On the off chance you haven't heard - June is “Pride Month” and so in addition to there being rainbows on pretty much everything for the next few weeks (including corporate advertising), there will be many events taking place in our communities that will attract some people - and repel others.
As usual, Ken, spot on. I just find it a bit sad that we dedicate a month to sexual preference but only a day for those who gave their lives for our freedom.
Military Appreciation Month runs through each and every May, and has done for the last 23 years. The fact that you don’t even care enough to know that says a lot, but doesn’t really surprise.
Yes, we “dedicate a month to a sexual preference”, a sexual preference that’s still illegal in about 70 countries worldwide, even carrying the death penalty. It’s impossible to put a number on how many have been tortured and killed for this ’preference’ and continue to be every single day. In America there are many, including those in power, publicly calling for persecution of homosexuals, many face violence especially from the followers of major religions, whose revered texts prescribe stoning to death. Happy Pride Month.
You're absolutely right, Ned. It seems to me that this would've been a much more appropriate focus of Pride month, but I really don't think they want to get involved in criticizing countries that are mainly black and Muslim - those optics might be "problematic"...
True. Although it IS called ‘Pride’ month. It’s supposed to be a positive celebration of what’s been achieved, and what can be achieved through progressive activism. I think hounding conservatives for their backwards ideas has limited efficacy compared with showing them the way forward, which is much a more sustainable strategy. Those ‘black and Muslim’ societies are simply trailing us. 100 years ago we were in the same place they are now, but with each new generation, they become more enlightened (in general), as do we. It’s important not to be too judgy of people who were raised in starkly different circumstances as we were. For example, if I had been born and raised in Afghanistan, I might very likely be a deeply conservative homophobe as well, so I should be patient with those who were raised in such a place. I should not extend that same patience and tolerance to someone who was born and raised in a western democracy and still holds deeply conservative and hateful values, they have no excuse. The LGBTQ movement has a long way to go in the West as well. As we’ve seen conservatives lean into anti-trans sentiment more and more as a way to stir up the aging base. Positivity will be the way forward.
The Trans movement has been very good at deflecting criticism from legitimate issues. Most of the problems people have concern rights that are being violated by trans people themselves, mainly consisting of incursion into female spaces. To counter this, trans activists tell us how bigoted "conservatives" are towards the LGBTQ+ population when it really concerns only one of those letters. And it's hardly just conservatives, although they're likely more vocal about it and are an easy target. It also has nothing to do with age. As it stands, this movement is actively rolling back gay rights and women's rights that took decades to secure, not to mention advocating harm to minors. There's nothing positive about that.
It’s much more productive to talk in specifics. For example, when you say “the trans movement has been very good at deflecting…”, what does that mean? What is ‘the trans movement’ and what are the examples. I could take a guess, but my experiences are surely different from yours so we’d be talking about different things. I’d consider myself to be very much on the left, progressive side of things, but the only time I hear about trans issues is when I’m consuming conservative/right media. In fact, they appear fixated on the issue. Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro and that whole crowd devote significant time and attention to transphobic content, as it obviously gets far greater online engagement than anything else, and people like Jordan Peterson have built a highly lucrative career almost exclusively around transphobia. All the trans people that I know are far less knowledgeable about the so-called ‘trans movement’ than the average conservative is.
I try very hard not to attack the person with the comments I make. So, whether it a "movement" or not is kind of beside the point, I guess. The fact is, there are ideals being pushed on a broad section of the public that are not helpful for most societies and these ideals are automatically and almost gleefully accepted by leadership in academia, media, and government. It's not surprising to me that there will be some pushback. This is not hate.
It seems to me that the trans activists (whether they speak for all or most trans people is debatable), but the activists count on riding on the coattails of the gays and lesbians who are largely accepted by society.
One thing this piece should be commended for is that you included an example. This is refreshing, as most of the time when we come across these types of opinions, we have no idea where it comes from...it’s just word salads about pronouns and changing rooms, accompanied by hyperbole and hysteria (which this piece also avoids).
BUT, I think the example you have given really shows what an absolute nothing burger this whole issue is, in my view. An email was sent by someone at a school in Ottawa suggesting the idea of addressing students as ‘they/them’ during pride month? I mean, really? This is the most pressing issue on people’s minds? Doesn’t this seem like extremely diligent reactionary outrage farming?
That’s what I take from this, anyway.
The other thing is that, in my experience, trans people don’t prefer ‘they/them’ pronouns. All the trans people I’ve met simply use the pronouns related to the gender to which they’d like to be referred. That is, ‘he/him’ or ‘she/her’. ‘They/them’ is used by non-binary, or more commonly by people who wish to destigmatize the idea of non-binary identity, as a statement of solidarity with non-binary community. I too, find the ‘they/them’ pronouns to be a silly idea, but I’ve literally never been asked to use them. How often are you confronted with this problem?
The email actually stated that come September of the new school year, the default would be to use they/them pronouns for all the studeants. The fact that it happened during pride was just a convenient way to virtue-signal their decision. You may be totally right about trans-people not using they/them pronouns. If so, it makes this policy even more ridiculous, since it applies to an even smaller piece of the pie (as it were). Besides, the pronoun deal is by far the least of my concerns. It's really just annoying to me.
I haven’t seen the email and the only report I could find was vague. I suspect it was never in much danger of becoming an official policy at the school.
My point is that if people are seeking to be outraged, and are determined to find a source of outrage, then they will find it. The ‘controversy’ we ‘re witnessing around the trans panic is a clear instance of this in my view. Just look at the whole Bud Light boycott fiasco, it’s incredible the lengths these people will go to find something that upsets them and to have public tantrums about it. I think there are some important issues around medical treatment for children and parents rights, but the issue has been hijacked by the right wing troll-sphere to generate clicks and distract from the fact that the conservative side has zero to offer in terms of real policies or solutions for the ACTUAL issues affecting people.
Moral panic is all the rage these days - from both sides. The news media loves it. This is a little bit different in that it's not just conservatives who have a problem with these policies (even though they're an easy target).
As usual, Ken, spot on. I just find it a bit sad that we dedicate a month to sexual preference but only a day for those who gave their lives for our freedom.
Military Appreciation Month runs through each and every May, and has done for the last 23 years. The fact that you don’t even care enough to know that says a lot, but doesn’t really surprise.
Yes, we “dedicate a month to a sexual preference”, a sexual preference that’s still illegal in about 70 countries worldwide, even carrying the death penalty. It’s impossible to put a number on how many have been tortured and killed for this ’preference’ and continue to be every single day. In America there are many, including those in power, publicly calling for persecution of homosexuals, many face violence especially from the followers of major religions, whose revered texts prescribe stoning to death. Happy Pride Month.
You're absolutely right, Ned. It seems to me that this would've been a much more appropriate focus of Pride month, but I really don't think they want to get involved in criticizing countries that are mainly black and Muslim - those optics might be "problematic"...
True. Although it IS called ‘Pride’ month. It’s supposed to be a positive celebration of what’s been achieved, and what can be achieved through progressive activism. I think hounding conservatives for their backwards ideas has limited efficacy compared with showing them the way forward, which is much a more sustainable strategy. Those ‘black and Muslim’ societies are simply trailing us. 100 years ago we were in the same place they are now, but with each new generation, they become more enlightened (in general), as do we. It’s important not to be too judgy of people who were raised in starkly different circumstances as we were. For example, if I had been born and raised in Afghanistan, I might very likely be a deeply conservative homophobe as well, so I should be patient with those who were raised in such a place. I should not extend that same patience and tolerance to someone who was born and raised in a western democracy and still holds deeply conservative and hateful values, they have no excuse. The LGBTQ movement has a long way to go in the West as well. As we’ve seen conservatives lean into anti-trans sentiment more and more as a way to stir up the aging base. Positivity will be the way forward.
The Trans movement has been very good at deflecting criticism from legitimate issues. Most of the problems people have concern rights that are being violated by trans people themselves, mainly consisting of incursion into female spaces. To counter this, trans activists tell us how bigoted "conservatives" are towards the LGBTQ+ population when it really concerns only one of those letters. And it's hardly just conservatives, although they're likely more vocal about it and are an easy target. It also has nothing to do with age. As it stands, this movement is actively rolling back gay rights and women's rights that took decades to secure, not to mention advocating harm to minors. There's nothing positive about that.
It’s much more productive to talk in specifics. For example, when you say “the trans movement has been very good at deflecting…”, what does that mean? What is ‘the trans movement’ and what are the examples. I could take a guess, but my experiences are surely different from yours so we’d be talking about different things. I’d consider myself to be very much on the left, progressive side of things, but the only time I hear about trans issues is when I’m consuming conservative/right media. In fact, they appear fixated on the issue. Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro and that whole crowd devote significant time and attention to transphobic content, as it obviously gets far greater online engagement than anything else, and people like Jordan Peterson have built a highly lucrative career almost exclusively around transphobia. All the trans people that I know are far less knowledgeable about the so-called ‘trans movement’ than the average conservative is.
I try very hard not to attack the person with the comments I make. So, whether it a "movement" or not is kind of beside the point, I guess. The fact is, there are ideals being pushed on a broad section of the public that are not helpful for most societies and these ideals are automatically and almost gleefully accepted by leadership in academia, media, and government. It's not surprising to me that there will be some pushback. This is not hate.
It seems to me that the trans activists (whether they speak for all or most trans people is debatable), but the activists count on riding on the coattails of the gays and lesbians who are largely accepted by society.
One thing this piece should be commended for is that you included an example. This is refreshing, as most of the time when we come across these types of opinions, we have no idea where it comes from...it’s just word salads about pronouns and changing rooms, accompanied by hyperbole and hysteria (which this piece also avoids).
BUT, I think the example you have given really shows what an absolute nothing burger this whole issue is, in my view. An email was sent by someone at a school in Ottawa suggesting the idea of addressing students as ‘they/them’ during pride month? I mean, really? This is the most pressing issue on people’s minds? Doesn’t this seem like extremely diligent reactionary outrage farming?
That’s what I take from this, anyway.
The other thing is that, in my experience, trans people don’t prefer ‘they/them’ pronouns. All the trans people I’ve met simply use the pronouns related to the gender to which they’d like to be referred. That is, ‘he/him’ or ‘she/her’. ‘They/them’ is used by non-binary, or more commonly by people who wish to destigmatize the idea of non-binary identity, as a statement of solidarity with non-binary community. I too, find the ‘they/them’ pronouns to be a silly idea, but I’ve literally never been asked to use them. How often are you confronted with this problem?
The email actually stated that come September of the new school year, the default would be to use they/them pronouns for all the studeants. The fact that it happened during pride was just a convenient way to virtue-signal their decision. You may be totally right about trans-people not using they/them pronouns. If so, it makes this policy even more ridiculous, since it applies to an even smaller piece of the pie (as it were). Besides, the pronoun deal is by far the least of my concerns. It's really just annoying to me.
I haven’t seen the email and the only report I could find was vague. I suspect it was never in much danger of becoming an official policy at the school.
My point is that if people are seeking to be outraged, and are determined to find a source of outrage, then they will find it. The ‘controversy’ we ‘re witnessing around the trans panic is a clear instance of this in my view. Just look at the whole Bud Light boycott fiasco, it’s incredible the lengths these people will go to find something that upsets them and to have public tantrums about it. I think there are some important issues around medical treatment for children and parents rights, but the issue has been hijacked by the right wing troll-sphere to generate clicks and distract from the fact that the conservative side has zero to offer in terms of real policies or solutions for the ACTUAL issues affecting people.
Moral panic is all the rage these days - from both sides. The news media loves it. This is a little bit different in that it's not just conservatives who have a problem with these policies (even though they're an easy target).
I suppose that's true.