. 

But...the issue has gotten so bad that the liberals banned created their own subreddit version of the sub. And here I am, on both subs, and I really don't feel at home in either one any more. The leftist sub is just a circlejerk about how Biden is bad because of gaza and how they're not gonna vote for him, and discussion has gotten toxic because of overmoderation. After my first ban, I'm kind of scared to give my opinion on things. So I started spending more time on the more liberal subreddit, and honestly, this sub is full of the most obnoxious voter shaming jerks who the other sub threw out because they're basically blue maga psychopaths who think shaming people is an effective tactic.

Heck, to be blunt, both of these groups are so bad that they deserve each other. The leftist faction is a huge reason I post so much stuff crapping on Gaza protesters. Because these guys are pro shaming too, and they are some of the most toxic and obnoxious jerks if you don't just make gaza your #1 issue and your entire worldview. heck, that ban that I got was because I said that I think gaza protesters deserved to be arrested for occupying buildings and breaking the law. These guys think that because they're "moral" and they have a point to make that they can just do whatever they want, law be darned, and that I was wrong for saying that, because if I side with the cops, than I'm not a true leftist or something. Well, I'm not, I'm a social libertarian, or, put more simply, a socdem, and I am in between the liberal and leftist factions. Anyway, i got unbanned so I do post there, but I do use a lot more discretion and the ban has had a chilling effect on my ability and willingness to express my true views. Good thing I have a blog. 

As far as the other side goes...yeah, these guys have the same obnoxious shaming mindset of the free palestine people, but it's over voter shaming, and they think that they can just fricking shame people and how dare the other group ban them for it. And honestly? My honest thoughts? YOU'RE BOTH WRONG AND ACTING LIKE MENTAL CHILDREN! 

To the free palestine folks, while I understand the disgust toward the gaza situation, I can't for the life of me imagine making my whole worldview based off of that one purity test. To sound like a blue no matter whoer for a minute, "there's too much at stake" this election. For the love of God, donald trump is an existential threat to democracy and that's no exaggeration, he literally tried to overthrow the 2020 election results and install himself for a second term illegitimately. Even if he doesn't turn us into a right wing dictatorship similar to russia, his winning still represents an electoral shift which will be detrimental to the left to achieve future goals. The democratic party will move right, and the republican party will dominate the narrative. Again. And every election will just be more voter shaming nonsense while the GOP keeps pulling the country further and further right. We are literally in a fight for the life of the left in this country, and you're blowing it. Over gaza, a foreign policy issue half a world away that has little to no strategic value to the left. Is it worth it? No. And your obnoxious self righteous behavior in screaming at people they're war criminals or, in the case of non public figures, simply immoral for not thinking like them, is turning people away. You act shocked when crowd boo you and cheer when you're arrested, when in reality, you're being ###holes and you deserve it. That's why people cheer when you're hauled off to jail. You F around, and you find out, and people love to see the finding out part.

As for the blue no matter whoers, you guys suck too. You wanna know how many people voter shaming works on? To my knowledge, 0. I wanna make clear, no one shamed me away from third party voting toward voting for Biden, I made the shift of my own accord by analyzing the facts and reading the room. But you wanna know what happens when you shame people? You make them double down in their current positions. And they won't listen to you. If you really see us in a dangerous situation, you would realize this and focus on what works. Your self righteousness shifts no one. It pisses people off and makes the situation worse.

Sadly, in both situations, me pointing this out is often very disliked by both sides. They always tell me that it's my problem for being offended by what they say, and it isn't them that's the problem, it's me for not reacting well to their shrill self righteous screeds. In the leftist sense it's a response to the gaza stuff, and them not understanding how anyone could react to the protests and WANT to see people arrested after making jerks of themselves. For the centrists, it's them not understanding that their shaming behavior is less than effective and counterproductive. I even had one have the gall to call me a "reactionary" for it. They seem to take the whole "reaction" aspect a bit too far as reactionary seems to imply:

(of a person or a set of views) opposing political or social liberalization or reform.

 According to google. I'm not that but I do admit I'm an ex right winger. And I grew up HATING the left for their shrill self righteous behavior. I shifted left during the Obama years when this behavior particularly common. Once again, I made this shift of my own accord. I analyzed the situation we found ourselves in and had a dramatic transformation in my ideology. However, my attitude toward this behavior never changed. And I feel like if these guys were around in 2012 acting like this, I likely wouldn't have shifted left as easily. I don't think I'm the only one like this. I described recently how the protesters in the 1960s lost the country for a generation over their behavior. I've learned from history, and honestly? Having traced the fall of the new deal coalition and the rise of Reagan, I think most people are "reactionary" not necessarily in their views, but in their reaction to this shrill and self righteous approach to left wing politics. Most people HATE this stuff. And it seems like any time I try to argue people out of doing it, they just won't admit that it actually is terrible and offputting. They'll just say that they're right and it's my problem. 

Well, no, it's OUR problem. it's the country's problem. I'm just one person, and yes, I am an enlightened centrist who craps on both sides of this. And I'm not sorry. because I'm right and you're not. Because I studied history and learned from it, and you're repeating the same nonsense mistakes of the past. Sorry, not sorry.

And to these two sides, you guys deserve each other. Because when you argue with each other, you guys are just doing the same fricking thing to each other. Shaming behavior isn't effective, is it? To leftists, look at the blue no matter who people. Do they change your minds? Neither do you change theirs on gaza. To the liberals, look at the gaza protest voters. Does their shaming behavior endear you to them or change your views? Congrats, that's what you look like to them.I can say this as an impartial observer and "enlightened centrist". because I am enlightened, I am centrist in the sense that I'm in the middle between the two of you, and I hate both of you equally at this point. Screw you both. have fun arguing with each other while I take shots from both sides of the debate.