The redoubtable JK Rowling has come in for more than her share of abuse, death and rape threats from moronic narcissistic trans activists and their media minions for daring to take a stand for the rights of women and girls, and for speaking out against the medical abuse perpetuated by the trans movement.
Well, I think the soup is not consumed as hot as it is served, we say in the Netherlands. There is a middle field and there are the extremes. Somehow the world seems to divide in conservative vs progressive ways of thinking and acting. Cutting off a young woman's breasts or castrating boys and girls chemically is bad and should be firmly opposed, but the real evil is in the misconception about reality, on both sides.
You do not need God nor religion to know that abortion is bad, as is permanently damaging healthy bodies. That should be objective facts. These things must be dealt with rationally. That is the only way to win.
I saw the videos of public rallies and heard the disturbing noise of protesters. We have to make us listen to our self, not divide society. There needs to be a unifying rhetoric that most of the normal people can identify with. Extremes are just not sexy.
I saw Matt Walsh movie, heard Jordan Peterson talk to Chloe Cole, and so many other conversations and confrontations. Of course that is how these things play out in the media, but for our common sense, we need a neutral narrative that simply puts things together in a logical way. That is what we need as parents in order to be able to talk about these things with our kids around the dinner table. Where are our bounderies? Why is no no?
Yes, I can live with roleplaying, but no, I don't like killing sentient beings for food. Still, I allow my family to eat some meat when they really want to, because I can only teach by example, less force. So you have to know where you are from and where you are going to. I would never want a mutilation of my genitals just so that they look like something else. That feels like Frankenstein's monster to me. I tend to feel natural is better and yet, I can understand and respect women who miscarry or have an early abortion. Why am I not an absolutist, I don't know exactly, but intuitively I know that life is struggle and we humans animals with a wee bit of mind so we can prevent our instincts from destroying life.
I am a lazy activist. I type on my phone. How do I keep the Voldemorts of this world away? Please comment.
“Unless these individuals (whether they be keyboard warriors, surgeons, politicians or journalists) repent, change their ways, and attempt to make amends for the harm they have done, they deserve no sympathy, no forgiveness, and no peace.”
As someone whose 19-year old daughter had top surgery today, I totally concur. As a Christian, it pains me to feel this way, but part of me wants them to suffer as much as my wife and I have in watching our formerly happy little girl morph into what she’s become. My little girl. Damn this movement and damn those who perpetuate it, no matter their role.
Thank you for this sophisticated anaylsis. I so appreciate the breadth of PITT articles that expose the underbelly of the "trans" cult stealing the minds and bodies of children and young people while framenting their families. As a suffering parent, PITT essays are voices of hope that the horror will be exposed and someday end; this offers some solace, even as I grapple with not knowing if my son will ever find his way out of this awful cult.
Gender dysphoria is real in feeling, but I think it helps to recognize masculine is more than male, and feminine is more than female, and each sex expresses both, while stereotypes harm both sexes, if it feels like you're supposed to be a certain way to be accepted.
From that fear, trans- appears as a fantasy solution, and modern medical science enables the fantasy, and trans- is the correct word, crossing into something new, manufactured 3rd and 4th sexes (transwomen, transmen).
This fantasy reasonably scares many people, and so they invent terms trans-phobia which is correct, yet meant as "wrongness" - transphobes need to grow beyond their "binary bigotry" and accept everyone with love and acceptance. And some won't accept any more than they accept any nonconformers like gays and lesbians, and they'll scapegoat these new sexes for their own twisted reasons. And those scapegoaters really do risk the lives and safety of the new sexes, real danger.
And that danger tells empathetic people that we can't afford to ask our own questions, which will be felt as further harm to their invented sexes. And from the point of an "oppressed" class it can appear ANY resistance, like banning from women's sports, or women's spaces, is equally as harmful as people who might be physically violent. So biological woman are being compelled through "inclusionism" to accept the transwoman as interchangable, even if everyone should agree they are not the same and new harm is possible because trans-people are not just potential victims but also potential perpetrators. And it can seem like biological women have carved out their own safe-spaces for competition and cooperation that is being invaded by biological men under a new name. And self-ID expands that to absurdity so a purely biological male can call himself a trans-woman without even following the medical interventions of hormones and plastic surgery. So it makes sense many woman will consider this an outrage, and it is outrageous that the only respond pro-transactivists have for women is to call them transphobes who need to "grow" in this new reality that women have penises and can rape if they choose.
It all feels pretty senseness and self-righteousness exists on both sides, but it is the trans-activists side that can't face debate, who require all opposition to be dismissed as transphobes and not be allowed to speak in public spaces. Surely trans-activists know they could be wrong, and this could be a terrible fad, and they are the abusers, and someday they may feel regret and be unable to reverse their mistakes. But probably, knowing humans dislike cognitive dissonance so much, they will never "wake up" to their nightmare and if they lose their battle eventually, to them it will because "evil won" and they'll never stop believing that.
I have 2 kids both jumped into trans land after substantial trauma. (Multiple deaths, a move, caring for an unstable autistic adult)
One has come back to reality. The other has not. Kids Google their pain and (according to one of mine) get redirected to trans influencers who promise Gender Euphoria really quickly. Like 3-4 videos after depression.
As I watch my daughter suffer from "affirmative care," I find myself hoping (assuming the individual does not repent) there is a special place in hell for everyone involved in the harming of children, because you are right, "they deserve no sympathy, no forgiveness, and no peace." Well said, thank you for writing.
I agree. It scares me that people get so upset when someone disagrees with them to the point where they make death and rape threats. These people need help, not uncritical support.
Thank you. I am a life-long progressive and defender of human rights, and I think gender ideology is insane, unscientific, and based on steryotypes that I and many others who work with young kids have struggled with for ages. I think the world of J.K. Rowlings. She has her flaws, like everyone, but on the whole, she is one of the good people, particularly on this issue. Her attackers claim she is promoting genocide, but they do not get that one of the themes of the Harry Potter books is that Voldemort is promoting genocide and a form of ethnic cleansing against against us "muggles". Harry and his friends are fighting him on that issue and others. And yes, I am a published writer, and I don't think any writer should be treated the ways she and others have. It is true that there are threats of censhorship coming from the radical right, but many current "progressives" promote it too, May we move towards sane times. Work with us, Harry!
I think the hate for Rowling is in part because the extreme activists expected her to be on their side. There's also a ton of misogyny and narcissism in telling a woman that she doesn't have autonomy over who she sleeps with.
I have spent some time in my life wondering (1) if people ultimately "pay for" their bad behavior and (2) does it count if they/we don't know any better?
Each one of us has perhaps a different take on these deep questions.
To me, the central question -- perhaps the most pertinent question -- for now -- is: how do we best go about countering the harms that are being done, whether those harms are done knowingly or unintentionally?
And the answer appears to be: by exposing the truth, as best we know it, as best we can. By presenting the facts about hormones, mental health, adolescent confusion, gender stereotypes, surgical consequences, who is behind gender ideology and why, and so forth. By promoting open discussion and allowing for critical thinking. By supporting efforts of de-transitioners to speak publicly and be heard. By sharing info with our political representatives, teachers, librarians, and school principals and boards, doctors. By writing letters to editors and sharing info online. By continuing to love our kids and listen and talk, as much as feasible.
How, if no one wants to listen? As I have suggested before, I believe we are heading in the direction of reaching a critical mass. And then things turn around.
The threats and insults of extremist activists is frightening and intimidating, for sure. And so are the violent protests against the harms of the ideology. (The way to stop trans ideologues is NOT by bombing a gay nightclub.)
I truly don't know what it is going to take to listen to one another without resorting to violence but we'd better figure it out before we destroy humanity completely.
I pray that the New Year ushers in some saner, more loving and compassionate kinds of understanding. Thank you, all of you, for continuing to address this issue (& others). Thank you, PITT.
I recommend the book, C.S. Lewis, "The Problem of Pain" to understand how we pay for our behavior every day. I do not wonder if people know better because their insanity is the manifestation of a guilty conscience. The professionals who are "affirming" trans identifying children know better and many are downright evil. Some people are still in a discovery phase on the issue, and not evil, but those people are still listening. If they shut you down and scream at you, their conscience is bothering them immensely.
I believe these 'professionals' are full of narcissism exactly as this ideology promotes. And a healthy dose of arrogance on the side. They spout virtuous nonsense and self-righteous compassion, but it all centers around themselves. I hate all of them and not afraid to say it.
Like Voldemort, they must deny and suppress the facts. Truth is never based on one's personal beliefs or desires and that's all they have to support their version of reality. Truth depends on solid, well-examined evidence and sound logic. Voldemort and his ilk deal in fear, innuendo, and superstition. Sadly, that doesn't mean they're weak. There are always people who use those currencies to bolster their bids for power. And there are always well-intentioned and kind, but far too gullible fools who prefer superstion to actual science.
Trans is driven by the desire for immortality. Whether they see it or not, clinicians are driven by the intoxicating idea of breaking through human limits, in this case the sex binary. With faith in the myth of the goodness of progress, these clinicians thirst to have their names written in the book of heroes. They are driven by pride and nothing more. Pride never fails to be the author of misery.
Agree 100%, it is a religion - some would say the latest iteration of Satanism in fact. Transhumanism is the word for it I think, Anonymous Dad. Paralysing fear of death and the arrogant fantasy that they can somehow transcend it.
This is an interesting Catholic perspective on the links - Martine Rothblatt makes them explicit.
I appreciate how the article referenced Jennifer Bilek's 11th hour blog. She writes on this in great detail.
On another note, this makes me want to read Rene Girard all the more. His mimetic theory is fascinating. Also, how cheeky of Rothblatt to name his child Jenesis. He knows quite well the first book of the Bible is about the calamity and enslavement that happens when humans seek immortality. I don't think for a minute Rothblatt's project is about human liberation. It's about enslavement to his will.
Agree!
Bravo 👏
Well, I think the soup is not consumed as hot as it is served, we say in the Netherlands. There is a middle field and there are the extremes. Somehow the world seems to divide in conservative vs progressive ways of thinking and acting. Cutting off a young woman's breasts or castrating boys and girls chemically is bad and should be firmly opposed, but the real evil is in the misconception about reality, on both sides.
You do not need God nor religion to know that abortion is bad, as is permanently damaging healthy bodies. That should be objective facts. These things must be dealt with rationally. That is the only way to win.
I saw the videos of public rallies and heard the disturbing noise of protesters. We have to make us listen to our self, not divide society. There needs to be a unifying rhetoric that most of the normal people can identify with. Extremes are just not sexy.
I saw Matt Walsh movie, heard Jordan Peterson talk to Chloe Cole, and so many other conversations and confrontations. Of course that is how these things play out in the media, but for our common sense, we need a neutral narrative that simply puts things together in a logical way. That is what we need as parents in order to be able to talk about these things with our kids around the dinner table. Where are our bounderies? Why is no no?
Yes, I can live with roleplaying, but no, I don't like killing sentient beings for food. Still, I allow my family to eat some meat when they really want to, because I can only teach by example, less force. So you have to know where you are from and where you are going to. I would never want a mutilation of my genitals just so that they look like something else. That feels like Frankenstein's monster to me. I tend to feel natural is better and yet, I can understand and respect women who miscarry or have an early abortion. Why am I not an absolutist, I don't know exactly, but intuitively I know that life is struggle and we humans animals with a wee bit of mind so we can prevent our instincts from destroying life.
I am a lazy activist. I type on my phone. How do I keep the Voldemorts of this world away? Please comment.
So sorry Angelo!
May your God be with you and your family.
And may those who butchered your precious girl be held accountable one day.
Your feeling are totally understandable, especially on the very day of the harm being done!
“Unless these individuals (whether they be keyboard warriors, surgeons, politicians or journalists) repent, change their ways, and attempt to make amends for the harm they have done, they deserve no sympathy, no forgiveness, and no peace.”
As someone whose 19-year old daughter had top surgery today, I totally concur. As a Christian, it pains me to feel this way, but part of me wants them to suffer as much as my wife and I have in watching our formerly happy little girl morph into what she’s become. My little girl. Damn this movement and damn those who perpetuate it, no matter their role.
I'm so sorry. The "affirm or die!" mantra is the worst of medicine. It results in irreversible treatments for treatable conditions.
Thank you for this sophisticated anaylsis. I so appreciate the breadth of PITT articles that expose the underbelly of the "trans" cult stealing the minds and bodies of children and young people while framenting their families. As a suffering parent, PITT essays are voices of hope that the horror will be exposed and someday end; this offers some solace, even as I grapple with not knowing if my son will ever find his way out of this awful cult.
Gender dysphoria is real in feeling, but I think it helps to recognize masculine is more than male, and feminine is more than female, and each sex expresses both, while stereotypes harm both sexes, if it feels like you're supposed to be a certain way to be accepted.
From that fear, trans- appears as a fantasy solution, and modern medical science enables the fantasy, and trans- is the correct word, crossing into something new, manufactured 3rd and 4th sexes (transwomen, transmen).
This fantasy reasonably scares many people, and so they invent terms trans-phobia which is correct, yet meant as "wrongness" - transphobes need to grow beyond their "binary bigotry" and accept everyone with love and acceptance. And some won't accept any more than they accept any nonconformers like gays and lesbians, and they'll scapegoat these new sexes for their own twisted reasons. And those scapegoaters really do risk the lives and safety of the new sexes, real danger.
And that danger tells empathetic people that we can't afford to ask our own questions, which will be felt as further harm to their invented sexes. And from the point of an "oppressed" class it can appear ANY resistance, like banning from women's sports, or women's spaces, is equally as harmful as people who might be physically violent. So biological woman are being compelled through "inclusionism" to accept the transwoman as interchangable, even if everyone should agree they are not the same and new harm is possible because trans-people are not just potential victims but also potential perpetrators. And it can seem like biological women have carved out their own safe-spaces for competition and cooperation that is being invaded by biological men under a new name. And self-ID expands that to absurdity so a purely biological male can call himself a trans-woman without even following the medical interventions of hormones and plastic surgery. So it makes sense many woman will consider this an outrage, and it is outrageous that the only respond pro-transactivists have for women is to call them transphobes who need to "grow" in this new reality that women have penises and can rape if they choose.
It all feels pretty senseness and self-righteousness exists on both sides, but it is the trans-activists side that can't face debate, who require all opposition to be dismissed as transphobes and not be allowed to speak in public spaces. Surely trans-activists know they could be wrong, and this could be a terrible fad, and they are the abusers, and someday they may feel regret and be unable to reverse their mistakes. But probably, knowing humans dislike cognitive dissonance so much, they will never "wake up" to their nightmare and if they lose their battle eventually, to them it will because "evil won" and they'll never stop believing that.
I have 2 kids both jumped into trans land after substantial trauma. (Multiple deaths, a move, caring for an unstable autistic adult)
One has come back to reality. The other has not. Kids Google their pain and (according to one of mine) get redirected to trans influencers who promise Gender Euphoria really quickly. Like 3-4 videos after depression.
As I watch my daughter suffer from "affirmative care," I find myself hoping (assuming the individual does not repent) there is a special place in hell for everyone involved in the harming of children, because you are right, "they deserve no sympathy, no forgiveness, and no peace." Well said, thank you for writing.
I agree. It scares me that people get so upset when someone disagrees with them to the point where they make death and rape threats. These people need help, not uncritical support.
Thank you. I am a life-long progressive and defender of human rights, and I think gender ideology is insane, unscientific, and based on steryotypes that I and many others who work with young kids have struggled with for ages. I think the world of J.K. Rowlings. She has her flaws, like everyone, but on the whole, she is one of the good people, particularly on this issue. Her attackers claim she is promoting genocide, but they do not get that one of the themes of the Harry Potter books is that Voldemort is promoting genocide and a form of ethnic cleansing against against us "muggles". Harry and his friends are fighting him on that issue and others. And yes, I am a published writer, and I don't think any writer should be treated the ways she and others have. It is true that there are threats of censhorship coming from the radical right, but many current "progressives" promote it too, May we move towards sane times. Work with us, Harry!
I think the hate for Rowling is in part because the extreme activists expected her to be on their side. There's also a ton of misogyny and narcissism in telling a woman that she doesn't have autonomy over who she sleeps with.
Thank you for writing this intriguing piece.
I have spent some time in my life wondering (1) if people ultimately "pay for" their bad behavior and (2) does it count if they/we don't know any better?
Each one of us has perhaps a different take on these deep questions.
To me, the central question -- perhaps the most pertinent question -- for now -- is: how do we best go about countering the harms that are being done, whether those harms are done knowingly or unintentionally?
And the answer appears to be: by exposing the truth, as best we know it, as best we can. By presenting the facts about hormones, mental health, adolescent confusion, gender stereotypes, surgical consequences, who is behind gender ideology and why, and so forth. By promoting open discussion and allowing for critical thinking. By supporting efforts of de-transitioners to speak publicly and be heard. By sharing info with our political representatives, teachers, librarians, and school principals and boards, doctors. By writing letters to editors and sharing info online. By continuing to love our kids and listen and talk, as much as feasible.
How, if no one wants to listen? As I have suggested before, I believe we are heading in the direction of reaching a critical mass. And then things turn around.
The threats and insults of extremist activists is frightening and intimidating, for sure. And so are the violent protests against the harms of the ideology. (The way to stop trans ideologues is NOT by bombing a gay nightclub.)
I truly don't know what it is going to take to listen to one another without resorting to violence but we'd better figure it out before we destroy humanity completely.
I pray that the New Year ushers in some saner, more loving and compassionate kinds of understanding. Thank you, all of you, for continuing to address this issue (& others). Thank you, PITT.
I recommend the book, C.S. Lewis, "The Problem of Pain" to understand how we pay for our behavior every day. I do not wonder if people know better because their insanity is the manifestation of a guilty conscience. The professionals who are "affirming" trans identifying children know better and many are downright evil. Some people are still in a discovery phase on the issue, and not evil, but those people are still listening. If they shut you down and scream at you, their conscience is bothering them immensely.
I believe these 'professionals' are full of narcissism exactly as this ideology promotes. And a healthy dose of arrogance on the side. They spout virtuous nonsense and self-righteous compassion, but it all centers around themselves. I hate all of them and not afraid to say it.
So true.
Ava Cadavra to those evil bastards.
Like Voldemort, they must deny and suppress the facts. Truth is never based on one's personal beliefs or desires and that's all they have to support their version of reality. Truth depends on solid, well-examined evidence and sound logic. Voldemort and his ilk deal in fear, innuendo, and superstition. Sadly, that doesn't mean they're weak. There are always people who use those currencies to bolster their bids for power. And there are always well-intentioned and kind, but far too gullible fools who prefer superstion to actual science.
Well said, as always.
Trans is driven by the desire for immortality. Whether they see it or not, clinicians are driven by the intoxicating idea of breaking through human limits, in this case the sex binary. With faith in the myth of the goodness of progress, these clinicians thirst to have their names written in the book of heroes. They are driven by pride and nothing more. Pride never fails to be the author of misery.
Agree 100%, it is a religion - some would say the latest iteration of Satanism in fact. Transhumanism is the word for it I think, Anonymous Dad. Paralysing fear of death and the arrogant fantasy that they can somehow transcend it.
This is an interesting Catholic perspective on the links - Martine Rothblatt makes them explicit.
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/02/12/from-transgender-to-transhuman-the-expanding-culture-of-death/
I appreciate how the article referenced Jennifer Bilek's 11th hour blog. She writes on this in great detail.
On another note, this makes me want to read Rene Girard all the more. His mimetic theory is fascinating. Also, how cheeky of Rothblatt to name his child Jenesis. He knows quite well the first book of the Bible is about the calamity and enslavement that happens when humans seek immortality. I don't think for a minute Rothblatt's project is about human liberation. It's about enslavement to his will.
This is a very good point.
Pride goeth before the Fall