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there are two entirely different processes being crunched together in the last couple posts--reading, gathering information, working through often interally contradictory and/or complex material and finding yourself (maybe) generating interpretations that seem to move through the middle of the informational cluster you have assembled--and another, which is positioning oneself as a centrist in the contemporary american political context.
as for the former, i don't really understand any particular value in this abstract notion of a "golden mean"--i would expect that where you end up in the interpretation of information can and should vary, often quite wildly, depending on the issue, the kind of information you have available, the types of expertise you can bring to bear on it, etc.. add to that the problematic character of source materials, and the requirement that you read critically...and the idea that by assembling a collage of information, you are safest finding a line somewhere down the middle seems...well....pretty self-limiting.
assemble the information, think about the sources, draw on your types of expertise and make your own conclusions. the people who write articles are often not as smart or as informed as those who read them, so why assume their authority--as function of proper names situated in a particular media outlet context--should function as parameters that necessarily have to guide what and how you think?
if you are going to give yourself the freedom to research, to read etc, why would you not also give yourself the freedom to think about what you find, what you collage? sometimes you will be in the middle, sometimes not: who cares?
develop your own arguments and take your own chances with them.
geez, it's not like there will be an exam at the end of the semester on this.
and if you cant dare take chances in a space like this, where can you do it?
anywhere?
ever?
as for the latter....well.....the space between the variants of conservatism that pass as a political spectrum in the united states is a pretty small place to hang out in, isn't it? it's like being an a very large city but only wanting to hang around in a tiny park. but i dunno, maybe some think the shubbery is nice there: but it seems claustrophic to me.
but i would imagine that'd be fine so far as centrists were concerned, yes?
what possible basis could you have for objecting to the fact that what you find to be cozy others find to be claustrophic? if anything, you in the center should be pleased that there are others well to the left of you. your position as centrist relies on others---that is where you get one of the sides of the drawing from, the one that you split with a line down the center, which you then follow.
anyway, these last statements concern an aesthetic question---whether you position yourself between the two variants of conservatism that fob themselves off as a coherent political spectrum in america---like which interior lighting you like and whether that can or can not incude lava lamps or which peanut butter you prefer--on the same order.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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