it's like math but not really

2024.11.23
I definitely lean progressive and left, but it's the kind of left that tries to see things from the "other side's" perspective some times - if the people are of good will and intent, and still have some flavor of empathy and not just "got mine, fuck you", then I find it useful to examine what the difference is in starting assumptions that make people lead to such different conclusions.

This some times leads to a feeling of "the answer is somewhere in the middle" which can lead to even worse versions of centrism and a sliding Overton Windowas truly outlandish claims from the other side slide the "center" over.

But my recent internet buddy Scott pointed out: even in basic mathematics it's important to separate a "mean" average (i.e. add everything up, divide by the number of things) from a "median" kind of average (the point where half the values are lower, and half are greater.) And while it's not the same as numeric analysis, when looking for answers that are probably some kind of blend, keeping in mind mean is not median might be useful...