Thanks Captain
Here’s a surprise – guess what show biz celebrity guy is terfing up a storm on Twitter? Not one I would have guessed in a million tries.
Tip Jar
Here’s a surprise – guess what show biz celebrity guy is terfing up a storm on Twitter? Not one I would have guessed in a million tries.
Set phasers on stunned.
May a thousand jokes bloom.
I’m really impressed by how he’s going about this. He’s picked one specific thing that he has a problem with, and talking only about that–not backing down, and not getting distracted. And as Duncan wrote in his ‘deprogramming’ essay the other day, this could be really effective, because as soon as a gender ideologist has to accept they’ve got one thing wrong, the rest will fall pretty quickly afterwards.
Speaking of deprogramming, I saw a screencap this morning in which someone asked if anyone had ever met a ‘deprogrammed’ ‘TERF’–they knew of deprogrammed members of other hate groups but never one for this ‘hate group’. Never occurred to them that the shoe is actually on the other foot in this case.
I’m impressed, too. Shatner has a reputation of being a self-absorbed ass.
Which means this is unlikely to impress a lot of people.
He’s not wrong, I don’t appreciate being labelled in some kind of special category either. The trans cult uses these slurs to fit regular people into their identity politics so they can call us the oppressors and the haters (not to mention the watering down of the term transphobe, good job, idiots). The vast majority of us are no such thing. Label yourselves, cultists, we don’t accept your derogatory imaginings. If anyone wants to adopt pronouns or weird gender labels, that’s a personal choice and I’m fine with it, but don’t go namecalling and labelling the rest of us, when you’re tribalist categorizations don’t describe anyone but you. Devisive bastards.
guest:
Yeah, the ideology is pure bricolage and when you pull out any one wedge, the whole thing clatters to the Earth. Pointing this out while educated or experienced is the one true hallmark of an evil TERF. Shatner’s JAQing approach must be driving a lot of people crazy.
I have to wonder if someone else is tweeting (with his permission). I assume he endorses the position, but can Shatner really argue this well? Really?
Well, good for him, either way.
2020: the year that I lost respect for George Takei and gained respect for William Shatner. Man, this year has been one wild ride . . .
Oh, hey, he has 3 daughters. :)
This is where men, even men who are anti-woman and/or anti-feminist, can take on the trans cult gender woowoo crowd for reasons other than how misogynist the cult is —- the cult is just wrong on so many facts. Facts of language and facts of reality to start with. The men who love to play just-asking-questions-amateur-philosopher should be having a field day with what the trans cult does to LOGICAL argument-making alone.
2020…….the year when I come to hope that the guys who just love to argue endless minute points online finally discover that engaging with the trans cult is WAY MORE FUN than harassing grumpy old feminists. What a time to be alive.
Hey, grumpy old feminists are lots of fun!
Except that gender-critical feminists aren’t the ones throwing their children out for being gender non-compliant, nor are they ordering such people to undergo hormone treatments.
Also, last night Heroes and Icons ran the Star Trek episode Turnabout Intruder, where Kirk’s body is swapped into that of Janice Lester. Did that give him any perspective.
#5 latsot
Yet another similarity with religion!
Ok, that was short-lived.
Twitter person:
Replying to @WilliamShatner
I’m ok doing away with labels all together. I don’t want to be called a trans woman anymore than you want to be called a cis man. You are simply a man and I am simply a woman. If you are ok with that then I respect your position.
William Shatner:
I’m perfectly fine with that.
https://twitter.com/WilliamShatner/status/1292241262486069249
Thanks for nothing, Captain.
Drat the man.
I’m perfectly fine with it too, call yourself an artichoke if you want, I really don’t care. I have the right not to believe you. But call me names, or categorize me in some way that only serves to pigeonhole me into your identity politics? Then we have a problem. Ignore biology? Problem. Ignore accepted use of language in favor of prejudiced neologisms? Problem. Take over women only spaces and activities? Problem. Hijack legitimate activism for your own purposes? Problem. But really, call yourself an artichoke when you are clearly a cucumber? That’s definitely your problem and not mine. Then again, sticks and stones and all that, what you call me doesn’t really matter, because the people who matter to me are not bigoted against me.
@twiliter:
Sure, we can call ourselves what we like. But control isn’t just labeling others; it’s also about insisting on a label. The transwoman agrees to drop the “cis” if Shatner agrees to call him a “woman,” because trans women are women and the “trans” part isn’t relevant. He’s fine with that.
To someone who’s GC, though, it’s verbal blackmail.
Well I consider myself GC, and I think it’s ok for him to call himself whatever he wants, as long as I am not obliged to believe him or treat him as if that mischaracterization defines who he is. He could say “I’m a woman”, but I, in all politeness, would silently disagree. If he was trying out for a women’s track team and said “I’m a woman”, and if I was the coach, then I would require some proof. Who we actually are defines us, we can either go with that, accept what it means, or swim against it and try to convince others of our delusion. If he said he was a trans woman, I think I would go with that, depending on his level of commitment. What bothers me is how they attempt to redefine everyone else to create some oppressive group that doesn’t exist. If he said Shatner was a woman, I’m sure Shatner would take issue with that, but he said he was a man, which is a pretty accurate description. The fact that he, as a trans woman, wishes to consider himself an actual woman is not imposing definitions on anyone else, only him, and if he’s wrong about that, then he has the right to be. If he tries to act on that, say invading a woman only space or activity, then it’s not just some mischaracterization, but an action with consequences to women. That’s where I would draw the line.
I highly doubt if Shatner thinks he’s an actual woman, he seems more dismissive than convinced.
@twiliter;
vs.
If I’m supposed to call him a “woman,” that seems perilously close to imposing a definition on me.
Yep, I don’t think we’re obligated. But if we don’t call he/she/it something derogatory then I guess it’s the one narrow path that is not offensive. As long as they don’t categorize all of us the evil oppressors in their self definition, then maybe there’s some neutral ground, but anything that hints at gender is loaded, and they are always ready to pull the trigger. Here again, what *they call us* is the issue that Shatner was talking about, and that’s where they are in the wrong. If they don’t want us to foul up their identities, then they had best not foul up ours, or worse, identify anyone who is not them as the enemy.
So, whomsoever wants to check out Shatner’s subsequent tweets, please do so. (@williamshatner) I think he’s being pretty reasonable about the whole thing. The trolls and the strawman attacks paint the picture of who we’re dealing with. Shatner has been doing a damned fine job of illustrating this, in my (not so) humble opinion. Why he continues in the fray is anyone’s guess, boredom maybe?