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@pluralistic@mamot.fr · activity timestamp 2 hours ago

There's plenty of reasons to be skeptical of centrists who bemoan "political polarization" and call for a politics that abandons the "tribalism of left and right."

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/07/08/wilhoitian/#human-rights-v-property-rights

The icy chamber at the center of Dante's hell, dominated by Satan, massive and peering around with his chin propped on his elbows, which rest of the ice-sheet. From the ceiling of the chamber dangles a massive, decapitated head, suspended by the hair. Beneath it is a pile of corpses in middle ages armor. On the opposite side of the chamber stands a suburban housing plot; another group of (living) soldiers in armour aim a giant catapult at it.

Image:
Lewis Clarke (modified)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bridport_,_Bridport_Suburbs_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6489460.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en — The icy chamber at the center of Dante's hell, dominated by Satan, massive and peering around with his chin propped on his elbows, which rest of the ice-sheet. From the ceiling of the chamber dangles a massive, decapitated head, suspended by the hair. Beneath it is a pile of corpses in middle ages armor. On the opposite side of the chamber stands a suburban housing plot; another group of (living) soldiers in armour aim a giant catapult at it. Image: Lewis Clarke (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bridport_,_Bridport_Suburbs_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6489460.jpg CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

https://pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Post-political (09 Jul 2026)

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Cory Doctorow

@pluralistic@mamot.fr · activity timestamp 2 hours ago

Obviously there's the false equivalence: on the right, you have fascists who want to send masked, armed goons into the streets to beat, kidnap and murder your neighbors. On the left, you have calls for higher taxes, unions, environmental impact reviews for data-centers, and an end to the genocide in Gaza.

"Leftist extremism" is moving some zines around:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/24/prairieland-texas-ice-protests-zines

the Guardian

‘This is injustice’: how leftist zines were used to sentence anti-ICE protesters to decades in prison

Advocates sound alarm after zines were used as evidence to convict protesters of terrorism charges tied to 2025 protest at Texas ICE facility

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Cory Doctorow

@pluralistic@mamot.fr · activity timestamp 2 hours ago

Right wing extremism is attempting the overthrow of the government, murdering brown people in gulags, and the earth's richest man slaughtering the world's poorest children for the lulz:

https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/usaid-shutdown-has-led-to-hundreds-of-thousands-of-deaths/

"Horseshoe theory" (the idea that the far right and the far left actually bend around to meet each other) is bullshit:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/26/horsehoe-crab/#substantive-disagreement

https://pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Incomplete vs. overshoot (26 Feb 2024)

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

USAID shutdown has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths

The Trump administration’s decision to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from infectious diseases and malnutrition, according to Harvard Chan School’s Atul Gawande.

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Jonathan

@jmcrookston@mastodon.social · activity timestamp 2 hours ago

@pluralistic

I had forgotten about Peter's "I am smart and I like drugs" manifesto.

Thanks ... I think 😉

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Cory Doctorow

@pluralistic@mamot.fr · activity timestamp 2 hours ago

The reality is that the right and left have large, substantive disagreements that are matters of life and death. Anyone dismissing these as "tribalism" doesn't know what "left" and "right" mean. At best, they have mistaken a collection of cultural signifiers - pronouns, MMA, brands of beer - for politics.

Mistaking cultural signifiers and identity markers for politics is centrism's most dangerous pathology, the thing that makes centrism the handmaiden of the right.

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Cory Doctorow

@pluralistic@mamot.fr · activity timestamp 2 hours ago

If you think identity markers are politics, then you'll be tempted to think the answer to a world run by 150 rich, white, cis straight guys is to replace half of them with women, POCs and queer people. The difference between the left and the right isn't the identities of the ruling class - it's whether we have a ruling class *at all*.

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