Middlegrounders.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger      7 comments      link this post     


Some people come up with their own original ideas, and some people browse through everyone else's output to come up with something to put their label on.

They are the middlegrounders. Everything's a buffet.

Let's put this in the blogger's perspective to better describe what I'm talking about.

A nice fellow with a nice blog recently emailed me and said that he had posted a link to one of my hurricane Katrina posts on his blog. He was very polite and so of course, I checked out his blog to see what he had to say. His post was nice and tasteful and cautious and contained links to other blogs. However, the entire post was one of stating which parts of the other blogger's ideas he agreed with and which ones he didn't. And then of course, a long and reasonable explanation why, with carefully measured wording and a clear avoidance of stepping on anyone's toes.

This is a middlegrounder. This is a person that finds ideas from the right and the left and the front and back and cherry picks a bit out of each so that he comes off as well-rounded, thoughtful and above all, reasonable. He has a completely defensible position no matter the ideological attack because he's taken something from every warring faction and called it his own. He stands for nothing but safety. There's nothing original or earth-shaking coming out of a middlegrounder. The whole point is an exercise in placation of all sides.

Blessed are the peacemakers, maybe, but what about no compromise? Middlegrounders agree but also disagree. What do they have to offer to the discussion then, except noise?

People who find the middle ground are really just taking ideas from both sides and passing it off as theirs. They like lukewarm coffee and mild weather and don't mind a C average. They wait for everyone else to take a stand out on the edge of the limb before rising loftily and safely in the middle, saying they agree and disagree with both points of view. They are parasitic in that they rely on the originality of others to lift them up. Left to contemplate on their own, they dry up like a salamandar covered in salt.

Are you a middlegrounder?

In a flood, the middle ground might not save you. Either drown down low or go for the high ground. Quit splashing around in the surf waiting for the next best boat to latch onto because the noise you're making is irritating. And quit using other people's thoughts and ideas as a spring board to fill up your blog, book, conversation or column.

There are no heroics happening in the middle ground, although you might have an excellent career at the U.N. ahead of you.

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Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger  9/08/2005 05:03:00 PM   (7) comments   Links to this post    

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7 Comments:

I was taught "only a fool is positive." How many times have people completely convinced of one point-of-view without acknowledgement of other's been found to be completely wrong? Frequently. Look at Nixon and Watergate. Look at Reagan selling guns to the Contras. Look at "intelligent design."
Look at Bush doing whatever damage he can do. They love him no matter what, yet he's wrong, wrong, wrong.
I'm not afraid of being wrong. I'm afraid of what happens when we refuse to accept the possibility we may be mistaken.
Lockstepping isn't my cuppa' tea.
Nor yours.

By Blogger Nodak Jack, at 12/9/05 17:16  

Yea, that's it, you've always been a middle grounder. Like I have always been. Never a position, never offended, never taking offense, always pleasing all people except ourselves in dicomforted spinlessness. There are some things even a fool like me is positive about. The sun also rises and sets, we'll start with that and then.......

And Jack, you know I love you. I am just going to keep trying until we get you converted to right thinking. LOL>

Well done again Julie.

By Blogger Gene, at 13/9/05 09:06  

You have lots of great insight, Julie.
But I am not sure that someone can easily be identified in that group at all times (Milquetoast addicts). Many times I will try to find common ground, but on Kelo there is no compromise in property rights.
In one way we are all just recombining and reconstituting ideas when there is "Nothing new under the sun".
I will have you in my buffet if you don't mind.

By Blogger Ronald Rutherford, at 13/9/05 13:11  

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By Blogger Yeoman, at 14/9/05 10:43  

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By Blogger Yeoman, at 14/9/05 10:56  

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By Blogger Yeoman, at 14/9/05 11:49  

Three things of note.

1. I did not use the word "moderate." A middlegrounder is not a moderate, though a moderate sometimes is a middlegrounder.

2. This isn't a post on being a reasonable person, or one on being closed-minded.

3. This wasn't a post excusing lock-stepping, either.

The first paragraph is the summation.

By Blogger Julie, at 14/9/05 12:16  

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