"I think it's important to realize that when two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie exactly halfway between them. It is possible for one side to be simply wrong."
"Sometimes I worry that my squeamishness about making sharp judgments, pro or con, makes me unfit for the slam-bang world of daily journalism. Other times I conclude that it makes me ideally suited for newspapering—certainly for the rigors and conventions of modern 'objective' journalism. For I can dispose of my dilemmas by writing stories straight down the middle. I can search for the halfway point between the best and the worst that might be said about someone (or some policy or idea) and write my story in that fair-minded place. By aiming for the golden mean, I probably land near the best approximation of truth more often than if I were guided by any other set of compasses—partisan, ideological, psychological, whatever... Yes, I am seeking truth. But I'm also seeking refuge. I'm taking a pass on the toughest calls I face."
"Live free or don't."
—President Neutral, Futurama
"It's called the gray fallacy. One person says white, another says black, and outside observers assume gray is the truth. The assumption of gray is sloppy, lazy thinking. The fact that one person is diametrically opposed to the truth does not then skew reality so the truth is no longer the truth."
—Tycho Celchu, Isard's Revenge
"When people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."
Sophie: I hate infection. But then again, who likes them? Maybe the people who make penicillin.
Alex: Well, there's two sides to every story.
Sophie: That's true. Except for the Nazis. I can't really see the other side of that argument.
Alex: Well, there's two sides to every story.
Sophie: That's true. Except for the Nazis. I can't really see the other side of that argument.
"A veteran science journalist recently wrote: 'Reporters are messengers — their job is to tell, as accurately as they can, what has been said, with the benefit of such insight as their experience allows them to bring, not to second guess whether what is said is right.' That's rubbish. If you are not actually providing any analysis, if you're not effectively 'taking a side', then you are just a messenger, a middleman, a megaphone with ears. If that's your idea of journalism, then my RSS reader is a journalist."
—Ed Yong, Not Exactly Rocket Science
"There's kind of a notion that 'everyone's opinion is equally valid'. My arse! A bloke who's a professor of dentistry for forty years does not have a debate with some idiot who removes his teeth with string and a door, right! It's nonsense! And it happens all the time with medical stuff on the television. You'll have a doctor on, and they'll talk to the doctor and go 'oh, doctor this' and 'doctor that', and 'what happened there' and 'doctor, isn't it awful, right?' And then the doctor will be talking about something with all the benefit of research and medical evidence. And then they'll turn away from the doctor in the name of 'balance' and turn to some... quack witch-doctor homeopath horseshit peddler on the other side of the studio! And I'm sorry if you're into homeopathy — it's water!"
"He considers all enthusiasm as a degree of madness, particularly to be guarded against by young minds; and believes that truth lies in the middle, between the extremes of right and wrong."
—William Hazlitt, "On Common-Place Critics"
"'Be fair,' say the temporizers, 'tell both sides of the story.' But how can you be fair to both sides of a rape? Of a murder? Of a massacre?"
—Edward Abbey, A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
"So you're telling me that Copenhagen is located in Denmark, and I think it actually lies in Norway. The Truth, as always, has to be somewhere in the middle."
—Tage Danielsson, Grallimmatics — The Physiology and Technique of Balderdash
Jeff: I just think we were both wrong.
Annie: Really? Because I'm an eighteen-year-old girl and you made me cry in public.
Jeff: Hmm. Okay, maybe I was a little more wrong.
Jon Stewart: But that's just innuendo, and that can't be the only thing in a news story!
Stephen Colbert: Can't it? I ask you: Does Jon Stewart orally pleasure teamsters for pocket change?
Jon: ...N-no.
Stephen: Well, you are certainly entitled to that opinion. But I bet I can assemble an impressive panel that thinks you do. The truth lies somewhere in between. Let's talk about it for eight weeks and let the public decide.
Stephen Colbert: Can't it? I ask you: Does Jon Stewart orally pleasure teamsters for pocket change?
Jon: ...N-no.
Stephen: Well, you are certainly entitled to that opinion. But I bet I can assemble an impressive panel that thinks you do. The truth lies somewhere in between. Let's talk about it for eight weeks and let the public decide.
"Understanding is a three-edged sword."
—Kosh, Babylon 5
"I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!"
— Barry Goldwater accepting the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States in 1964
"And I am proud to announce, that in the deepest tradition of democracy, that everyone walked away [from the budget negotiations] unhappy. No one got everything they wanted. The Democrats were unhappy about programs being cut. The Republicans were unhappy that the cuts weren't deep enough. The Tea Party was unhappy about the placement of the cuts, and also that I was not born in America."
"Suppose I say we need a hundred-foot bridge to cross a hundred-foot chasm. That makes me an extremist. Someone else says that we don't need a bridge because we don't need to cross the chasm in the first place. That makes him an extremist. The third guy is a centrist because he proposes building a fifty-foot bridge ending in mid-air. As an extremist, I'll tell you that the other extremist has a much better grasp of the situation than the centrist. The two extremists have a serious disagreement about what to do. The centrist has no idea what to do and doesn't want to bother figuring it out."
—Jonah Goldberg, The Tyranny of Clichés
Laverne: [During an argument over the war in Iraq] Ted, what do you think?
Ted: I think both sides have valid points.
Dr. Cox: Way to take a stand, sweat-balls.
Ted: I think both sides have valid points.
Dr. Cox: Way to take a stand, sweat-balls.
"If you’ve ever been in the same room with a complete weasel and a mediator or counselor, it’s a sure lose situation unless you’re an even bigger weasel. The mediator will approach things from the unshakable paradigm that the truth is somewhere between the two extremes. The weasel wins big – he makes you look far worse than you are and he ends up looking far better than he is. You end up being pushed down to the same level as the weasel."
—Steven Dutch, Suckered by Intelligent Design
"Two opposing sides don't necessarily have two compelling arguments. Martin Luther King spoke on that mall in the capital, and he didn't say, 'Remember, folks, those Southern sheriffs with the fire hoses and the German Shepherds, they have a point, too!' No, he said, 'I have a dream. They have a nightmare.' This isn't 'Team Edward' and 'Team Jacob'."
Hostage's mother: The media are trying to spin this man into some kind of hero...
Larry King: I think we've made a real effort to present all perspectives of—
Mother: Since when do we need "all perspectives" of a crime?
Larry King: I think we've made a real effort to present all perspectives of—
Mother: Since when do we need "all perspectives" of a crime?
Violet: Fire!
Babs: Fire?? Oh no! Nononono!
Jerome: I think the stairs are this way!
Babs: I think the stairs are that way!
Jerome: I don't like to argue. Let's compromise and just stand here.
Babs: Fire?? Oh no! Nononono!
Jerome: I think the stairs are this way!
Babs: I think the stairs are that way!
Jerome: I don't like to argue. Let's compromise and just stand here.
—A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Penultimate Peril Part 2
"Here we have astronomer Sir Patrick Moore to talk about the cosmos, but in the interest of balance, here's a man who thinks the sky is a carpet painted by God."
"The centrist has no guiding principle. The centrist does not want an egalitarian, prioritarian, sufficientarian, left or right utilitarian, or libertarian society. The centrist does not know what the centrist wants, the centrist just thinks that the conflict is silly and that the two sides should just 'get along'. What the centrist really proposes is that both sides abandon their principles and settle for whatever they can get, because the centrist does not really care about the issue or about the debate in the first place. The centrist doesn't think any of it really matters, that it's all really just a trivial disagreement, and that getting along is more important than creating an ethical or just society. Centrism stands for indecision, apathy, and conflict avoidance."
—Benjamin Studebaker, "Intellectual Hipsters: Centrists"
That sounds like a decent compromise because it's the middle ground position, right? The problem is, it's the middle ground between sense and nonsense. It's like saying, "It would be crazy to eat that entire bar of soap, so I'll just eat half of it.
I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.
[T]he conception of a bipolar political world has been similarly replaced by a prevalent worldview which rests on the belief that the world is in the grip of a contest between two superpowers. These superpowers contend for dominance and resemble one another in key respects. This image of moral and political symmetry has gained a wide acceptance not only in the Third World, but also among our allies and ourselves. Of my own statements about the false nature of this image, a colleague has said, “She talks about the moral differences between the superpowers, and when we fail to find any moral difference between Afghanistan and Grenada she makes it clear that we are dimwitted.” I believe that anyone who fails to see a difference between Grenada and Afghanistan is not only seriously mistaken but very seriously confused, and that their confusion is a direct consequence of the Soviets’ colossally effective assault on the realms of value and meaning which our civilization holds dear.
—Jeane Kirkpatrick, "The Myth of Moral Equivalence"
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot."
I believe that when a man is exercising extremism, a human being is exercising extremism, in defense of liberty for human beings, it’s no vice. And when one is moderate in the pursuit of justice for human beings, I say he’s a sinner.
Worse than thieves, murderers, or cannibals, those who offer compromise slow you and sap your vitality while pretending to be your friends. They are not your friends. Compromisers are the enemies of all humanity, the enemies of life itself. Compromisers are the enemies of everything important, sacred, and true.
—L. Neil Smith, "Am I the NRA?"
""I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to 'order' than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: 'I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action'; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a 'more convenient season.' Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection."
Finally! Something normal. Enough of those ramblings — in this world there is also a sensible ideology for people who simply want to do good by everyone. How? By looking at the options on the table and saying: no. I don't want any of those associated with me. I just want to play a regular, inconsequential, doesn't-really-believe-in-anything type of detective.
Well, you're in luck! After the commies and the fascas tag teamed Revachol, sensible foreign nations with moderately deadly artillery came and levelled the city, put all the commies against a neutral wall and turned Revachol into a debt colony / financial buffer zone / whatever the hell they want it to be. They rule the world. And also the RCM, the law enforcement agency you’re part of, so really — it's a no brainer.
Take this one, it would be weird to take any of the others.
Well, you're in luck! After the commies and the fascas tag teamed Revachol, sensible foreign nations with moderately deadly artillery came and levelled the city, put all the commies against a neutral wall and turned Revachol into a debt colony / financial buffer zone / whatever the hell they want it to be. They rule the world. And also the RCM, the law enforcement agency you’re part of, so really — it's a no brainer.
Take this one, it would be weird to take any of the others.
—Disco Elysium, on the "moderate" choice of its Political Alignment System
Figgins: Sue, there is an orgy of evidence stacked against you!
Sue: Well, you've clearly made up your mind not to be impartial in this case.
Sue: Well, you've clearly made up your mind not to be impartial in this case.
—Glee, "Sectionals"
"I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire."
The problem is that you've run headlong into the fundamental problem of centrism. Centrism can be very attractive as a political philosophy, especially for people who are young and trying to figure out for themselves what they believe. I don't know how old you are; that's just a blanket statement. But the problem is that it doesn't really work.
At its core, centrism is about the idea that there are two sides to any situation that both need to be considered. It's logical. It's reasonable. But it ignores the possibility that one of the sides might just be wrong. Sometimes people lie. Sometimes they're spinning a narrative. Sometimes they're straight up trying to defend the indefensible.
If I say the sky is blue and someone else says the sky is red, the responsible thing to do is not to decide the sky must be purple as a compromise between the two positions. The responsible thing to do is to look out the window, see that the sky is clearly blue, and question what the fuck that other guy's on about.
Centrism doesn't really engage with the reality that sometimes people are just wrong.
At its core, centrism is about the idea that there are two sides to any situation that both need to be considered. It's logical. It's reasonable. But it ignores the possibility that one of the sides might just be wrong. Sometimes people lie. Sometimes they're spinning a narrative. Sometimes they're straight up trying to defend the indefensible.
If I say the sky is blue and someone else says the sky is red, the responsible thing to do is not to decide the sky must be purple as a compromise between the two positions. The responsible thing to do is to look out the window, see that the sky is clearly blue, and question what the fuck that other guy's on about.
Centrism doesn't really engage with the reality that sometimes people are just wrong.
To a certain subsection of the internet, nothing is more criminal than caring. About politics, gender, class, representation in video games, anything. They dismiss racists and people trying to stop racism as equally stupid for trying to change the world — which is ironic, because that attitude is changing the world by making it dumber.
Ah, yes, this argument. "Oh there's been a lot of conflicting data sources, we might never know the real answer, I've had so many different claims from so many different peoplebrlblblblblbl!" That is the dying calls of someone who has realized that what they believed was wrong, and is now having to admit it, but doesn't have the fucking BALLS to do it! This fucker knows that the 600,000 number [of troops at the start of Russia's invasion] is wrong, he fucking knows! He's smart enough to read the UN reports and the fucking Ministry of Defense of Ukraine's official website, and know exactly what the number is, but he's not ready to admit that, in his mind, Russian Propaganda, weirdo conspiracy theorists, the UN AND A FUCKING CHILD RAPIST [former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and convicted sexual harasser Scott Ritter] ARE ALL EQUAL LEVELS OF CREDIBILITY!
—LazerPig, on the Gonzalo Lira round table
There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.
—John Galt, Atlas Shrugged
It is true that compromise is the key of British policy, especially as effecting an impartiality among the religions of India; but Vane's attempt to meet the Moslem half-way by kicking off one boot at the gates of the mosque, was felt not so much to indicate true impartiality as something that could only be called an aggressive indifference.
Again, it is true that an English aristocrat can hardly enter fully into the feelings of either party in a quarrel between a Russian Jew and an Orthodox procession carrying relics; but Vane's idea that the procession might carry the Jew as well, himself a venerable and historic relic, was misunderstood on both sides.
In short, he was a man who particularly prided himself on having no nonsense about him; with the result that he was always doing nonsensical things.
Again, it is true that an English aristocrat can hardly enter fully into the feelings of either party in a quarrel between a Russian Jew and an Orthodox procession carrying relics; but Vane's idea that the procession might carry the Jew as well, himself a venerable and historic relic, was misunderstood on both sides.
In short, he was a man who particularly prided himself on having no nonsense about him; with the result that he was always doing nonsensical things.
One wants to go north and the other south; and the result is that both have to go east, though they both hate the east wind.
—Henry Higgins, Pygmalion
We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down [or, alternately, over].
—Several people, Ambrose Bierce and Aneurin Bevan among the most notable
