No also not this one
So Atwood posted a video.
Not a good choice of video. A big chunk of it is about Maya Forstater and of course gets a lot wrong. (Of course because they always do.) Maya sets her straight.
As many women are pointing out it’s Do it to Julia. That’s no good.
Imagine having to defend yourself from accusations of transphobia by Margaret Atwood.
Sorry, it’s just that every so often the new normal just sort of slaps me in the face.
Obviously she is trying to deflect attention. I remember doing that once i middle school. I was being bullied and I tried to turn the bullies’ attention towards another of their favorite targets. It didn’t work, and I lost respect of people.
Margaret should know this won’t work.
Margaret, turn to the TERF side. We have ice cream. And now, apparently, a surplus of tea cakes.
I can’t believe Atwood chose a jammiedodger video to demonstrate….well, anything. He’s not the brightest.
I’m not familiar with his…”work.”
I can almost feel sad for her, since this move signals so strongly the desperation in her flailing about, begging to be forgiven for her accidental slip into Thoughtcrime. Seeing the appalling abuse she has recieved.
Almost.
But not quite.
Not quite yet.
Ms. Atwood, you should have seen this coming a mile off. In fact, you’ve seen this before, quite recently. It is all too familiar, and is the foundation of your current fear and desperation. As a writer and founder of PEN in English Canada, I find it hard to comprehend your inability to recognize the hateful villification and demonization of JK Rowling for what it is, a smear campaign intended to frighten and intimidate any and all women who would dare to question or doubt gender ideology in public, in even the mildest fashion. A campaign against sex-based rights, and against the very idea of women setting boundaries for their own health, safety and well being.
I’m not going to talk about science, and sex and gametes. I’m not a scientist. I’m going to talk about writing and words and research. This is your field. You of all people will know the importance and power of words and ideas. So let me ask you about those. Did you actually decide for yourself, from your own research into what she has said and written, that yes, JK Rowling is indeed a horrible, evil person, a TERF who really wants to harm trans people and have them all killed? Because that is what she has been accused of. Literally. I’ve read the accusations. Have you? Can you tell us exactly where she said any of these things? Can you point to a quote? If her crimes are so numerous and manifest, then nothing should be easier. Her words are not hidden, secret or hard to find. I’ve read the allegedly “transphobic” tweets and essay. Have you? This JK Rowling bent on Trans Genocide does not exist. Yet the existence of this mythical monster is now taken as read, an established fact that needs no evidence. She is now JK Rowling, Noted Transphobe.
As you waded into this discussion, I don’t believe you could have missed the tang of brimstone on the wind, or failed to spot the torches and pitchforks as you went down this path. The misogyny. The unreasoning hatred and explicitly, sexually violent threats hurled at Rowling. They were not hidden from view either. They were collected and broadcast on social media. I came across them without looking for them, in the course of my usual internet activity. Did you? You sided with these “activists” and mouthed their slogans. But maybe you did as little reasearch into their aims goals and methods as you did with respect to Rowling’s words. But then, disaster. You decided for yourself that Rosie DiManno was not a TERF. “She’s not one of those Evil, Trans-Genocidal Monsters, ” you said. “She’s not one of them.” And you were right. You were this close…
But now the trans activist bullies’ eyes are on you. What do you do? In desperation, you now throw Rowling, and Maya Forstater under the bus. As with Rowling, you fail in your duty of due diligence to look into the facts of Forstater’s case, taking at face value the prejudiced and twisted conclusions of those who have monstered her. You repeat and amplify the lies. And here’s the thing. This is where your fear and desperation come from. You knew what this crowd was doing to these two women well enough that you thought you could shield yourself from meeting the same treatment by joining in their vilification of Rowling and Forstater. Wicked and cowardly at the same time.
Put to the test, you have sided with the bullies. But it’s too late. You will never be pure enough for them. Never again. All you will be is another woman used as an example to others, to keep them silent and compliant and afraid. You will, in turn, be someone else’s “Julia.” Reaping, sowing; going around, coming around; karma. Call it what you will. It’s almost too neatly ironic to be true. Yet here you are. I’m sure there’s a good story in there somewhere; I’m just no longer sure that you are the right person to tell it.
Maria MacLachlan did a series of videos on those videos https://youtu.be/J6qwF8iPQoo
Ophelia@4:
Don’t be. Your world will be no richer for it.
Tineke:
Yes. King Critical has also spoken about him from time to time: https://www.youtube.com/c/KingArPharaz%C3%B4n
In the vanishingly unlikely event that anyone feels their life would be improved by learning about jammiedodger, you may now knock yourself out.
If Maya Forstater is a “transphobe”, then everyone is. I’m actually cringing now at how Atwood is scuffling for kudos; I cannot believe this is actually her.
Latsot, do you and Fortran have room? I want to marry you and move in.
James Garnett, you just miscapitalized latsot. I do so hope he has not harmed himself over it. Check in, latsot, let us know you’re okay.
The heartbreak of miscapitalisation! Again! On these pages!
I expect better of the moderator.
Asleep at the wheel, clearly. We just can’t get good help these days.