Guest post: Like a towel
Originally a comment by Sonderval on Too small to measure.
I think this topic is so popular with politicians because it is like a towel in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost.”
Support for “trans rights” is like a towel: If you express vocal support for “trans rights”, you can automatically be assumed to be right on all the other issues the left cares about. “Trans rights” are optimal here for three reasons:
1. They negatively affect only something deemed unimportant by most (women’s rights).
2. Implementing measures to ensure “trans rights” is easy and does not interrupt existing power structures. If you were to fight for racial equality, for the poor etc., you would have to actually DO something about it (increase taxes for the rich, improve social measures for the poor, fight against racial prejudice etc.). Trans rights are like an easy-to-carry-along towel: You can simply say “Let everyone be considered a woman who wants to” and you’re done and everyone will assume that you would also fight for other social justice measures even if you never do.
3. They are so contrary to common sense that you also signal to be a person of great sophistication who is able to overcome wrong misconceptions and prejudices (and if you can do this here, the towel effect makes sure that people will believe you do it everywhere). It is the ultimate virtue signalling.
The appalling, unconscious irony of the sub-title on a “progressive” site is stunning [highlights mine]:
‘Religious’ Men Promise Murder Charges And Civil War Over Abortion
Male anti-abortion religious leaders mull murder charges for pregnant people at a national event.
https://crooksandliars.com/2023/07/religious-men-promise-murder-charges-and
If they were going to be consistent, shouldn’t the main headline read: ‘Religious’ People Promise Murder Charges Etc.?
Do they even care?
Jeezus. It’s only “women” that’s a dirty word. Unbelievable.
I do wish people could put their phrases in the correct order. When I read this, I think of Gilead, with the public executions and hanging on the wall. Very unpleasant, though I have little doubt that is what the religions men want to do to the pregnant people
it would be interesting to know if the religious men referred to them as pregnant people. Somehow I think not. One of the few positive traits about the religious right is that they can tell the difference between a man and a woman.
Sorry – my above post was supposed to be on the post about the males and pregnant people.
I think of “trans rights” as the ultimate, easy, empty gesture: literally stroke of a pen stuff. You build nothing new, fund nothing new (in fact, you defund things, like women’s programs, because these can be handled by generic programs, see RISE in Brighton UK for an example), establish nothing new. You just push males in where they don’t belong and assume it will be fine.
The best comparison I can think of is solving homelessness by stopping the locking of doors, and assuming that the homeless, no longer prevented from accessing housing, will seamlessly integrate into existing housing.
Except that I think the problem with that idea is obvious. The problem with Self ID ought to be also, but most people can imagine the perspective of a home owner or renter; apparently far fewer can imagine the perspective of a woman or girl.
The beauty of this tactic is that the reverse is considered to be true: If you doubt or criticize the idea of “trans rights,” it is automatically assumed that you are opposed to all other issues the left caresabout, making you a fascist and a Nazi whose view mustn’t be allowed to be heard. This helps to disguise the fact that much resistance to “trans lights” come from women who are on the left. But failure to bow down to gender ideology makes them “No True Leftist.”