Aiming for Centre (Part 1)

The other day, I was asked by someone I work with where I sit on the political spectrum. My answer to him was that I see myself as a centrist who tries not to become identified with the often staunchly held ideological positions of the left or right. How accurate of a characterisation this is, is hard to tell because how one sees themselves sometimes does not reflect the reality of their positioning. Then there is also the complicating factor of not always seeing issues straight down the line, or sometimes leaning in ways to the left or right that might have an observer of one of your arguments about an issue generalise from that position that you are either a progressive or conservative.  

In the hyper-polarised age that we live in, particularly online, people can be very quick and eager to judge others in this way, and label them as members of their accepted in-group or oppositional out-group. Given our tribal nature as human beings, this proclivity for sorting people into these camps is somewhat understandable but it is also highly reductive and misleading, as more people than we would like to believe, hold complex and nuanced views that don’t neatly fit into a particular ideological framework. Of these people, questions remain where their allegiances lie, but even this is the wrong frame for analysis, for what is animating the positionality of these individuals is not the need or desire to belong to a group who thinks like them, but an earnest search for truth which is thought to be located in the more levelled middle ground between these extremes.

What really got me thinking about this topic over the past couple of weeks has been the responses in commentary I have observed to the Israel attack by Hamas on 7 October, which in some measure have been as wide as the divide that exists between the Israelis and Palestinians themselves. This is not to equate the actions of Hamas to the Palestinian people, or to fail to acknowledge the long and difficult history of the conflict in that region of the world. From what I have learned since the attacks took place, it is clear that each side has their own justified grievances for what has occurred at different points in time, which from a purely human standpoint is understandable. Leading to the tying of a knot of conflict that has become exceeding difficult to loosen, what is adding unhelpfully to the strengthening of the knot are those who feel ideologically or politically compelled to pick one side over the other.

While I do feel for the Palestinian people whose lives will be turned upside down and lost as the Israeli Defence Forces enter Gaza to root out the membership of Hamas, I have been disgusted to observe so much of the anti-Semitic sentiment that has been on display in the ‘Pro-Palestinian’ rallies around the world. A fair amount of this vitriol has even been spewed by figures on the left who view themselves as compassionate and ‘humane’ defenders of the oppressed, which in this conflict they see the Palestinians as representing. But by demonstrating on the streets so soon after the attack on Israel took place, they seem to have completely abandoned any basic human sympathies towards the initial victims who sustained some of the worst forms of violence and death imaginable. On the other side of the political divide, it has been equally as disheartening to hear some figures use the events as an opportunity to push an Islamophobic agenda that equates the Palestinian populous (that is majority Muslim) with the militant Islamism of Hamas. Pursuant to their line of thinking, because Hamas was democratically and fairly elected by the Palestinian people in 2006 (the words “democratically” and “fairly” should appear in quotation marks given that many doubt the choice the populous had in the process of electing them), they are inherently complicit in the unprovoked attack on Israel, and therefore deserve the harsh measure of retribution that will be delivered by the Israeli Defence Forces. Here, what is also denied is the widespread suffering that will be experienced by the Palestinian people as many areas of Gaza (which is one of the most densely populated locations on the planet) are levelled by missile strikes.

While one might argue that these are minority positions I have outlined, and that the positionality of most people is not out at those poles, I don’t think it can be denied that our information landscape gives amplification to extremes such as this, which magnifies their presence in the mainstream discourse. Not only are legacy media outlets beholden to the ideological leanings of their base of viewers which have over the years been cannibalised by alternative media platforms such as X (formerly ‘Twitter’) and YouTube, but so are the influencers on these platforms subject to the audience capture of their echo chambers which bring together a homogeneity of perspectives and theories (oftentimes of a conspiratorial nature) that assume the rightness of their worldview and the wrongness of anybody or group who exists outside of that bubble. Coming at the cost of our humanity and willingness to socially cohere around principles that transcend these ideological boundaries, this is the price that the centrist is unwilling to pay in order to find their place in the world.   

Finding our Way Back to Centre (Part 1)

This entry is my attempt to get off the see saw of polarity that I find myself playing on as I explore the different facets of the culture wars that are raging all around us. Or maybe this fire just seems out of control because of the plains on which I roam. While I am not on social media other than LinkedIn, I do consume a fair bit of political content from both sides of the aisle on YouTube, and listen to podcasts from a wide range of commentators on these issues. Too often it is all so dizzying, like being bounced up and down on this piece of play equipment by an overzealous playmate who doesn’t know when to quit. But unlike children who allow themselves to become intoxicated by the thrill of taking this form of play to its limits, we as would-be ‘mature’ and contributing members to society need to exercise restraint and understand the game for what it is, one that provides us with titillating stimulation in the moment, but not ultimate and lasting meaning in driving humanity forward.    

I get it. We as human beings are tribal creatures. We need to belong to a group, and becoming separated from that group poses a threat to our safety. Whereas in times past these threats were primarily physical, in the modern world these threats have become ideological, with the potential for physical violence flowing on from this ideological divide. Only the ‘other’ can hurt us from our polarised perspective, with the members of our in-group standing on the ‘right side’ as a source of our support and validation. Not wanting to have the righteousness of our ideological standing challenged, we choose only to move in familiar territory, echo chambers where the amplification of our team’s talking points are taken to extreme levels. If before, we may have been open to hearing the arguments of the other side/s, now our ears are closed shut to any voices of dissention.

Should this surprise us at all? Not one bit, for the more entrenched we become in a particular way of thinking, the stronger it becomes as a basis of our identity. Whereas at the start of our indoctrination journey, we had little to lose of the identity that was only nascently formed, now we have the whole of ourselves being invested in an all-encompassing narrative worldview that can’t not make sense if we are to feel a sense of control over our lives. If we can understand this, then we shouldn’t be taken aback by the propensity for large scale violence that is demonstrated often in the public forum when these ideological agents are afforded the cloak of anonymity that comes with group identity.

I lament this state of affairs. Beneath all of these ideological identifications lies the human heart and its call for each of us to embody and practice virtue in our lives and towards each other. Love, respect, understanding, co-operation, enrichment through service. Each of these virtues and others are our native proclivities when we give ourselves over to the essential source of being, however we define that in the context of our own lives. We were each born to be centrists in the truest sense, rooted in the basis of our humanity. Only as we occupy a central position relative to two extremes can we reach out to both sides and play peacemaker. If we are too far positioned out on the poles, we won’t have enough leverage to extend our hand far enough to those on the other side. There is proof enough of this in our politics where this divide is perhaps made most manifest. As a metaphor, the aisle represents a distance of only a few feet, but in reality that distance can be measured in miles. While our reason and goodwill should override our emotion to allow us to entertain the concerns that underpin our opponent’s arguments, our stubborn insistence to not give an inch so as to preserve our moral high ground is resolute. This is not how we as a civil society should be conducting discourse, and while I may be accused of hyperbole here, one has to only go to platforms such as Twitter to see how toxic this state of affairs has become. While I strive not to participate in this mortal combat online, I can’t help but be an observer of the collateral damage that results to interpersonal relationships, freedoms like speech that we take for granted, and the recognition of objective truth that is indispensable to our flourishing.   

Let me be clear. I really don’t have a dog in this fight. If I identify as anything, it is as apolitical, and I distain the excesses of the woke left as much as I do the bigotry of the far right. Both extremes on each side are ideologically corrupted, and have little of value or wisdom to offer us as we seek to evolve our species. Granted, the ire in my writing is directed more towards these far left fringes than those on the far right, but that is because for me the evils of the far right present as much more conspicuous and blatantly deplorable. No decent human being would support misogynistic ideas that value men above women, theories of racial superiority, or prejudicial attitudes towards people because of who they fundamentally are at their core.

Eleven Takeaways from the George Floyd Tragedy

To honour the memory of George Floyd, I present here eleven lessons that I have taken away from the tragedy, one for every day that has passed since his death. In presenting these, I have tried to dig a bit deeper than the obvious learnings that this event holds. Hopefully, they serve to highlight some of the more nuanced aspects of what has taken place, or those things that are essential which are often invisible to our eyes, as Antoine de Saint Exupéry so elegantly expressed in The Little Prince.

1. Beware the powerless who hold positions of power – All too often those who feel powerless within themselves seek out artificial forms of power to compensate for this internal deficit. This helps to explain in part why individuals like Derek Chauvin act the way they do and abuse the responsibilities of their roles.

2. Responsibilities work alongside rights – When events such as these happen, the focus understandably revolves around the abuse of fundamental human rights. We mustn’t forget though that the exercise of our human responsibilities are required to ensure that these rights are upheld. Thus, it is incumbent upon every one of us to honour, among other duties, the fundamental responsibility to act as a human being.

3. Be aware of your privilege before you offer your perspective – When I hear white individuals recite phrases such as ‘All lives matter’ at this time, it tells me that they just don’t get it. Clearly all lives have value, but this is said from a privileged perspective. If people who think this took a proper step back to observe the myriad examples of how the lives of black men have been devalued by the actions of law enforcement agencies, then that would give them all the context that is needed to understand the Black Lives Matter movement.

4. See through the false narrative – Often, people who benefit from keeping the status quo don’t want to face the truth if that necessitates change which would cause them to suffer some perceived detriment. Colin Kaepernick did not kneel to disrespect the American flag or its military, and those who are looting, vandalising and committing acts of arson for their own purposes are not protesting George Floyd’s murder when they do those things.

5. Peace and justice are a part of the same whole – Peace comes from wholeness, and the evenhandedness from which justice is exhibited enables this wholeness by providing balance. Without justice, there can be no peace. Makes perfect sense.

6. A leader’s character matters most – Time and time again Donald Trump has proven to be an incapable leader, whose flawed character and lack of humanity has caused division and instability among the American populous. If those who support him had judged him by this criteria and not by the republican ideology that they share with him, he never would have been elected to the position of President.

7. Burning as a yearning for rebirth – When I look at the burning down of objects and property that is taking place across the US, symbolically it speaks to me of the desire of the oppressed to tear down the system that has denied them for so long, in order for something new to be built which can honour their dignity, and provide an equal opportunity for advancement.

8. Listen to the whispers so you don’t have to hear the screams – Violence is a potent form of expression, which in this situation has manifested because the voices of the African American community have not been listened to. Even since the civil rights movement, their whispers for change have been met with indifference and inaction. Really, what did we think was going to happen? Not saying that I condone or denounce this violence, just that I understand it.

9. Solidarity is a beautiful thing to behold – It has been inspiring to see people of all races come together and support the Black Lives Matter movement and demand for justice for George Floyd. Meaningful and sustained change requires unity of action, and no progress will be made if people comfortably sit within the confines of their own experience to think that this problem doesn’t affect them. It does. It always has, and it always will, if we refuse to look at it through the clear lens of our humanity.

10. Giving birth to new life is a painful process – Ask any mother and she will drop this wisdom on you. There is no evolution without struggle and the pain of letting go of the old so that something new and beautiful can come into being. Not only does this explain the exasperated cries of the black community and their allies in the protests, but it also helps us to understand the silent cries of those who have resisted against the coming of equality, for fear of what they think they will lose. In this suffering, it would thus seem that we share a point of commonality, and dare I say connection.

11. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly – This statement frames the second part of Exupéry’s quote that I have cited above. The obligations to love, respect, honour and uplift are all spiritual imperatives that we will know are our duty to manifest, when we have the courage to shed ourselves of the artificial identifications and ideologies that separate us from the truth within ourselves. We don’t need any external mechanism of law, politics or religion to teach us this, but if we believe that we do, that will serve as a barrier to living from our heart and becoming an agent of reconciliation for the divide that confronts us.