Again:
"The real war, the one that’s already being fought, isn’t a war between countries, or “liberal” vs “conservative.”
No, that stuff is a way to keep us from seeing the forest and the trees, as they are burning down all around us.
The real war is between wealth and accountability, and it’s been going on since civilization began."
And again:
You can be wrong, you can make mistakes, you can even make a very public embarrassment out of yourself. I know I’ve made my share of missteps through my life, and I know I will make many more. I think it’s more important how you deal with it and how you grow from it. (And I mean real growth, not the “mistakes were made” and “it’s time for me to step back and listen” bullshit platitudes.)
When I think of changing minds via debate, I think about the Overton Window. If you ask a casually racist person to get woke and start fighting for social justice today, no progress will be made. If the cultural discussion amplifies the message of diversity and inclusion, if that person makes one small shift in their thinking every month for the next 10 years, real change has happened.
This is why cultural change is slow, hard work. There is (generally) no Scrooge-on-Christmas-Day moment where all the bad ideas are suddenly flipped to good ideas. It’s just slowly connecting the dots so that some people will slowly work their way toward the light.
And it’s about calling out toxic ideas everywhere, so that Overton Window doesn’t start sliding back.
Sure. My point was just that because some people that we might admire signed the letter, doesn’t mean it’s automatically correct. People I think do the hero-worship thing with Chomsky a great deal, and assume he’s right on everything he backs. He’s not.
And if you’re of a certain skin tone, and/or a certain tax bracket, you can do all these things and still end up even more successful and prosperous than before your temporary “downfall.”
Funny how that works out. If only there was a name for this strange phenomenon…
Welcome to BoingBoing! Thank you for your hot take on this controversial topic.
So, you’re saying I should actively seek out the opinions of known white supremacists, racists, misogynists, transphobes, homophobes, and such just to question the validity of my beliefs?
Nah. Fuck that noise. I’ll stick to my “narrow ideological viewpoints” thank you very much.
Being “articulate and thoughtful” isn’t mutually exclusive from being wrong or holding views not worth my time and consideration. There’s plenty of articulate and thoughtful people whose viewpoints I should be under no obligation to listen to or consider. But I guess that makes me a narrow minded person in your book.
Nah, you just got the translation wrong, comrade:
Why wouldn’t you respect the views of those who think that you and your loved ones shouldn’t be allowed to exist? Why, they might have a valid point. /s obviousfuckingly.
JK was dog whistling loud enough to clear every kennel in the UK.
Look at all the people whining about people whining about people whining about people whining…
Why can’t people just accept that other people can believe things you find abhorrent, and when you try to coerce them to silence them, they’re just as free to do the same to you, too?
Cancel culture is a real phenomenon. The church ladies have changed, but they’re no better now than when the hysteria was about Dungeons and Dragons, death metal, and hip hop.
Stopped reading there as you’re engaged in self parody.
Because those ‘other people’ usually are not content to just believe whatever fucked up shitty, self-serving inhumane nonsense they invest in; all too often, they want to cement their “beliefs” into policy and laws which negatively impact the members of society who are most disenfranchised and oppressed.
Fuck that noise.
JK is right now arguing against existing civil rights laws covering trans people and arguing that literally there are too many of us.
What’s hard to understand about this?
What a mess.
Not a damn thing from where I stand.
Your rights are my rights, and my rights are your rights; we’re all human and we all deserve the basic modicum of respect - the right to exist, to express ourselves and to tell our own stories, the right to pursue fucking happiness, if such a thing even exists in the long term.
Wait, getting upset about Twisted Sister and getting upset about people being murdered because of their gender identity? It’s the same as opposing people surrounding a church with torches while they chant Nazi slogans and the people hiding inside?
Not everything is a philosophy class thought experiment. Real people really get hurt in the real world over “politics”. The authors of the Harper’s letter are rich enough that they don’t get that, and mistake people saying mean things about them for actual oppression.
You don’t get to debate my right to exist.
Nobody does.
That’s nothing less than pure evil.
Feel free to disagree if you wish, get back on your high horse and fuck off out of town because nobody here will stand for it.
That’s not completely fair. JK Rowling might be refused employment at all of the trans owned publishers.
