Tim Dunlop: “The whole idea of what is usually called ‘centrism’, or sometimes, ‘sensible centrism’, or even ‘radical centrism’ is predicated on this idea: that if we simply stop listening to the ‘extremists’ from either side of the political spectrum and reach a ‘reasonable consensus’ we will have solved the problem. … Here’s the thing: … the solution is often not going to be found in any so-called compromise. Sometimes there is simply no middle ground. … The arguments [around the Black Lives Matter protests] are not about finding some compromise between police brutality and a non brutalising police force. They are about whether police should be allowed to brutalise members of the public, almost always members of minorities, with impunity, or whether they should be held accountable for this sort of illegal action in the way that almost anyone else is. There is no halfway point here. No middle ground. You either believe police are subject to laws and should be prosecuted when they break them, especially when they murder people, or you don’t. If you don’t, then you are likely a fascist and my obligation to chat with you and to use reason and deliberation to change your mind does not exist. Indeed, to even engage with your abhor[r]ent views is to lend them a credence they do not deserve. … To put it more simply: choose a fucking side.”
4 June 2020