Monday, October 17, 2022

Hey, guess what? I'm an enlightened centrist on social justice issues

 So, I've come across some wokeism related quizzes lately, and I just wanted to share some of the results. I won't go over every question here because those take a lot of time and this is more of a blurb, but the first quiz I took was on Parlia, and I got a literal 50 out of a score of 100. To go more in the details of my sub scores:

Race: 37

Gender/Sexuality: 67

Feminism: 55

Colonialism: 45

Free Speech: 32

Identity politics: 62

I was especially unwoke on free speech/deplatforming issues because, guess what, I support free speech and not deplatforming people. And on race, I was low because there was a lot of emphasis on stuff like cultural appropriation (which I think is a BS term, especially given it clearly only goes one way), affirmative action (against), and whether white people can suffer from racism (it literally depends on the definition of the term). 

On the other hand, I was especially woke on gender/sexuality issues, which focused on stuff like sex vs gender (there is a difference), trans rights (mostly support), gay parenting (cool, go ahead), and who counts as a man or a woman (probably a little less woke here, but you can do what you want regardless of my opinion). Also on "identity politics" or intersectionality, which seems to focus on more a color blind mentality toward identity issues, supporting rights for all, and whether I accept things like whether critical theory is valid. 

None of my results seemed particularly extreme. Sometimes I agree with the "woke" agenda and sometimes I don't. This should not be surprising given I dunk on both the left and the right here. More the left on here because I'm more geared toward keeping my own side honest while largely dismissing the right as "not even worth engaging with", but yeah. My lowest score was a 32 and my highest was a 67, and my average was a literal 50. That's about as middle of the road as you can get. 

Test 2 was on idrlabs, where I've taken plenty of tests before, and seemed to focus more on transgenderism in general, a very hot button issue as of late. The person posting it complained it was literally impossible not to get the conservative result, but he got the conservative result for being...conservative. I got 51-49 in favor of progressivism, once again as middle of the road as you can get. Sometimes I agree with the left on these issues, mostly in terms of freedom. You're free to do as you want, society should accommodate you within reason to live as you want, and I do think a lot of nuance exists. But then when it comes to questions more related to whether I accept dogmas like "trans men/women are real men/women" and stuff like that...I'm a bit more conservative. I know that the left loves to lay these dogmas on thick and act like you're a bigot if you aren't 100% in lockstep with them, but uh...I think trans people are just...trans. I don't treat them EXACTLY as I would someone born in that sex all the time because that would include adding them to my dating pool (some wokies literally think you're a bigot if you wouldn't date a trans person), I think the science is out on the all important "sports" question, and I really don't like the idea of forcing INDIVIDUALS to accommodate trans people more than they're comfortable with. I believe everyone has a right to live as they want, I think society should be structured to support that freedom to the greatest extent possible, but I dont believe in forcing individuals to believe certain things or accommodate people in a non systemic way. 

That said, I got middle of the road, again. It's a common trend with me. I mean, I used to be far right on a lot of these issues, but as I shifted left, I shifted left in the pre 2016 environment before wokeism as we know it today was mainstream. I had SOME woke attitudes, but I can't keep up with the extremes these guys push, or go with the dogmas they impose on people. I support the idea that everyone should be able to exist, as they are, without forcing them to do things (within reason). I believe everyone has a right to pursue their own happiness. I believe that society should be structured to give people the freedom to pursue their own happiness, rather than trying to force a one size fits all option on everyone. I believe the right is generally wrong on social issues because they're authoritarian and dont respect that right, wanting to impose their one size fits all modern of society on everyone. But the left ruffles my feathers to because they've become this weird creepy mirror image of the right where instead of Jesus it's wokeness, and they want to force their ideas on society too. I just want everyone to live as they want and get along. Sometimes that makes me woke, but sometimes it makes me an opponent to wokeism.

And this is why I feel like a fish out of water post 2016. The current political environment doesn't serve me. The left ignores issues important to me while screaming at me to check my privilege, and the right is as authoritarian and intolerant of others as it always is. If anything they've gotten WORSE. I notice I now look at a lot of 1980-2008 era conservatives with a certain level of nostalgia due to their relative sanity and it kind of disgusts me. I dont like those guys either, but they were at least better than the tea party and MAGA whackos who have taken over the GOP since. Sadly, those are the kinds of people who run forward now in conjunction with yang, which...I find quite disappointing for a variety of reasons. But yeah. Long story short, my politics on social issues are like the likes of a late 2000s or early 2010s liberal, many of whom have long fallen out of style in favor of the left's own version of extremism.

I guess...I just dislike extremism on social issues. I long for a simpler time when it was acceptable on the left just to want to live and let live and allow others to do what they want and we do what we want. Maybe I don't support every doctrine of the far left. I mean, look at how Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Bill Maher have all been cancelled lately for a variety of reasons. But....let's face it, those are the kinds of people who shaped my worldview after I left christianity. Is it any wonder I represent their once dominant and now niche form of social liberalism?

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