Originally a comment by Your Name’s not Bruce? on Different complex views.

“But it didn’t take me long to realise that it was a common cause – that the fascists are after anyone who is different, any minority. But you need those experiences to discover that solidarity.”

But Billy, you don’t find solidarity with absolutely every “different” minority, do you? You don’t accept them all. Murders, arsonists, and rapists are all “different,” and all (thankfully) minorities. So are fascists themselves. I daresay that some of them would claim to be unjustly persecuted. Do you find common cause with them? How is it that you choose the “worthy” minorities whose struggles you support?

…Bragg suggested he was embarrassed to have come to the issue fairly late. His instincts went back to old ties of solidarity against discrimination.

Couldn’t stand the thought of being outdone by a “luxury communist,” could you?

Well, your instincts led you astray. You cashed in your solidarity chips before doing your research and due diligence. You just gauged the way the wind was blowing at that moment and went with it, as powerless to resist as a dandelion fluff, going willy nilly, wherever it took you. And here you are, a full blown misogynyist, attempting to cloak your contempt for women with a threadbare, self righteous “solidarity” with abusive autogynophiles and their allies. Congratulations Billy, you found your people! Not only that, you’re spokesman too! Nice gig, eh?

I haven’t seen evidence for Bragg’s assertion that his most prominent opponents are “saying that trans people don’t exist”.

Trans people don’t exist in exactly the same way that invisible people, astrologers, and psychics don’t exist. The people certainly exist, but they are mistaken in the claims they make about themselves. At this point, I would say that like invisibility, astrology, and pychic powers, “transness” itself does not exist. Humans can’t change sex. Nobody is born in the “wrong” body. Certainly many people have serious psychological discomfort with the nature of their bodies and their sexual orientation, but none of this has anything to do with any sort of structure or entity like a “gender identity.” Replace the phrase “gender identity” with terms like “unclean spirit” or “demon” and you’ve lost nothing of value; they are all equally meaningless.

“My problem with people like Rowling, like Julie Bindel, is really who they are lined up with,”

What about you, Billy? There’s a nearly infinite list of things that you know or believe that “line up” exactly with the knowledge and beliefs of “fascists.” What colour is the sky? How much is two plus two? What’s the name of the tall, splotchy, spindly-legged, long-necked animal that lives on the savannahs of Africa? Does agreeing with “fascists” on the answers to any of these questions make you a fascist? Then why should Rowling’s and Bindel’s belief in the reality of sex make them fascists?

“[Rowling and Bindel] are people who I agree with about women’s rights.”

No, Billy, you really, really don’t.