this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
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[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 1 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

The center is the middle of the right and left.

I am unsure what you are asking after that.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

They're referring to the shifting variance between political sides and the range expressed between them. The Overton Window usually.

The Overton window is the range of subjects and arguments politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. It is also known as the window of discourse. The key to the concept is that the window changes over time; it can shift, or shrink or expand. It exemplifies "the slow evolution of societal values and norms".

Outside of this window you still have Left and Right, but they're the more extreme beliefs that the general populace doesn't currently accept. The window shifting over time means something that would have been considered absolutely insane 20 years ago, could be entirely mainstream now.

A current example would be federal deployment of the military to handle local protests when there is no declared State of Emergency and local government doesn't need or want assistance.

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Yep, that's a big part of it..

But there's other aspects too (see my other comment replying to Arkouda)

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

But left and right aren't absolute positions, they change in time. E.g. democrats now hold a lot of similar positions to what the republicans held in the 1980s (and also a lot of different ones).

Left and right are also a unidimensional approximation of a multidimensional value space.. E.g. most people on the left disagree with nearly everything Marjorie Taylor Greene says, but they agree with her that the US should not be supporting Israel's war on Iran.

There are also people on the left AND the right that oppose global economic liberalisation, but what is often called the "centre" supports it - clearly not a "middle" stance.

So how can you meaningfully define what is led and what is right, for the purpose of your reading?

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

But left and right aren’t absolute positions, they change in time.

What do you think that means for the center?

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

That it also changes in time and is not absolute. And also, in many ways, that it does it does not exist (in the sense that the "centre" in one dimension might be correlated with extremes in another)

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 1 points 34 minutes ago

If the center, right, and left change over time how do you expect me to define "center" beyond that which is situated between left and right?