Politically Correct

Finally, there is a laptop in my room and music in my ears. I had mentally catalogued all the things I wanted to blog about, so you can expect a random assortment of ideas in the next few posts.

First is a very delayed response to one of those usual Ditch baits. I am not sure why being a "centrist, left leaning, liberal" spans a contradictory space ("with me in the middle" as his figurative genius puts it), but this is hopefully some kind of a reply.

When I say I am a centrist, I am moderate on most parameters of judgement. When I say I lean to the left, I mean that when faced with certain economic questions like income distribution, I would more often than not, lean to the socialist viewpoint. And when I say I am a liberal, I believe that in certain issues like gay rights, I believe it is nobody's business to intrude into a perfectly non-obstrusive relationship. But, there are certain issues that the above description does not address. For example, I am not sure I would agree to a blanket legislation to permit abortion, drugs or euthanasia. Does that make me less of a liberal? And I am not a fan of trade union activism. Does that make me less of a leftist? If you go by certain other multi-axis models, you would find yourself in various different quadrants, based on the parameters used for evaluation.

Does the fact that I cannot answer these questions to fit certain stereotyped ideologies make me contradictory? Or does it lead to a larger observation that political grammar has never been that perfect that somebody like Ditch can afford to be a prude ;-) ? I leave that question open.

Left and Right have been the most stereotyped ideologies in political history. These stereotypes have historically never explained the "grey minded" individuals. For example, one could be fiercely conservative as far as individual values go, while exhibiting liberal tendencies in not expecting the same to apply to everbody else. Or for example, how does the contemporary left and right deal with economic freedom and personal freedom? Historically,there have been questions raised on the "Left"ism of Josef Stalin or the "Right"ism of Adolf Hitler when you extrapolate their ideologies to polity in the former case, and economics in the latter. As a recent example, take the case of the defeat of the European Union constitution referendum by the French public when actually the Extreme left and Extreme Right joined hands to polarise the vote away from the so-called "centrists" who were pushing for more integration. It can be argued that the motivation for the alliance could have been different, but how different is rightist exclusion from leftist protectionism if you really winnow the wheat? So what exactly do you mean when you say you are a leftist? Or that you are a liberal? And why should I agree to that definition? In fact, certain movements in the modern age like "Libertarianism" simply refuse to be classified. My all-time favourite Left-Right counter-example is George Orwell, who I am sure would have failed Politics 101. Anyway, a better and more interesting analysis here