Stuck in the Middle With You: Having Centrist Views in a Divided World
This shouldn’t need to be said, but: Life is not black and white. Many issues are nuanced. Opinions are shaped by peoples’ experiences, upbringing, and environment. No one will agree on everything (or should). And if someone disagrees with you, or says something that YOU disagree with, that is okay!
With the modern ability for billions of us to be able to share our opinions with the click of a button, nuance and critical thinking is more important than ever. And yet, blanket statements like “silence is violence” permeate social and traditional media. These sayings are often shouted (or typed lackadaisically) by frustrated individuals who have lost their locus of control and feel as though the only way they can get their power back is to attack anyone who they feel is not on their team. They do this in lockstep with everyone else on “their team”; pushing the issue of the day to prove their worth, lest someone believes that they are not fully committed to the cause. Their identities are wrapped up in moral outrage, and anyone who doesn’t share their outrage must be a villain because how else could someone possibly disagree with them? This is the result of generations being exposed to a slowly failing educational system and a heavy helping of propaganda.
People that base their entire identity off of their chosen political side have some how created a belief system that the world is black and white, and anyone whose beliefs fall outside of that binary system must simply be looking for reasons to disagree with them as a personal attack. In the art world, feedback, criticism, and open conversations is vital for creative growth. This modern political climate is killing creativity. Those on the extreme left and right sides of the political spectrum have sacrificed their understanding of nuance for indignation (although only one of those sides is actively trying to limit free speech and discourse…). It’s a dangerous way of thinking, exhausting to those around you, and honestly, is just a real freaking headache to everyone else trying to make sense of this insane world that we live in. It is also far too common in the arts world. Outsiders might think that artists and filmmakers would be the most open minded, and yet everything that I have seen since 2020 has proved the opposite.
In the 2000s, before we were constantly connected with smartphones and social media, most people kept their beliefs to themselves and ignored the issues that they didn’t care about. These days though, there is immense pressure to care (or pretend to care) about every issue happening at any moment. Those who align their identities with their political parties are determined to separate themselves from the other side, and make everything they do about their identity. Social archetypes have always existed (the hero, the joker, anime fans, horse girls…), but now these two sides are so divided and eager to distance themselves from the other, that every little thing about them is adopted to curry favor to their sides, while those of us who aren’t on their “teams” are forced to exist in a crumbling system. I am exhausted by combative and small-minded mentality, just as many of you reading this probably are too.
I think one of the reasons that I can see the grey in most situations is because I was taught that assumptions are bad (“When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me.”) while being fully-committed-without-question to either side requires assumptions. Unless you are an expert in a specific field, and are asked something that you have researched yourself, you need to assume that your team knows the most, and has the correct information, about an issue, because you as an individual likely know very little about it. When someone or something becomes ideologically driven, it is hard to trust them because they are biased and often ignore information that contradicts their argument. This is why formerly respected news organizations like the CBC have become an echo chamber of extreme ideas rather than a representation of what the country cares about.
I remember when George W Bush was mocked by people (I’m saying this as a Canadian) for saying that “If you’re not with us, you’re against us!” and then everyone laughed at him for changing the name of French fries to Freedom fries because France didn’t want to invade Iraq after 9/11. I am sure many of you remember this too. Except…
George W Bush DIDN’T coin the term freedom fries. According to my new best friend Bing AI, “the term freedom fries was created by a restaurant owner in North Carolina and was later adopted by some Republican members of Congress in 2003 as a protest against France’s opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.”
This is just one example of the lies that can spread when someone blindly believes something because it is what “their team” believes. The post-9/11 political left took every chance to make fun of Bush, while the political right lionized him. (Again, this is my perspective as a Canadian.) Eventually though, more shit happened around the world, as it always does, and everyone moved past Bush and freedom fries.
To hold centrist/non-partisan views is to accept your faults and admit that you don’t know everything. It’s the ability to weigh opinions and think critically. And it’s the ability to bite your tongue instead of yelling (or typing) insults at those on the “other” side. Being able to have open discourse is essential to art. If we can’t discuss difficult topics, then we will never find a middle ground, and nothing will ever improve (and we will be stuck with awful Hollywood remakes forever).
This is my long-winded way of announcing that I am launching a new lifestyle website, Haus of Fog. It’s for artists (or anyone else hungry for actual conversations), by artists. You might not agree with everything that we will post there, and that’s okay. If you don’t like us, please start your own website! The world needs more public nuanced voices.
To be notified when Haus of Fog launches, sign-up for our newsletter at hausoffog.com.
