A long time ago I was a centrist out a desire to be moderate and accepting and all that good stuff...

A long time ago I was a centrist out a desire to be moderate and accepting and all that good stuff, and because I didn't know much to base a political leaning on.

After that I had left leanings for a long time, because of how it was advantageous to my family, and because of on-line acquaintances and, well, because of TV, specifically various Comedy Central shows.

A few years ago a preponderance of sources that I trusted seemed more angry and less willing to compromise or take the other side seriously or sometimes even have a real conversation about left-right issues, and that pushed me toward the center. A year or three later I met someone who, after a while, started linking me right-leaning articles that made a lot of sense, and that pushed me further to the center, as did the realization (which I'd suspected already) that the stereotypes of the right that are spread by the left are often wrong.

Over time, the articles this guy linked made less and less sense (but still had a point or two to make, usually) and became screeds against the left and pleas for a return to how things should be and all that jazz. (As often as not these were more about social issues but still brought politics in, often by saying these issues were the fault of people on the left.) That made me see that, actually, those stereotypes about the right are often true– but as they went off the rails, these articles had more and more things to say about the left, and more negative stereotypes to bring up, and I saw how often those were also true.

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So here I am, a centrist again by way of disgust and disassociation, but also because I cannot, in good conscience, refute certain ideals on the left, the right, and even the libertarian side.

I took that one popular graph quiz a few weeks ago and it put me at like -2.5 and -2.5, or a little left and a little libertarian, but I'm not sure how well that represents me because there were a few issues I don't feel I know enough about or I legitimately do not care about, and some I would've liked to legitimately give a neutral response to (as opposed to most of them where I'd like to give one out of principle). Certain leftist principles are still good for my family's well-being, so I don't intend to let go of those.

I've been thinking lately about how there's another axis and it seems to be more relevant in the modern US and much of the modern world– one that runs from liberal to conservative. People often conflate this with left and right, or sometimes with libertarian and authoritarian or a combination of those axes, but it really seems like its own thing to me. If I absolutely had to make a choice I'd say I lean more liberal, because I think things can always get better and experimentation is important (and I am a bit of a bleeding heart, wanting to save the world and so on), but I do recognize that keeping the status quo is often the safest thing, not to mention being cheap and comfortable. That recognition puts me in or at least near the center again.

So I ask you: What am I? What are you? What should we strive to be?

Do you think the workers should be the owners of their workplace? have you accepter lord marx into your life?

Moderate, marxist, communists.

Thank you for visiting Holla Forums. Not sure how you came to the conclusion that the conservative/liberal axis created in america is in any way good. Axis and compasses are generally pretty retarded.

You are your fixed Ideas. You are whatever you hold sacred, be it good or bad. You are sometimes yourself too as well.

What are you? What should we strive to be?

Maybe try being yourself. but that's just a thought, some people are unable to accomplish that.

For who? For you? Or for those around you? Or for the world?

It's that it's good, it's that it exists, and it doesn't necessarily have the connotations and gradations that the average Americans would give it, and certainly not the same endpoints. All around the world I see fights that are more about conservative versus liberal than anything else. The Middle East is a good example, it's perpetually people who are conservative (or "conservative") being pitted against people who want to change things. Another example might be China, which seems iffy on how it wants to rule and make decisions, and has the baggage of Confucianism, which teaches conservatism by means of inaction and being happy with the way things are (which is a description that definitely doesn't do it justice but is true enough when it comes to changing major things).
There's also still the question of what you (or more relevantly, I) should strive to be, independent of what you are currently.

You could not be more wrong, but im going to bed now, its 1:30 am

Why should Holla Forums tell you what you should strive to be independent of Leftism? This is a Leftist board and our interests are in educating, spreading, and propagating Leftism. It seems obvious that we hope you would want to be a Leftist like us. The bias is obvious, and you'll never find a truly neutral answer.

Furthermore, I think that you have a vary narrow, historical way of looking at things. As someone who has lived in mainland China for an extended period of time, I can tell you almost certainly that it isn't uncertain about how it wants to rule.

The bourgeois upper-class of the Communist party seem interested in propagating a Capitalist mentality that will serve them. They rely on foreign corporations and investors to create their infrastructure for them, which is constructed by the lowest bidder.

Furthermore, Confucianism has been almost abandoned beyond traditional Chinese culture. While many marriages might be arranged, and that might be tradition, it's not because of the legacy of Confucianism, it's because of their relation to capital.

In a way, Confucianism is like the Protestant work ethic: It is kept alive by the bourgeois in order to encourage the lower classes to obey, even when they're being payed starvation wages.

well I asked this elsewhere too
that was about what I thought

IDK, I guess I was hoping someone would have something to say on the liberal/conservative thing, or give me some reasons for being one way or another without being all mad and shouty or throwing people under the bus (or directly at the bus)