"The goal is to undercut any potential resistance to what comes next."

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Unrolled thread here
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1544675211563368449.html

The attacks on trans people coming from center-left and "centrist" media sources like the NYT is very much part of the bigger plan by the right. The goal is to undercut any potential resistance to what comes next. 1/n

For years, people on the right like Jordan Peterson and Tucker Carlson have banged away at the idea that trans people have gone too far, and as a result fascists will take over and commit a new Holocaust against trans people and won't that be so sad (wink wink not really) 2/n

Now, with the entire right wing apparatus behind them in the US, and all of the media in the UK, they're moving on to the next target: center-left US media and heretofore supportive people on the left. The goal is to convince them of the same things the right already is: 3/n

Namely that trans people are a threat to women, children, and civilization, they've gone too far, and they must be stopped lest we get fascism. (Key difference in audiences is that center-left doesn't want fascism, and the right pretends it doesn't). 4/n

It's all couched in "reasonable concerns", "worried parents," and agitprop meant to enrage people on the left who don't know more than the surface details. For example, Pamela Paul's article treats health care providers using language inclusive of trans men 5/n

as worse than the fall of Roe v. Wade. She ignores the fact that trans men often skip gynecological care because of a lack of sensitive treatment, and are thus less likely to get things like PAP smears, and thus have higher mortality. 6/n

The inclusive language she rails against is meant to improve care for people who are reluctant to seek it, not to exclude or erase women. And you can still say woman.

But it's anti-trans agitprop for the left, the same as Fox News is for the right. 7/n

With SCOTUS on the verge of handing over the US to fascism via a ruling in Moore v. North Carolina sometime next year, the right is counting on having permanent control over all three branches, and they're laying the groundwork for what comes next. 8/n

And that's an America with no visible LGBT people, starting with trans folks first. Sure, they're not saying it TOO loudly, but when you look at what they're saying and doing, it's pretty clear where this ends up: namely that you can't even be trans in your own home. 9/n

Lawrence v Texas is going down. They're planning on eliminating health care for all trans folks. They want to treat trans people in public as obscenity. The threats of violence via paramilitaries like the Proud Boys is ramping up quickly. Police are aligned with the PBs. 10/n

The hammer will drop once democracy is gone. All of these entries in the NYT and other pubs are essentially preparation of the battlespace by the right: they intend to make sure as few people as possible have significant objections to what they do to trans people next. 11/n

The goal is 100% desistance, or 100% have fled to other countries (or perhaps just blue states). But they'll come for those in California eventually too, given the chance. 12/n

One of the more haunting things I've read is how important it was systematically to keep people from panicking, or realizing how much danger they're in. It was in part possible because sustained propaganda had reduced sympathy for targeted groups to zero among the population 13/n



We're in the preparatory phase for the remaking of America by the far right that is the modern GOP. They intend to remake it into something they think their God will bless. They believe God will not bless this country while it tolerates the existence of LGBT people. 14/n

Whenever your read something accusing trans people of being awful, (pedophiles, groomers, child mutilators, sex fiends, a danger to women, extremists run amuck), remember that it's in the interests of the actual fascists to ensure as few people say anything as possible. 15/n

Pay heed to Martin Niemoller. Recognize the modern GOP for what it is: a party that regards dead children as an acceptable price for fondling AR-15s like cosplay Rambos, and that is fine with women dying in childbirth to satisfy their religious beliefs. 16/n

If you think that a party that is fine with the butchery of women and children is suddenly going to grow a conscience regarding the basic human dignity of the people it hates most and sees as an existential threat, you need to think again. 17/n

Sadly, they're largely succeeding. The polling data just keeps getting worse and worse. I believe more firmly every day that the danger to LGBT people is real, and there is a growing threat of genocide. 18/n

Given the power of the US, and how fascist movements have successfully leveraged scare tactics, agitprop, massive amounts of money, and access to the Murdoch media empire globally, we're likely to see escape routes to other countries get shut down quickly post-2024. 19/n

Anyway, think before you post or like another "both sides", "concerned parents with anecdotes", or "the trans have gone too far" articles: the fascists know exactly what they're doing in making sure there's no one left to speak out when they come for you. 20/n

[The Magistrate]

1. Merely For The Record, Ma'am

Peterson's schtick in its beginning was more twisted than that. Remember he gained initial notoriety by stating he would refuse to address a student by an adopted pronoun. He presented being made to treat trans people decently as the thin end of a wedge which would surely, and soon, lead to a Maoist Cultural Revolution immense and sweeping in its scope as it would be murderous in its execution, overthrowing the natural hierarchical order that had sustained humanity till now, in favor of a chaos of emotions with nothing solid a man could cling to.

Pretty basic stuff, really, though it came all gussied up fresh and sparkly, with lobsters on the side....

[Nevilledog]

2. He's a fucking loon. This was posted yesterday.

Link to tweet

[EndlessWire]

3. They need a group to demonize.

Gay people are the new Jews; they intend to dehumanize all gays, and people that are not like themselves.

We need to take the lessons of history very seriously, and make personal plans to do something to push back against this nonsense.

We need to stick together.

[Hekate]

4. KnR

[vercetti2021]

5. Good luck getting me

You wanna genocide me? First you'll have to fight me to get me. Fear the trans woman with the guns.

[UTUSN]

6. K&R

[IngridsLittleAngel]

7. The goal is to dehumanize innocent people, along with undercutting resistance, and many other things

This thread should be mandatory reading... Not just for how it's affecting trans people, but how it'll happen again and again to other groups until these fascists are stopped.

First off, I have a hard time calling the New York Times "left", "center left" or even "centrist". They are center-right at best, and at worst flat-out right. Whether it was basically serving as cheerleaders for Dumbya's warmongering, or their constant nitpicking and finger-pointing at Democrats, they have made it clear they are not their friends. Oh, sure. They rip into Drumpf a lot. Of course they do. They're in New York. All of the people of New York who have had to put up with that buffoon over the decades despise him. It's why he's only the third person ever to lose their home state on their way to "winning" the election.

It does feel like a number of our "friends" in the media of late are trying to "both sides" all of this. "Trans are going too far." "Too much too fast." "God is in play." "What about the sprots?" "What about drag shows?" etc... Completely oblivious to the fact that one "side" has gone out of their way to dehumanize us, to strip us of our rights and dignity, to demonize us, even to get us targeted and harmed and killed. Oh, sure. We've seen this before. We sure saw plenty of "both sides" over same-sex couples adopting and marriage equality. But this time around, the QOP has ratcheted up the hate to levels a lot closer to what the Nazis did to the Jews in the 30's... And yet, we still have to put up with "both sides" and "debate" and "reasonable concerns" and repeating right-wing talking points and lies without fact-checking them first.

(Sadly, as we know, it's something we've seen happen here as well in recent months...)

What again is failing to sink in with the likes of the NYT, CNN and other "center-left" sources is we have one side of this spewing outright lies and fake stories, we have one side claiming the trans community and allies are "grooming" kids and "forcing people to transition", we have one side's reactionary foot soldiers making terrorist threats and going after trans people (see: those "activists", the Proud Incels). We literally have a case here where one side wants to live in peace and safety and just be their true selves. While the other side wants to squash us, strip us of our rights and humanity, deny us our freedom, deny us healthcare, and now deny us our safety and very lives.

How the fuck can you "debate" that? As I've said so many times in my life on the "debate" about human rights... There is no debate. One side is right and just, the other is a pack of bigoted psychopaths. Human rights for all. The second one group is dehumanized and stripped of their rights, you no longer have human rights... You have privileges.

Why are they doing this? Because they aren't our friends. Because they don't stand for human rights. Because they're no better than the QOP when it comes to trans issues. Because we "make them uncomfortable", so they're just fine with "reaching across the aisle" with the QOP on this. Because they see this as a "hot topic" issue to rile people up. Because they have lived for generating panic with the "news", and have since 9/11. But ultimately, they don't exactly see us as human either.

As for the QOP... The thread above basically nails it. The QOP has been taken over by literal Nazis, people who proudly wave swastikas and want a "leader" like Putin or Hitler or Drumpf, and openly admit it. They've lied about us. They've made up stories about us. They have done everything humanly possible to demonize us. We're "ruining sports" and "assaulting women in the bathrooms" and "are destroying women" and "ruining sports". We're "groomers". Our allies are "groomers". Parents who support their trans kids and help get them healthcare are "abusers". We're misgendered, we're deadnamed, and they have gone out of their way to make us look like monsters here in 2022.

It is straight out of the Nazi playbook. It's what they did to the Jews in the 1930's. We all saw how that turned out. Millions of innocent people imprisoned, tortured, enslaved and killed. Solely for how they were born.

Now they're trying to do it to us. Their words and actions are getting us threatened. "Kill transgenders!" and "Kill a groomer today" and all of that nonsense. Patriot Front intended to crash and attack a Pride event. Proud Boys repeatedly harassing and threatening drag queens.

This isn't "concerned mommies" or "concerned citizens" or "protect children" or "save sports". The lone goal of this is to eliminate us. Conversion therapy. Locked away in an asylum for life. Arrested. Murdered. Driven to suicide. Doesn't matter, so long we we're gone and they're still here.

This is what "both sides" and "we should debate this" and "I support trans issues but..." is fueling and supporting. Period. It's just greasing the skids for what the QOP is trying to do to an entire segment of the population. Same goes for concern trolling about "But this could cost us the election!" or "The moderates don't like this" or "Hillary says this is unpopular..."

THE QOP IS GOING TO GET US KILLED. Allow me to repeat that so hopefully I'm heard... THE QOP IS GOING TO GET US KILLED.

Shame on anyone wanting to "both sides" this. Shame on anyone throwing us under the bus. Shame on the fucking media for doing their part in endangering our lives with the bullshit stories they run and thinking there's actually a debate here. Again: One side is right and just, the other is a pack of bigoted psychopaths. Human rights for all.

This year has been a living nightmare for so many of us. I can't believe we're having to go through this... again. But welcome to a country where roughly 1/3 of the people damned well remember their history, and want to repeat it.

[MrsCheaplaugh]

8. Hear, hear

You said it all so well.