It sure does

Refusing to vote because "I'm sick of <whatever>" also enables fascism.

First, 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 Council-er 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.

- Martin Luther King Jr, Letter from the Birmingham Jail

Context for readers: The direct action MLK Jr spoke of was political action and progressive legislative reform. The reason I bring this up is sometimes Tankies and Anarchists use his words to incite violence, which MLK Jr would strictly oppose.
- Non-violent protest is an opening offer, not the endgame. It's a promise not to be violent so long as there's an honest dialoge.
  
  Without the threat of eventual violence, they have no reason to listen at all.
- Says the white moderate who was taught so by the establishment that doesn't want you to consider violent opposition to their violent oppression a viable option, which he absolutely did, as, without even the slightest sense of irony because the reality is going over their head in its entirety, they tell you they "agree with you in the goal you seek, but cannot agree with your methods of direct action”.
  
  Perhaps educate yourself on MLK and what he actually stood for, rather than what those who murdered him for opposing them want you to know, before you so confidently spread misinformation and continue in the task of whitewashing his legacy.
One of my most used quotes, in fact I used it earlier today, it's just so fucking accurate.
- I consider it to be the defining quote on how I choose to act as a person. If my words or actions aren't aligned with the goal of total liberation, then I immediately reassess my position.

If a Nazi sits down at a table of 3 and nobody says anything. There are now 4 Nazis at that table.

My first saved comment on Lemmy.
I'm using this. Thanks!
If a centrist sits down at a table of three, and the three string him up and punish him for not falling into line... There were never less than three Nazi's at the table.
But if nobody says anything, how do you know the fourth person is a Nazi?
- I guess it’s assumed that you know that person is already a nazi, for example the person is Elon Musk. He won’t say anything, but you still know that he’s a nazi
- 3+1=4

If you're not with us then you're against us. I think the bad guys actually coined that phrase.

I'm totally fine, on paper, with actual centrists. It's just that they actually seem to actually exist in the real world. Everyone claiming to be one is really just a right-wing conservative who's afraid to say so.

I’m totally fine, on paper, with actual centrists

I'd like to know what I'm in the center of. Because if it's a Nuremberg Rally, maybe that's not where I want to be.
- There is a middle ground between the unregulated facists capitalism of today and the anarchy or authoritarian socialism of tankies.
  
  That middle ground means that capitalism is allowed but is regulated. Minimum wage is a living wage, slave or child labor products are not allowed on the market. We do have social services including healthcare and UBI. However, there is no middle ground on perceiving much less treating anyone as lesser. Nazis and supremacist groups and systems are stamped out like the filth they are.
- You might want to learn what centrism actually is. Hint: it's not a political position unto itself.
It doesn't help that it seems the vast majority of people think that "centrism" is a political position unto itself, defined by being on the fence about everything and never committing to any stance on any issue.

As opposed to the actual definition, which is just someone whose collective of political positions is such that it's not really accurate to refer to them as either kind of -winger.

It's kind of like the bisexuality of politics. Actually, as I write that, a lot of biphobia, which comes from both the homo and hetero, is kind of rooted in the same bullshit 'logic'. Just like the majority mentioned above see centrists the way I described, biphobes see bisexuals as indiscriminate sluts who are willing to bed anyone and everyone, as opposed to simply someone who is capable of being attracted to members of either sex.

If someone is "left-leaning" or "right-leaning", that is an actual centrist, by definition. Otherwise, it wouldn't be merely a 'lean'.
- centrists are close to the status quo common sense view.
  
  the status quo is soon-to-be-mask-off-fascist neoliberal capitalism. which is very much right wing. which makes them (inadvertently or not) right wing.
  
  they are even if they dont understand politics at all so they dont even know exactly what they believe in as long as their support ends up going to them.
  
  you can be slightly left from right, that doesnt fundamentally change.
- Lmmfao, GTFOH, centrist aren't "oppressed" so you can fuck off with trying to compare them and their shitty choices in life to actual marginalised people who are actually oppressed for how they were fucking born
which ties neatly into why they want "freedom" so much.

they want the freedom to be openly fascist.
Hi that's me. Left leaning moderate. I disagree with a bunch of the crap on the left but I really don't like a lot of what the right pulls either.

I will say that people on the left tend to violently push me away when we disagree on something where as the right tends to go "yeah I disagree with you, but you can hang out here if you want". So it's really easy to see why so many people have been pulled to the right over the last 10+ years. I've witnessed it first hand when I started doing it myself. I was staring down the far right pipeline and I turned around to go back home to the left but they didn't want me anymore because I had dared to even look the other direction for awhile.

I've seen it happen to friends and family as well. I still talk to them, but man... I wish the left would stop shoving people out when they could be allies.
- people on the left tend to violently push me away when we disagree on something where as the right tends to go “yeah I disagree with you, but you can hang out here if you want”.
  
  :-/
  
  Conservative: I have been censored for my conservative views
  
  Me: Holy shit! You were censored for wanting lower taxes?
  
  Con: LOL no...no not those views
  
  Me: So....deregulation?
  
  Con: Haha no not those views either
  
  Me: Which views, exactly?
  
  Con: Oh, you know the ones
- If it's the "online" left then I think it's the "online" part that's mostly the problem. People tend to be serious assholes when the interaction is distant and you're just an "other." Left, right, or center, too many people are comfortable with being insufferable cunts with no respect online. :(
- The constant purity testing on the left is real. As well as relentless and obnoxious. It seems like that side is the undisputed champion of making perfect the enemy of good.
  
  I've been told I made people in a left-wing friend's group chat feel, and I quote, "unsafe" when I casually suggested being careful not to overfocus on self-labeling oneself, that it's important to remember you're an individual who's more than a laundry list of categories.
  
  Unsafe? Really? lol

The capitalist status quo is protected by a political wing we call "liberalism" and a paramilitary wing we call "fascism."

Carrot and stick, good cop/bad cop - pick your metaphor.

For far too long, leftists have laboured under the delusion that liberals are merely "misguided" people that can be "pushed" left as soon as we could get them to read this or that book by our favourite Beardy McDeadguy. This kind of understanding of these people we call "centrists," "moderates," and, by far the most accurate term, "liberals," completely ignores the fact that it is liberalism - not fascism - that is the true ideology of privilege. Privilege that means that liberals are even more invested in the maintenance of the status quo that the rank and file of fascism are.

The left has always proven itself capable of defeating fascists - but it seems that it has no real answer to the insidious, co-opting tentacles of the liberal and the mountain of lies liberalism is built upon.

You're right. I'm a liberal and we don't like you leftists. Get out of our party and start your own. You're the real fascism enablers.
- Your party didn't support gay marriage rights until what 2012 (at the behest of actual leftists and when it finally became politically expedient) and its major health care success was a Heritage Foundation plan full of means testing. It also actively supports an ongoing genocide.
  
  Liberalism can never inherently provide a useful answer to the problems of capitalism, inequality, and climate change because it must protect private property rights and capital. Your party answers to corporate interests and that is a known fact.
  
  Trump literally ran on anti-NAFTA and uses immigration as a scapegoat for peoples' economic woes.
- You’re the real fascism enablers.
  
  Keep telling yourself that, liberal... especially when you watch the liberals you vote for "reaching across the aisle" to your fascist cousins.
So your solution is to increase the genocide and hostility while also pushing us further away from democracy? That just sounds like you're resigned to being stupid and evil.
- So your solution is to increase the genocide and hostility
  
  That's not my "solution," liberal - that is what your precious status quo will be doing anyway.

"How about just a little genocide?"

You're not morally superior for picking complete annihilation over drawn out conflict. You've only increased the blood on your hands.
- Neat.

Looks like the real problem here might be simpletons who believe in a good place and a bad place. They are so busy thinking about silly useless things that they don't bother with where they are at right now. How many people are harmed daily by useless myths? Such as a place called hell which was a garbage dump in ancient israel before they abandoned it or a being who judges you there.

Remember kids get radicalized or you'll go to hell.

You don't have to be a radical to support progressive reform. If anything, a lot of Radicals believe the "both sides bad" flavor of Centrism.

"Jesus christ, that's the shit you got me on?"

*Scribbles "lord's name in vain" on list

How dare you not be an extremist!

Antifascism is not an extreme position
The correct answer/opinion is not always the middle of two "extreme" options. Thinking so is fallacious.

Abolition was "extreme" during the time of slavery.

Letting perfect be the enemy of the good enables fascism.

Ah, yes, the centrist's mantra.. 🙄
good is when genocide got it

Is centrism the word fascists from both parties are using to get you to line up and vote for the destruction of our republic? "Don't blame me, I voted for kodos!"

Felt a little called out?

Center means you think both red & blue are fucking lunatics.

Thinking both sides are lunatics and you have the only rational take can also be a symptom of being an edgelord.
Yup and neither side can stand that position. I don't enable either side but they are still at it.

I don’t know what you think “the center” is, it doesn’t mean being undecided or voting against human rights. The Left is not a religion, and anything which demands “with us or against us” membership is not any better than fascism.

If you feel personally attacked by this, it's you.
- I don’t feel personally attacked by it, I was just commenting
It's you. You're the meme. You're going to hell when you die.
- I am not seeking validation from any far leftists here, I only make these posts because it’s important for left leaning folks to know where their opinions suck. The far left wants to run the world like a charity project. No one asks to be born, so no one owes anyone anything. People should be humane because those are useful values for societal organization. But some people can weaponize kindness and use it against those who possess it, like those who do so in abusive relationships. There’s near overlap between countries receiving foreign aid and being high in corruption. Should we be taxing the wealthy higher to address a lot of these problems and also threats to democracy? Yes, people on the right and left admit this. But I can’t even take some of the leftist arguments seriously because they lack any understanding of reality, and repeat only average college student arguments. I am bored with this.
- Real hell would be having to listen to leftists all fuckin day.

As a centrist, you have my approval

I have to say, growing up very left wing, I find myself taking a left leaning but centrist attitude to a fair few topics as I age.

Honestly, a big part of it is the lack of planning and delusional thought tank of the left. The right is far worse and I certainly don't agree with them, but I disagree with the OP and a lot of the general sentiment in the comments.

The world isn't black and white, you cannot be sensibly left or right for every political topic. You need to assess what's best for everyone. Politics has become like UK football hooliganism, you're either with or against and anyone on the other side apparently needs their heads kicked in.

You need to assess what’s best for everyone.

Here's a news flash: both republicans AND democrats want what's best for capitalists and capitalism.

Capitalism by default, requires the large scale oppression of people to function, and will always, again by default, decay in to fascism.

Pretending as if there is some sort of middle ground between them (the right), and leftists, who oppose both capitalism and the state that upholds it, demonstrates at best a complete misunderstanding of the concepts at hand, or at worst, an unflinching support of capitalism and all its ills, and with it the support for all of the oppression it creates to exist.
Accepting that getting more conservative as you age is normal is just an admission that you're fine with being the next generation's "boomer" equivalent.

Life isn't black and white, but some things in life can be. E.g. when someone gets on TV to talk about the risks of climate change and the station puts them next to another talking head who shares their own alternative facts disputing it, there's no "middle ground" that is somehow more correct. There's a factually correct take and there's politicized bullshit.
- Disagree with your first sentence entirely.
  
  I didn't admit it's normal, I said it has happened to me. You're proving my point entirely with these generalised sweeping statements, telling me who I am and what I'm fine with.
  
  I agree somewhat with your second paragraph but I don't really know what the point is. I'm not talking about bullshit on TV, I'm talking about real issues affecting populations, are not black and white.
  
  Fuck off somewhere and reassess yourself.
Could you please give an example of a policy that you’re centrist on?
- Random off the top of my head thought I had a disagreement with someone the other day.
  
  Climate protestors, like the ones blocking roads etc.
  
  I fully support their right to do it. I agree with their message but dislike how they conduct themselves. I fully support the right of the people in the car to lose their shit and pull them off the road. I also think the cops have a right to arrest someone blocking traffic and refusing to move as well as the person who assaulted the protestor.
  
  I do not believe the police should have powers to arrest for planning a protest. Premeditated protesting being a crime is a fucking joke.
  
  So there's a snapshot of my mind. Complicated issue and I see it from most people's side. Actions have consequences.
You're talking to a bunch of Americans. Their democrats are centre-right and their republicans are further right, so a centrist over there is just right-wing.
I also consider myself mostly left leaning, but I'm a bit centrist on a few issues.

Eg; I 100% support gay marriage and voted yes in my country's referendum, but I don't think all religious people should be forced to do gay weddings.
I recognise that's a slippery slope which could lead to exclusion, but forcing somebody who despises you to do your wedding doesn't seem like a good idea for anyone involved.
- Well I don't think I should have to pander my language to one country, I'm not American and am not speaking in relation to their politics specifically.
  
  But the rest, 100% agree
- You sound more right wing than American Democrats hun.

So we inevitably reaching the claim that everything on the right from left is fascism.

You can be shitty person with shitty political takes without being a fascist and the comic does not say otherwise
- Yet, if my opinions are centrist in nature, it implies I'm enabling fascism somehow
- It's interesting though how it's leftists protest voters or non voters who have taken us closer to fascism than anything liberals have done.

Pelosi's fasicsm enabled conservative fascism. Get the facts straight, pelosi forced biden out, biden was set to win, she wanted a women at all costs to be president. This is her fault.

biden was set to win

My friend, you are abso-fucking-lutely delusional.
- Even if he had won, Biden wasn't holding back some fucking floodgate, fascism is already here, no matter how uncomfortable that makes liberals feel.
Look, I don't know what would have happened if Biden had stayed in the race, but he was obviously unfit to continue as a leader four years ago. Seeing the exit polls and where Harris struggled, I don't believe the outcome would have been different.

Pelosi sucks, and I'd like her to retire, but when she does, the Democrats aren't suddenly going to be better than they are.
- Pelosi sucks, and I'd like her to retire, but when she does, the Democrats aren't suddenly going to be better than they are.
  
  Especially since her hand picked protégé, Hakeem Jeffries, is even more corporatist and anti-left than even SHE is!
  
  Btw, pretty wild that they're choosing to criticize Pelosi for one of the few things she's done right in the 40 or so years she's been a Washington bigwig!
  
  Biden would no doubt have lost in an ACTUAL landslide, and a big part of the reason why Harris lost one of the most winnable presidential elections ever was her insistence to stay further right than two thirds of the base like he did.
Look up what fascism is please.
Pelosi’s fasicsm enabled conservative fascism.

Take a deep dive into Pelosi's Congressional career and you're going to find out why she's worth north of $100M.

People don't like hearing about a Girl Boss Liberal Champion having her hands buried up to the elbows in the corrupt water guzzling agriculture industry and Silicon Valley money machine. But it's an inconvenient truth that will continue to eat away at democracy until it is addressed.

I'd call that a bigger problem than her desire for a woman president. Harris has a lot going against her that's got nothing to do with her gender.