I suspect most people vote based on how successful the strategists are. Cynic that I am, I doubt the vast majority of people will ever have any real knowledge of what is going on in politics and government. I am aware enough to know that the powers that be are only giving out the information they want to give out. Knowledge after all is power, and we wouldn't want the people to have too much of that would we.

It's crazy that they were portrayed as extreme left!

moderate = conartist

You may be onto something there.

What bothers me is that I see extremists using dirty tactics - sensationalized or misleading news, and outright fake news, none of which are ever going to foster cooperation or persuasion. I probably should have asked my question differently.

@itsmedammit
Propaganda is legal.

@Skeezwazzle It is. I wonder at what point might it be considered too dangerous to allow? Maybe people will start coming to their senses and get better at figuring out when they are being worked. I am distressed at the lack or critical thinking in our society.

Well, if you were paying attention, you would see we are on a "Politics" thread, so that would be, uh, politically moderate. What is is with you. Not the first time you were bitchy towards me. Did I say something to offend you?

@itsmedammit well duh, yes i got that, and i think my answer was appropriate to that. i am not being bitchy. i am expressing my true feelings and ideas about what you said; it has nothing to do with you personally. but yes, NOW you have said something to offend me, since you 1. pretend my answer was not political when it obviously was, and, worse, 2. call me bitchy for disagreeing with you. that's a bitchy thing to do and betrays your lack of ability to distinguish between ideas and personality. so guess what? i don't need bitchiness in my life. so goodbye to you.

g

I agree that the current residents are totally screwed up.

@irascible you hit all the “low” points

Not sure what you mean. I was just asking how people felt.

Is that the same as moderate?

Yeah I would be considered a moderate objectively speaking but compared to the 40% of our country that's gone full on nazi I am a flaming liberal and proud of it. Fuck this white nonsense. I aint sayin Im a communist but I been in the red all my life. Ida probably defected to russia by now if Fuckface VonClownstick hadnt made it look so uncool already.

@Closeted and that is exactly my point.

Ok, so the current characters are not caring for the country properly, but what about specific issues? Have you changed your opinion on health care or gun control or whatever?

@Closeted I've heard people say that there is no real thing as a moderate and that it really means left somehow.

@Closeted I, too, have found it more difficult to talk with conservative people these days.

Well..good point...but upon reflection I really have become extremist in that I attend protests, I march in the streets, I debate/argue on a daily basis, look down upon people who wear the repulsican badge, I tweet nasty things to donald on a daily basis and most extremist thing I do is support almost anything that is not donald trump. You know just like his extremist followers who support ANY and EVERYTHING he does and says. But yes your right, in reality my leanings are still moderate even though my actions could be classified extreme (for me anyway).

Moderate, meaning somewhere in the middle. Maybe left on some issues, right on others. Extremist is just what it says. I doubt you meant malaise (feeling sick). I's hate to think we take a position just for the sake of pissing people off. That wouldn't make any sense. Sometimes the right thing actually is boring. Just like the most boring news likely is the most accurate.

@itsmedammit I wasn't suggesting a position should be taken just to piss people off; only that if someone IS pissed off doesn't mean the position is a bad one. Or that you are responsible for the person's taking up offense about it.

My attitude towards moderation is that there's nothing inherently wrong about it but neither should it be a totemic thing we just reflexively do -- as you say, we might lean left or right on particular issues and that doesn't make us extremist. One can even lean left or right on most issues and not be an extremist. To me extremism is an overused pejorative -- true extremism is anarchy, totalitarianism, religion completely divorced from reality and mired in authoritarian, cultish thinking -- things of that nature.

Some things aren't even a question of moderation or extremism, but of inclusiveness vs tribalism.

I am not sure I support moderation as a separate virtue or goal if it means splitting everything down the middle even on an overall basis. It's too limiting. Some problems need bold solutions and risk-taking to move the needle. Not everything about society can move incrementally.

@mordant I guess I was thinking of moderation is the opposite of extremism. In our world today that seems to be manifested more in attitude than in stands on specific issues. Possibly incorrectly, I don't see moderation as compromise on everything. I see it more as not leaning a certain way on everything.

@itsmedammit I may actually be the one with the overly-literal interpretation of your usage of moderation. In terms of what you actually meant by the use of that term, I have no major malfunction with it. I have generally understood advocates of moderation to be implying that they are centrists between two extreme poles. But it probably doesn't mean that to everyone.

I agree that the current batch is awful.

I'm feeling better already.