• Etterra@discuss.online
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      10 hours ago

      “Centrist” is just a masquerade for Republicrats to pretend to still be on the left.

      • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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        8 hours ago

        Just because the US has only 2 real options to vote for doesn’t mean people can have different opinions. It isn’t for nothing that in a country like The Netherlands we have like 40 parties, including centre parties.

      • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        I’m pro LGBTQ, anti-israel, against consumerism/capitalism, pro socialism. Pro government control on key infrastructure (water, gas, electricity) and better housing and support services. Pro climate policies, pro taxing the rich.

        But I’m also against fossil fuel bans, against bans on firearms, pro military for defence, pro free-speech, pro strict immigration, against ‘PC’ culture, against trans-women in women’s sports, pro merit success.

        Am I left or right? …Or centrist?

        • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Let’s take the obvious “Pro military for defense” first since that’s the most insane thing to think is a contentious political issue.

          There are 30% of people in the US that think aliens are real and have visited their asshole but you will not find 5% of people in america that oppose the military as a concept.

          What you’re doing here is being manipulated by people who want you to think some of these things are Important Issues™

          The trans women in sports is a great example of propaganda. It was cooked up by a conservative think tank. How many people are affected by this “problem”? Maybe 200? And in most cases sports organizations themselves often have rules in place like “how long you’d have to have been on hormone therapy to qualify.” That is already more or less a solved problem for most the people it actually affects. People playing sports didnt come up with the “trans people in sports issue”, a think tank did.

          So what you are …is manipulated by think tanks and propaganda and in a way that causes you to oppose people who otherwise have common interests with you.

          There’s only two real political philosophies and they can be summed up as “fuck you, I got mine” and “we’re all in this together.” I will tell you right now only the “fuck you, I got mine” group has any real interest in dehumanizing people by say, having the government ban trans people from public spaces and public activities like sports.

          • kreskin@lemmy.world
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            4 hours ago

            but you will not find 5% of people in america that oppose the military as a concept.

            Thats just your speculation. And do you mean people oppose the US having any military at all? 90% of the countries have a standing army, and the ones that dont are mostly small island countries.

            Why is that the line you draw?

          • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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            5 hours ago

            And yet the comments and downvotes shows how contentious it is which I knew it would be when I wrote it.

            I know the trans-women in sport issue is almost non-existent but it’s probably the biggest talking point in the comments it seems.

            Personally I agree with you. I always vote left and am more of a “we’re in in together” mindset.

            Either way, thank you for you insight!

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              3 hours ago

              I know the trans-women in sport issue is almost non-existent but it’s probably the biggest talking point in the comments it seems.

              Says the person who brought it up.

              • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                3 hours ago

                It was simpily an argument for me being centrist and therefore legitimate centrist existing.

                It clearly worked in demonstrating what a centrists opinions are like and no one has so far argued I fall on one side or the other.

                • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                  3 hours ago

                  Sure. just bring up divisive right wing talking points. And then call yourself a centrist.

                  It tracks.

                  • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                    3 hours ago

                    And what about my left wing opinions? Would the right wing accept me or would they be as friendly as you lot are?

            • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
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              4 hours ago

              And yet the comments and downvotes shows how contentious it is which I knew it would be when I wrote it.

              Probably extra contentious because it’s trans discrimination on Pride weekend. And there’s the fact that some research (backed by the International Olympic Committee) suggests that trans-women may perform worse than cis-women.

              Even if more research comes out that shows otherwise (entirely possible considering that it’s hard to get a decent sample population of elite trans athletes as there are so few), discrimination is not a solution. The simplest solution would be to get rid of gendered leagues and group athletes by measureable athletic abilities. Probably would make most people with an actual vested interest happy, with exception of those who want to keep paying women less.

              • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                3 hours ago

                Oh wow, I did not know that! For both points. It’s great to see more research, I skimmed a little but I’ll read it right after this comment.

                I like the idea of athletes competing against one another purely to see who is best overall. But I’d be worried that could possibly be more discriminatory. Such as in bouldering there was recently a controversial issue with a short climber not being able to compete in some climbs due to certain starting holds being too far apart. So something like weight classes but that considers a lot more depending on the sport?

                Thanks so much for your reply and your linked study! I’m really happy for comments like yours.

            • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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              5 hours ago

              I know the trans-women in sport issue is almost non-existent but it’s probably the biggest talking point in the comments it seems.

              Not to surprising, since it is a standpoint that lays the foundation for oppressing and dehumanising one of the most vulnerable groups if society.

              First it was just Trans people in sport, then it is trans people in bathrooms and the next step is eradicating trans peoples existence from public spaces.

              • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                4 hours ago

                Which is very sad and I’m not for that.

                The only point I was making was for fair competition in women’s sport, and broader still that centrist exist with non black and white opinions.

                I believe we are as a society, getting better at accepting people. In my country we’re decently accepting I think, although there is still the intolerant person here and there. Overall I do hope one day everyone is accepting of everyone else.

                Thanks for your thoughts though.

                • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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                  3 hours ago

                  The only point I was making was for fair competition in women’s sport

                  Which you don’t seem to have researched, or you would have known about the standards already in place to keep competition fair.

                  • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                    3 hours ago

                    I cited a study before that trans-women retain around 12% of the strength they had previously even with blockers in place. So it is still technically, not fair.

                    Although there may be more research that I’m reading about that someone metioned, in which case my opinion may change but the research is still somewhat inconclusive and requires more evidence.

          • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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            2 hours ago

            In women’s sport, I just don’t think it’s fair to women to compete against trans-women* who are stronger than them. I only beleive that out of fairness, but I think people have every right to do what they want with their bodies and be accepted for who they are.

            Where another person’s rights begin, another’s ends type of thing.

            ** EDIT: Clarifycation of ‘trans-women’ at the astrick, was just ‘women’ before

            • Genius@lemmy.zip
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              6 hours ago

              You’re right, it’s completely unfair for women to compete against women who are stronger than them. For the weightlifting they should test every woman’s strength, and only the weakest woman competes. That’s fair.

              and,

              We definitely shouldn’t let trans women compete in women’s chess, because of the biological advantage/s

              • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                5 hours ago

                That is not what I am saying. You’re trying to make an enemy out of me when I am not, it’s almost a strawmans argument you just made.

                https://womeninsport.org/transgender-inclusion-womens-sport/

                After 12 months: In studies which recorded the retained muscle mass/strength, there was an average of 25% residual advantage for transgender women at 12 months treatment compared with reference a group of females. After 12 months of testosterone suppression, transgender women remained 48% stronger, with 35% larger quadriceps mass compared with the control population of females. After more than two years of follow-up on testosterone suppression recent research citing retrospective data from military personnel in the US has shown that transgender women retain an advantage in running speed, at a residual of some 12% faster than the known normative values for females.

                What is your opinion on this, truely? This organisation literally supports trans-women being in sport but has to admit that they are uniquely stronger and faster than born-women. It’s an unfortunate reality but I personally believe that we can support transgender women without disenfranchising born-women. I’m just being pragmatic about it.

                And for clarifycation, I don’t think there should be classes in chess.

                • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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                  5 hours ago

                  There are a number of other genes linked to athletic outcomes that are way more influential than “12% above average”. Steroid usage is rampant in top teir sports for instance and people with like genetic kidney conditions that overproduce some hormones have a far greater advantage.

                  The people doing the sports should be making the rules about sports, not a bunch of armchair theorists with calipers. Most the guys who have A LOT OF OPINIONS on how to gatekeep womens sports don’t actually watch any women’s sports.

                  • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                    4 hours ago

                    https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-016-2462-3

                    The greatest researched gene for sprint times measures just less than a percent of influence at 0.92%

                    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2984550

                    The second greatest contributing gene related to strength and fast twitch responses ACE I/D, has so far inconclusive results.

                    I’d be interested in hearing if there are more genes I’m unaware about.

                    Yeah, stereroid usage is not fair across the board, which is why before competition in every sport it is already tested for. Although it does slip under the radar. Likewise in some sports trans-women are tested before competing such as in soccer, and there are quite a few that, unfortunately, has banned them from playing entirely.

                    I am only for fairness, not for exclusion. The ideal world in my opinion, would be fair to everybody.

                • Genius@lemmy.zip
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                  5 hours ago

                  That is not what I am saying.

                  No, it is what you said. It’s just not what you mean. It’s not my fault the two are separate. It’s your responsibility to speak clearly if you don’t want the silly things you say to be mocked.

                  • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                    4 hours ago

                    Could you quote me and break down your understanding of what I said?

                    I don’t necessarily feel mocked, are you trying to mock me?

                    Also you didn’t respond to the study still?

        • Gustephan@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          I’m pro LGBTQ

          against trans-women in women’s sports

          No, you’re not pro lgbtq. You’re a TERF at best

          against consumerism/capitalism, pro socialism. Pro government control on key infrastructure (water, gas, electricity) and better housing and support services. (…) pro taxing the rich

          pro merit success

          ??? Do you understand what any of those words mean? “Pro merit success” directly contradicts each of the social policies you claim to support.

          Pro climate policies

          I’m also against fossil fuel bans

          You’re either lying about one of these or you somehow think we can stop climate change without stopping the most significant cause of climate change?

          Does the complete lack of internal consistency in your worldview not bother you at all? You have no defined political leaning, you have a bunch of emotionally driven contradictory political opinions that you clearly have little to no understanding of.

          Given that description, I’d guess you probably call yourself a centrist and vote conservative.

          • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            Dead wrong, I’ve always voted left. And yes, I do consider myself a centrist, that’s exactly why I commented because I think the ‘you’re either with us or against us’ mentality is doing more damage than it helps.

            I’m only against trans-women competing against women because they would have a competitive advantage. I’m even for athletes using hormones, stereroids and drugs in sport (in seperate divisions perhaps) and then the rules on who is in who’s class can really be thought out properly, but currently most trans-women have a clear advantage based on current sport (and biological) evidence. I don’t think it’s fair competition is all. I know some pretty cool trans people and one of them even admits to similar feelings of it being unfair.

            I’m pro social policies because I think everyone deserves a roof over their head, food, water and basic amenities. But I’m also pro merit purely to reward people to achieve more and be better. Some people will never be as capable as others are but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a basic living standard. Something like UBI would be a perfect solution to my understanding. I’m not American but when Bernie Sanders was a candidate I was rooting for him.

            Pro climate because we need to fix it and fast, we do way to much damage to the environment. Against outright bans on fossil fuels because we simply are not there yet. My country is unfortunately nowhere near renewable and our outback has hardly any electricity, we need fuels to do anything out there. Trucks, trains and ships sometimes can’t work without it. Not to mention that lithium although amazing is causing more greenhouse gases mining and refining it than what electric cars are offsetting. Electric cars literally aren’t doing anything because the batteries die before they make up for their production. Carbon batteries are coming but mass production is difficult to scale. Cargo ships emit around a quater of all green house gasses and I personally think thats where we could really cut down on it by either fitting cargo ships with nuclear reactors which some military vessels have or just reducing consumerism. Currently most CO2 emissions is from electricity of which in most countries (such as mine) residential makes up only about 10%. The onous is not so much on the individual person but on companies and business, we need more incentives/punishments for corporations to be more considerate.

            Almost no issue is black or white. I do have defined political beliefs, I think most people oversimplify or don’t research topics before forming an opinion. And there there are people like the one I originally commented to who have turned politics and world issues into binary division, where instead of educating they attack and insult.

            What is emotionally driven here?

            And what do I have little understanding of?

            • r3g3n3x@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              You’re in the wrong place to present nuanced opinion in long form. I love the independence of Lemmy from the large corporations (likely astroturfing aside), but this place swings the Overton window back to the left so hard it breaks without any acceptance of different nuanced ideas. It’s as though the life you’ve lived and the subtleties that governed it are irrelevant.

              Of course this develops the mindset that trying to engage is mostly pointless, which I’ve adopted, because ultimately these are all just words on a screen with no real connection to the person behind them either way. You can’t sway them and they don’t respect your attention to minutiae.

              • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                3 hours ago

                Yeah I’m really starting to notice this exactly. It’s sad to think that you either disengage or get unwarranted abuse hurlded towards you from every direction.

                Maybe just getting off the internet entirely is the better option.

                I liked your reference of the Overton window though haha

            • Gustephan@lemmy.world
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              5 hours ago

              Gonna be honest, I’m not reading that slop. You open by telling me that I’m dead wrong, then immediately confirming that my guess as to your political leaning was half correct, which sets a very clear tone that you’re here to mudwrestle on the internet rather than engage in a discussion. If you want to try again I’ll talk to you, but I’m not interested in trading novels high on insults and low on reading comprehension with you.

              • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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                4 hours ago

                Of all the things in your comment, getting right the “you probably call yourself a centrist” is the least significant part. You’re wrong in all the rest of your comment, which is the actually important part.

                Whether someone calls themselves left, right or center is way less important than the policies they support.

                Because guess what. You can’t fit the entire world in 3 political buckets and expect everyone in each bucket to have the same opinion as everyone else on that bucket.

                As I said in another comment. The world is not black and white. There’s lots of shades of grey.

                And each person has a different combination of shades of grey for each political topic.

              • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                5 hours ago

                I assumed being centrist was already clear.

                Mudwrestle? I’m here to make a point, that not everything is back and white, left or right. But if you don’t want to discuss, fine by me. I didn’t insult you once so your insult is quite hypocritical and immature infact.

                • Saledovil@sh.itjust.works
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                  3 hours ago

                  It sort of looks like you’re broadly supportive of progressive causes, but don’t support progressives in the actual “battles” that are being “fought”. The clearest example is you being “Pro climate policies”, but “against fossil fuel bans”. Basically, you want things to get better, but you don’t want things to be done to make them better. You want peace and quiet more than you progress, and you’re willing to cede basically all current issues to regressives in order get it. Of course, if regressives win, they’ll just want something else. And you’ll cede that to them too.

                  In summary: you’re pathetic.

                  • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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                    3 hours ago

                    Why is everyone so sharp with words here?

                    Should we stop pumping oil right this very minute? Do you think the world will be ready by 2050 to effectivly ban the sale of fossil fuel? We are yet to globally REDUCE carbon emissions, we’ve only decelerated so far and by a tiny amount. We are no where near ready to make the change. Unless you are willing to cause a massacre by shutting off the oil wells?

                    I want things to be better, you’re right. And we all play a part in improving it. Right now I actually work in solar power infanstructure, is that pathetic? I vote against fossil fuels, and I am happy my country is cutting off gas and forcing people to be more electric.

                    I have helped contribute to some of these other issues I have metioned also and donate and invest in the future.

                    If you can draw a conclusion on a person so quickly and determine them to be pathetic, then what are you doing that makes you so special? Because, unfortunately, there is only so much a single person can do.

          • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            Or some people just have nuanced opinions and see that topics can be multiple shades of grey instead of either white or black.

              • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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                4 hours ago

                There is no contradiction.

                Not wanting trans-women in sports doesn’t make you not support LGBT. T is only one letter of 4+. And trans-women is only half of T. And athlete trans women is a small subset of that. And athlete trans women that want to play in women’s leagues are a subset of that.

                You can reward people based on accomplishments and also tax the rich. You can also have social programs while still rewarding them.

                You can improve the environment without a complete ban of fossil fuels.

                • zbyte64@awful.systems
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                  3 hours ago

                  T is only one letter of 4+. And trans-women is only half of T. And athlete trans women is a small subset of that. And athlete trans women that want to play in women’s leagues are a subset of that.

                  Wow that’s revealing more than you probably wanted.

                  • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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                    3 hours ago

                    What is it revealing that I supposedly didn’t want?

                    Yes. I believe that you can support a political group without supporting 100% of the policies that supposedly support that group.

                    Basically because it’s impossible fro 100% of the people on the group to agree on exactly which policies are hurtful and which are helpful.

        • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
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          7 hours ago

          That’s basically the Lib-Right/“Libertarianism”

          Edit: Actually I don’t think that’s Libertarian. Its like mix of Libertarian and Auth-Right values

        • fodor@lemmy.zip
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          6 hours ago

          You’re a liar, that’s what you are. Can’t even properly set up the troll.

          • Voldemort@lemmy.world
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            6 hours ago

            Huh!? This isn’t a troll, I’m an example of a centrist. The term ‘centrist’ exists for a reason, and plenty of people such as myself think this way although I will admit, I have met very few unfortunately.

            What makes me seem like a liar?

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              3 hours ago

              The term ‘centrist’ exists for a reason

              Yeah, it gives conservatives something to call themselves on dating sites.