The Angry Moderate

So, I'm somewhat conservative, but I'd like to think of myself as being at least somewhat moderate. What about you?

I dislike extremes on all sides of the political spectrum, but I understand why they are so vocal: it is easy to get angry/bothered/unsettled when you're an extremist. What is difficult (for me) is getting agitated on something where I am moderate.

Is it the "distance" between points of view (take abortion, as an example) that cause extremists to get so annoyed by opposing viewpoints? Does being in "the middle" mean you might be less prone to vociferous defense of your own position? Why don't moderates scream at the top of their lungs, "WHY CAN'T WE ALL SIT DOWN AND REACH A MIDDLE GROUND ON THIS?!"

I think moderates are used to compromising, used to listening to other viewpoints, and are sure that their own viewpoint is debatable and not set in stone. I think this can lead to a lack of "volume" and this might be one reason why extremists tend to dominate the media.

Then again, maybe we just like to simplify things, try to get things down to a simple binary system: black/white, good/bad, etc. Maybe we're just lazy :-) What do you think?