All ya gotta do is shut up and listen

Another patronizing “here’s how you be perfect like me” thread from some authenticated woke genius, a thread full of glib claims that fall apart if you breathe on them and smug instructions on how high to jump when we’re told to jump.

https://twitter.com/EscapologistFi/status/1076587235246567429

Bad beginning, taking “cis” as 1) a meaningful and useful descriptive and 2) an obviously privileged and dominant group that needs to check itself. I don’t recognize “not thinking I’m the sex I’m not” as a form of privilege, any more than I recognize “not thinking I’m a bird” as a form of privilege. The word “cis” is pretty much designed to make people feel guilty and defensive simply for not having a bizarre delusion. Granted, it’s convenient not to have a bizarre delusion, but convenience isn’t exactly the same thing as privilege.

And then also being told to shut up and listen right at the outset…no, I don’t think so.

https://twitter.com/EscapologistFi/status/1076588900607582209

We’re “cis” whether we agree we are or not, we’re confused, we have to shut up and listen…listen, apparently, to this dogmatic and unpersuasive twerp who is herself “cis” but feels entitled to tell us to shut up because we’re…not cis in the correct perfected way she is? I guess? I can’t say I feel inclined to do either.

https://twitter.com/EscapologistFi/status/1076589832263159808

Ah, finally, a semi-substantive claim, or trio of claims. But such stupid claims…

First: do we believe that trans people know themselves? What, all of them? Of course not. How could we believe such a wild claim. People mostly don’t know themselves all that well, because there are all kinds of cognitive flaws and self-protecting motives to block and distort self-knowledge, so no, there’s no reason at all to “believe” that all members of a particular group know themselves.

Do we believe that trans people are worthy of our love and respect? What, all of them? Again? Who is calling whom “confused” here? Fiona Longmuir seems to be confusing human rights with universal love; they’re not the same at all. We don’t have to love or respect people to respect their rights. Human rights are not supposed to be contingent on our favorable emotions that way; they’re supposed to be independent of personal feelings, a birthright as opposed to an earned right. The question should be “Do we believe that trans people are worthy of human rights?” to which the answer would be of course. Demanding universal love is insanely greedy; it’s fatuous of Longmuir to be that greedy on behalf of others.

Do trans people owe it to us to justify their existence? Wrong question yet again. The issue is not existence, nor is it justification of existence.

https://twitter.com/EscapologistFi/status/1076590351320793094

Yet another hyperbolic, absurd, unreasonable claim. “Everyone deserves to live happily and fully as their most authentic self” – oh really? What about people who decide their most authentic selves are rapists? What about white people who decide their most authentic selves are Native Americans? What about people who decide their most authentic selves are engineers when they know nothing about engineering and failed math in school every year?

Anyway, thanks for the schooling.

37 Responses to “All ya gotta do is shut up and listen”