12 years ago, trans people were still largely ignored.
Oh and Ben Shapiro…
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That’s what made me do a double-take at this:
how much an average person hates trans people
Controlling conservatives (the base of the right) use hate and fear-mongering to gain power. Most “average people*” don’t fall into that group. It’s a vocal minority, not the majority. This is why pols are resorting to tactics like cheating in elections.
They get headlines by attacking and making outrageous claims. They know they are outnumbered and are desperate to consolidate that power before they are permanently pushed out. We need more messaging to push the truth about the average person’s concerns and outrage at the trampling of people’s rights, because the MSM is increasingly controlled by conservatives. If we cannot change that narrative it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
*Based on surveys about religion, income, and political affiliation in the US.
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Depends upon your personal timeline. I remember Jesse Helms & Armstrong adding amendments to specifically exclude trans people from the ADA. We were certainly known to pols then.
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True, but I think there are some people (maybe many) who don’t know any trans people, and don’t think about the issue at all or care about the people in question. They can abstract it away, or can be swayed by the argument about “two genders” because that makes sense to them (even though it’s just flat out wrong). It’s like the people who probably aren’t actively racist (though certainly having a strong white identity, and being latently racist), but will still support the increasingly racist GOP, out of legacy loyalty, as long as they get their tax cuts (which they probably don’t get) and continued deregulation that they think is holding them back. It’s not bigotry aimed at THEM, so they don’t care about it. Lack of interest in what happens to people who aren’t them and “their people” drives a lot of their voting patterns, I think.
But they are still most certainly outnumbered, which is part of the reason for the full on assault on voting rights, because they can’t win otherwise, except through gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Spot on!
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Exactly. Lessons learned from the MSM still reporting about BIPOC in a biased way, and the resulting attitudes of people unaffected by racism. I don’t want to see yet another group get pushed down that same path. I’m talking about these hate campaign issues with family and friends, to fight the spread of misinformation. Report cards and resources like FAIR are why I plan to avoid the MSM in May (or longer, if I’m able to get along without it entirely 
):
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Yep.
I think people underestimate just how interconnected the rights of all of us are… you start going after groups that are lacking in much power in society (like trans folks), then it all can easily come undone. MTG pivoting from her normal spewing of vile, to going after Catholics shows that trajectory. Right wing catholics (or even conservative Jewish groups) who have tied their fate to the Evangelical movement will eventually become targets themselves. There is no doubt about that - once they get done with trans folks, women, POC, etc…
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It’s a really pathetic IRL algorithm, where attention-seeking behavior has to constantly escalate, and become ever more extreme, in order to garner people’s attention above the noise and chaos-circus.
… as a tactical method, it is often used in combat, theatre (upstaging) and it is fundamental to marketing. One strategy used to counter various types of attention-seeking behavior is planned ignoring.
“Marketing.”
Ugh.
The “planned ignoring” thing sounds promising, but that ain’t what sells newspapers, harvests hate-clicks, etc.
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Damn. This made me think of “Dust Bowl.” 33 years later, and workers are still struggling like this. 
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chilling
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Sooooooo… step parent/step sibling porn?
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Ewww…
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This bit from the article:
This latest tragedy serves as a grim reminder that “Serve and Protect” may be law enforcement’s de facto mission statement, but it comes with an implicit “Property” attached to the end.
Yup.
ACAB.
Those poor kids and their families.
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id say the orlando sentinel had more info except it says:
The Sheriff’s Office hasn’t released the name of the man killed by deputies or the suspect they said was “detained on scene.” López during a press conference Wednesday night also didn’t say what led to the shooting or what crime the people deputies fired at were suspected of committing.
and:
the names of the deputies who fired their weapons will not be released under Marsy’s Law. The amendment to Florida’s constitution, approved by voters in 2018, is meant to protect victims of crime but has been used to shield the identities of police officers after deadly incidents.
now that’s transparency 
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Grade A bullshit
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