The summer solstice has finally passed, and it's hot as hell with the official start of summer.
I like the cold and mild weather. I hate the heat, seriously. I had 17 years of equatorial heat in Malaysia and Singapore. But considering summer doesn't last that long here, eh, I guess I'm alright with it.
June's been one hell of a month. The protests from George Floyd's murder have expanded into so many other things. Riots and looting, the name changes from brands like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben, and the celebrity virtue signalling, among others. There's a huge impact from the initial call for protests and police reform. It's a long and complicated subject, and I've delved into every aspect I could about all this racism. Maybe I'll type in my thoughts about it another time in detail, maybe I won't. I don't know, depends on my mood. I'm heavily conflicted on some smaller aspects despite agreeing with the general consensus as a whole. Yet the gatekeeping from the extreme left would brand me a racist, and the alt-right would consider me a white-genocidal libtard. I suppose I'm a centrist (centre-left, specifically) in these identity politics times. I used to think I was extremely left and liberal, but over the last 10 years that bipartisan divide has grown so massive that even while I agree with the general ideas of the SJWs, I hate what that culture has become, and what it's come to identify. Yet I cannot in good conscience side with the right when I disagree fundamentally on many issues there. So hence, I take the middle ground as a whole. There's a lot of false accusations about centrists, that they are in the middle of everything, which just annoys the hell out of me. It doesn't mean I think the middle ground of anti-black racism and the KKK lynching blacks is the correct area. It means between the ideas of the far left and far right, I can pick either depending on context, nuance and information. Like a gun-rights supporting democrat, or a universal healthcare-supporting Republican. It's like the idea of the individual has gone down the drain and unless you accept the vast majority of the ideas your side of the political spectrum believes in, you're not one of them, or, they consider you a "put-whatever-insult-they-use-for-the-opposing-side". Like, why can't I pick and choose what I think across the political spectrum without being branded and labeled? It seems I'm not alone too. Jaclyn Glen on YouTube has said exactly what I felt on one of her videos, and shoe0nhead is a good indicator of how I think on a few issues, but not all of course. It's a sentiment a lot of my friends have brought up as well, most notably those who don't identify strongly on the left or the right.
Now that I think of it, I have always been a centrist of sorts, even in non-political stuff. When I took the Four Temperaments Test, I had a near-perfect balance between all 4 aspects. I'm an ENTP too, but I don't really care about personality tests as they're usually not scientifically accurate. It's fun to do and label yourself, but I'd say it's no grounds for proper science in most cases. I don't recall my results for the DISC test though, lol. Anyway, even in church, I've always been a very centred person. City Harvest Church Singapore was much more theologically conservative but I held a few theologically liberal ideas even while attending it. Collective (previously City Harvest Church Kuala Lumpur) had a great balance in straddling the fine line between conservative and liberal theology. In Richmond Hill United Church, they're extremely liberal, but I find I'm not as theologically liberal as them, even if I might be open to new ideas. I suppose you could say I'm socially more liberal, but theologically more conservative? And even that's a huge generalization that doesn't take into account specifics. I used to say that I was too holy for the world and too worldly for the church, and I think that's another indication of taking this middle ground that I still find myself at much later, on many platforms and ideas. Even on the Dawkins 7 point scale, I'd put myself as a 3, or maybe 2.7. Again, something of a "centre-left". The world is complicated, and if someone thinks everything on one side is right, I think they're overly naive, even if their heart might be in the right place. Could I be wrong? Sure. I'm arrogant, but not that arrogant. I might be on the wrong side of history on some smaller aspects.
We'll see. I learn new things everyday (sometimes literal, sometimes a figure of speech). I've always been open to changing my mind and listening to all sides of the debate and divide. That has always allowed me to see the bigger picture and gain a better perspective. It's always about the evidence, and it seems in my own limited, anecdotal experience, it's not that evident to a lot of people.
