It is not easy to say what the alt-centre is, but it is easy to say what it isn’t. The alt-centre is the sixth political position: the one that remains after the explicit rejection of the other five positions. This rejection is necessary because all five positions have evidently failed. This essay seeks to delineate the boundaries of alt-centrism by rejecting the flaws of the other positions.
The alt-centre rejects the position of the old right that the current system is the best system and that the status quo ought to be maintained.
The desire to always keep everything the same is an instinct born of fear of change and greed. Not everything has to stay the same as much as possible and for as long as possible. To fear change is to misorient oneself because everything changes; all of the contents of consciousness are temporary. Therefore, the alt-centre rejects conservatism for conservatism’s sake.
Much the same as all of the non-right-wing positions, the alt-centre is appalled by heavy concentrations of wealth and power in few hands. The alt-centre shares a sense with these other positions that gross inequalities of privilege are obscene, on account of that there is a limit to how much privilege can be earned. Compassion for those who are on the edges of poverty is paramount.
Verticalism is rejected by the alt-centre, for the reason that the majority of people in Western societies are educated to a decent level and can therefore be expected to be reasoned with. Reasoning with people, instead of bullying, mocking, coercing or abusing them, is how bonds of solidarity are formed, and so it ought to be encouraged where practicable.
The alt-centre rejects the position of the old left that the ruling class is inherently illegitimate and that anyone with wealth or power is bad.
Just because someone has wealth and power doesn’t make them evil. Trying to rip people down because of envy is not a behaviour that will lower the prevalence of human suffering on this planet – to the contrary. That sort of resentment-based aggression is precisely the sort of slave morality that the alt-centre rejects.
Horizontalism is therefore also rejected by the alt-centre. Instead, a premium is placed on scientific evidence. This tells us clearly that there are no two things in Nature that are precisely equal, and therefore a desire to equalise everything is a recipe for eternal conflict.
The correct way to get those born into unearned privilege to relinquish it is not by threats and violence and it isn’t by trashing the whole world. It is by reason. The alt-centre seeks to minimise the deleterious effects of unearned privilege by maintaining strong bonds of solidarity across all groups within society, so that none are incentivised to hoard wealth by an indifference to the poverty of others.
The alt-centre rejects the position of the old centre that an insipid compromise between the old left and the old right is the way forward.
You can’t have a compromise between people who seek to cling to power at all costs and people who just want to trash the whole world. This inevitably leads to short-term solutions that fail to meet the genuine long-term challenges of our political and economic climate. These short-term solutions end up causing more damage in the medium to long term.
Neoliberalism is an example of an insipid compromise. In the case of neoliberalism, we get a plastic corporate liberalism that seeks to McDonaldsise the whole planet for the sake of maximum profit and efficiency. Such compromises are considered categorically wrong by the alt-centrist, which abhors reducing things to their lowest common denominator.
In any case, the centre demands the perpetuation of the Establishment, and the alt-centre cannot accept this. The alt-centre cannot accept that the Establishment be allowed to remain on their throne. They have fucked up too badly. In any case, the challenges facing us are too massive, and our culture too sclerotic to adapt to meet them – they can only be overcome with a new paradigm of thought.
The alt-centre rejects the position of the alt-right that segregation and separation are the answers to the failures of the Establishment.
There are many competing ideologies in the world, and most of them have glaringly obvious flaws, it is true. But isolating oneself from these competing ideologies, like a monk hiding in some mountain retreat, is not a philosophy that can sustain an entire nation. Just because the Establishment has failed doesn’t mean we have to throw all of societal advancement and all culture out the window.
Just because the Western World has fallen into chaos, doesn’t mean that we should swing as far as possible in the direction of order. The lessons of the Hemoclysm are still relevant – absolute power still corrupts absolutely. All totalitarian ideas about controlling information or limiting freedom of expression – whether in cyberspace or meatspace – are rejected by the alt-centre.
Related to this, the alt-centre rejects all obsessions with degeneracy, purity and wholesomeness. Altering one’s consciousness for the sake of creativity or social interaction is not “degenerate”. The alt-centre argues that avoiding all drugs is saying no to life, and is therefore an anti-life philosophy. Likewise, the desire for an ethnostate is anti-life, because a diversity of human phenotypes is natural. The alt-centre rejects all anti-life philosophies.
The alt-centre rejects the position of the alt-left that diversity is strength.
It’s obvious that having some things in common is necessary for any group to function as a group. In order for the concept of a group to even be possible, the individuals that institute it have to have something in common. The more they have in common, the stronger the bonds of solidarity will be. These strong bonds of solidarity are necessarily for a society to function.
It’s also obvious that open borders are simply going to lead to a primitive, precarious and paranoid existence where nothing can be certain from one moment to the next. There is no moral imperative to make our societies more diverse just for the sake of it. Indeed, the alt-centre would argue that diversity allows the ruling classes to divide and conquer the masses more effectively. The correct balance between solidarity and diversity has to be struck.
Moreover, the alt-centre completely rejects the new anti-white narrative that is being promoted by the alt-left. The only real privilege is class privilege: a black man with money is more privileged than a poor white man. This remains the core of alt-centre philosophy. The moral imperative is not to God, or to the State, but to alleviate suffering in our fellows.
These five rejections are sufficient for the alt-centre to carve out its own niche in political space. It is one that will grow, and may well eventually come to power. Anyone who repudiates any one of these rejections cannot be an alt-centrist.
Come on, give me some love here fellas, this is higher quality than the standard Jow Forums fare
Isaiah Smith
its centrist bullshit. You're strawmanning other positions and think your own incongruent beliefs are above everyone elses.
Jack Moore
You make good points on rejecting isolationism. Regarding drug use, does the alt centre consider addiction and addiction related issues to be a part of life experience? Dont get me wrong. Im pro legalization but Im against promoting or even legalizing drug usage in an immature society. Moreover in an unhealthy society, one that lacks alternative coping mechanisms other than escapism through substance abuse. *smug anime girl pic attached*
Nolan Lopez
You make good points on rejecting isolationism. Regarding drug use, does the alt centre consider addiction and addiction related issues to be a part of life experience? Dont get me wrong. Im pro legalization but Im against promoting or even legalizing drug usage in an immature society. Moreover in an unhealthy society, one that lacks alternative coping mechanisms other than escapism through substance abuse.
Joshua Cruz
the problem of centrism is usually its lack of empathic (empathetic?) potential to the masses. Its neutrality fails to motivate adherents. Also the specificness of the ideology can be easily misinterpreted. Problem solution isnt black and white but politics, politics are black and white fren
John Scott
So you want alcohol banned? Sounds pretty harsh desu
Matthew Thompson
It's alt-centrist faggot, didn't you read the title?
Lucas Cox
Here's a you for the effort post.
And a tip; if you focus on money, you haven't taken a single step forward.
Embrace the psychic singularity. Our goals should be the investigation of the mind, and developing the technology which uses thought as it's substance.
This is the way forward.
Benjamin Hughes
Beggining an ideology on a rejection basis means by definition that everything else outside of those rejections is part of the alt centre. If you really want to start an alt centre then begin by its core values, not by what it isnt. Which again centrism never does anyway. i may type with weird grammar but those dont lie
Listen fren, I was refering to high addictive high damage substances. Also you cant expect quality replies if you dont give quality replies yourself. I dont want them to be promoted. Every young male that dies due to alcohol or stronger drugs is statistically an economical loss.
Eli Thomas
You think you can use reason to convince a multibillionaire to give up their wealth to help impoverished people?
Anthony Reyes
interesting user. are you doing any work in this thought area? just curious
tl;dr version: Equality doesn't exist, diversity is a d&c tactic, rich people should give their money to poor people voluntarily, segregation and ethnostates are evil, authority is bad, wholesomeness is bad, if you don't do drugs you might as well be dead.
David Cox
I need about five million dollars and a secure warehouse.
Then I'd be able to show you people why advances in computing is a cute little joke compared to the r&d of nature over eons.
The brain is wired in multiple 'dimensions' user. Tell me how close we are to matching that in silicone valley.
