By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 09/07/2026There's plenty of reasons to be skeptical of centrists who bemoan "political polarization" and call for a politics that abandons the "tribalism of left and right." 1/ 7289120
By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 09/07/2026If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: pluralistic.net/2026/07/08/w... 2/pluralistic.netPluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow – No trackers, no ads. Black type, white background. Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period. 1649
Michael Nabert @sustainablesong.bsky.social · 09/07/2026"Centrism" is surrender to the extreme right without the courage to admit it. The "middle ground" between "Let's commit genocide" and "No, that's wrong" is a slightly smaller genocide. The "middle ground" between "Drill baby drill" & "Listen to climate science" is a global hothouse hellscape. 151
Cold Snacks @hautetamale.bsky.social · 09/07/2026I apologize for this disagreeance None of these conclusions survive contact with the exercise of volunteerism, civics, and the burden of taking responsibility on the local level Centrism draws optimists, non-careerists, non-rentiers, non-predators, and non-charlatans To exclude this is to suffer 020
Sage Anastasi @sageanastasi.bsky.social · 09/07/2026I've been writing my PhD thesis on this in the New Zealand context! We take the view that a society is polarised when it's split into two all-encompassing, mutually exclusive groups that are held in total segregation by laws and cultural practises bsky.app/profile/sage...Sage Anastasi@sageanastasi.bsky.socialOh hey since this is going around #NZpol bsky, I wrote about this in our context! Peer-reviewed preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2403.18191 Blog post from 2023: sageanastasi.wordpress.com/2023/10/08/p...arxiv.orgMeasuring changes in polarisation using Singular Value Decomposition of network graphsIn this paper we present new methods of measuring polarisation in social networks. We use Random Dot Product Graphs to embed social networks in metric spaces. Singular Value Decomposition of this soci... 152
All Our Yesterdays @allouryesterdays.bsky.social · 09/07/2026In case you missed it - bsky.app/profile/pett...Petter Törnberg@pettertornberg.com‘Polarization’ has become the master concept for diagnosing our current democratic crisis. But this is not polarization. It is the radicalization of the political right. By misdiagnosing it, we risk becoming complicit in the crisis. 🧵 Just out in Perspectives on Politics doi.org/10.1017/S153... 0243
Karl "deadlight" Williams @deadlight.bsky.social · 09/07/2026They want a compromise between fascism and basic human decency. How about only killing half of all marginalised groups? 000
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