Smearing of “Authenticity”

OK, so my timeline is as dominated by “TERF War” / Misogyny issues as ever, despite clearing out loads of redundant follows. As I sad in the “Culmination” post a couple of days ago – with links to two pieces making the same point – this topic simply will not go away, because it is in reality a much deeper and very scary problem with our collective rationality.

The new thing for me here is the active conspiracy theory angle. On the same day (Friday?) someone on Twitter shared @ me “THE FAR RIGHT AND ANTI-TRANS MOVEMENTS’ UNHOLY ALLIANCE” and someone on Teesside Sceptics Facebook wanted me to indulge in a postmodernists conspiracy against scientific rationality discussion, again with a far-right “link” to  abuses of post-modern ideas.

Being on Facebook, the latter is a lost cause, but I did read and back-research the awful “Unholy Alliance” piece and many of its links. To be clear, shit happens, but I’d already dismissed it as just so much “US litany of guilt by association” – certainly in terms of the named (mostly) UK participants in the Women and LGBT interests of the “TERF War”.

(If there was any reason to do so, I could write-up some deep examples from that … so many people smeared, hard to know where to start. Basic starting point, the main issue is that nothing in any UK activities I’m supporting is remotely “Anti-Trans” and that’s the term used throughout the unholy alliance piece. Obviously some “conservatives” will naturally be anti-trans or transphobic, but if the TERF War is about anything other than fighting unhinged rationality is about the conflict of rights with “Self-ID-Only-(M>F)-Trans-Rights-Activists” – TRA’s for short – and the ideology being used to shut down free discussion on any related sex and gender topics.)

Anyway, over the weekend, as well as various “protests and counter-protests” in response to the @DocStockk bullying case – and many more coming to light eg @JoPhoenix1 – the TRA case best summed-up here …


… there was also a post from Jolyon Maugham suggesting without being clear – and ignoring all requests for clarification – that an international “Filia” feminist conference, also being targetted by the protests, was somehow funded by far-right money. (Certainly that’s the message his followers picked-up from it.) Disgusting veiled smears against a group of women organising a conference. Guilt by merely suggested association.

Frankly, this is why treating it as a war between campaigning and lobbying factions – and taking sides – is never going to resolve itself. That’s always going to involve attack and defence. It comes back to care for the individuals – Women, LGBT, the lot – and I’ll continue to defend those I see defending themselves and others in good faith.

END

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Post Note 1 – mind you, talking of the US perspective as we were briefly, this is an alarming case to say the least:


(BTW, big shout out to James Dreyfus (*) who like @Glinner has now dived-in to career-threatening depths into this cess pool in defence of people he cares about.)

Post Note 2 – also topical but no time to review here, the Nolan Podcast and reactions to BBC and other institutions withdrawing from being led by StonewallUK, now an actively “TRA” lobby group. I’ve been trying very gently for a couple of years to get Michael Cashman and Peter Tatchell to engage with the conflicting rights aspects on rational grounds but fear both have withdrawn or “flounced off” as some would have it. Sad because these are important political players. I defend our appointed second chamber and Michael is an otherwise much loved member with a long Stonewall history. All very sad as I say.

Post Note 3 – and to bring the agenda full circle:

(*) FYI … James Dreyfus story

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