Anyone Here Kinda Sit Somewhere In The Middle Between "Ban All Guns" and "No New Laws"?

[Igel]

9. That's how it is in most things. "The middle" is typically fairly quiet.

It was pointed out a decade ago that the tenor of on-line groups is dictated by those at the extreme. They're loud and shout people down. They impose purity tests. Ultimately they "weed out" those that aren't extreme enough, or the less extreme just fall silent in many discussions.

Confronted with absolutist positions that are clear and easy to enunciate in a sound-bite or two, those with more nuanced, complicated, contingent positions are left back-footed.

Then, unwilling to be put on the outside of the group, the more moderate simply hang back. To oppose the extreme is to risk being seen as an outsider. Labelled a "freeper" or "Agent Mike" or some such insult.