On The Wrong Side

Is it common to find oneself on the wrong side of an argument? At a recent discussion of the philosophy group, I think I may have come across as standing for something I definitely don't believe on more than one occasion. One was on the question of whether colonialism was good or bad. I was so conscious of not wanting to alienate the white British people present that I tried to sugar-coat my answer too much. I said something to the effect of 'it was good for some people in the colonies". What I meant was it was and continues to benefit a tiny minority who have preserved the apparatus of the colonial state as it serves them quite well. But my position might have been interpreted as being an apology for colonialism by another white Brit who had a more critical view of empire. The hoops we have to jump through to keep a particular race happy! In another discussion, I was arguing with a man who was railing against cheap clothing made in third-world sweat-shops. I was trying to say that we shouldn't blame consumers for buying them as their real incomes have also been stagnant, and maybe they  couldn't afford more expensive clothes. Which could well have been a point made by one of the fast-fashion retailers. Is the line between progressive and reactionary positions less clear-cut than I had imagined? Or am I just unskilled in expressing my opinion coherently? Well, at least I am not on Twitter, making a fool of myself.