Regardless of what that community is about, a good amount of the members seem to be content with simply repeating existing talking points, making statements with nothing indicating say, maybes or showing another person’s perspective. Is Reddit just full of Echochambers?
I admit, even a lot of supposedly leftist subreddits show barely anything more than black and white thinking, something that disturbs me, as a gray thinker. They seem to refuse to think of say, what would lead to someone to at first be a chud. In fact, a lot of those leftist subreddits show signs of being more liberals than leftists.
It makes me think: Am I closer to being a chud than a leftist, if I have gray thinking, which causes me to want to be informed as to why say, a non leftist would be annoyed with corporate run cultural wars? Am I wrong for being troubled by black and white thinking on supposedly leftist subreddits? Am I just projecting by thinking “I would not make so bold a statement.”?
I think “gray” (or “centrist” or “nuanced”) classifiers are often used as a way to shield a position from criticism while not really engaging with it to any end. This is the “gray” position that you might see discouraged.
The “gray” that I often see encouraged engages with the entire complexity of an issue. It follows the issue to its roots and at those roots interrogates them to their conclusions, establishing for each a black or white position. In aggregate, these conclusions might not fall neatly in line with an existing black or white position.
An example might be the war in Ukraine. You may simultaneously feel like Russia is being imperialist by annexing parts of Ukraine, feel that Ukraine has a fascist sect that should be eliminated, that Ukraine is right to self-determination, that it is unfairly positioned as a proxy pawn for NATO to exercise its power, and that the war is being drawn out to force national pressure on access to oil, that the historical recognition of a regional ethnic group should be respected. Taken to their ends, these positions do not land fully in support of either side in the war in Ukraine, but each facet requires interrogation and is owed a decisive stance.
If you’re putting in the intellectual work, then gray positions (as the aggregate of more decisive positions) are fine. If you’re not, and you’re just washing your hands of engaging with issues. “centrist” positions are even more dangerous because they are not defined by beliefs, but rather relative to others’ beliefs, allowing them to shift without ever consciously forming any opinions.
tl;dr: gray fine, ignorance not fine.
That Ukraine War stuff was so quickly astroturfed I felt like I was reliving the Bush years for a bit.
So it can be the wrong thing to be indecisive or skeptical of all things?
Not what I’m saying. It’s totally fine to be indecisive and skeptical, but that’s not an opinion and you shouldn’t expect people to respect it as a stance on an issue.
It’s great when you can recognize that you’re indecisive and see that as an opportunity for further investigation.