Our Jolyon walks into these things.

Definitely what this debate needs: another privately educated elderly cis white person with a series on a national broadcaster to complain about cancel culture. https://t.co/ozvgCNMnZp

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) August 24, 2021

Erm…Jolyon Maugham is white and “cis” and not all that young and – the one he carefully didn’t mention – he’s a man. (He didn’t mention it because mentioning it would remind people that women don’t have male privilege.) He’s not as poshly educated as Cleese, I’ll give him that – but then he’s not as clever, either.

To sum up, Jolyon Maugham is sneering at John Cleese for having kinds of privilege that Maugham himself mostly shares. It’s almost as if … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Bjarte Foshaug on What genocide is and is not.

Hitler didn’t wipe out 6 million Jews by calling them something else, he wiped them out by murdering them.

Exactly, it’s roughly analogous to arguing that:

Denying the existence of God

≈ denying that there’s such a thing as “God’s chosen people”

≈ denying the existence of that which the Jews are

≈ denying the existence of Jews

≈ envisioning a world in which Jews don’t exist

≈ advocating genocide.

Therefore atheism is just the Holocaust

I have never heard a single Jew make such an argument. If your kind has been murdered by the millions, you don’t have to resort to this kind of language-games … Read the rest

Well this is horrible news.

James Underdown of CFI (the Center for Inquiry):

Tom Flynn, Giant of American Freethought, Has Died at Age 66

The world has lost a towering figure of American freethought, a man who was both on the cutting edge of secular humanist thought, as well as the foremost caretaker of its rich history. The entire Center for Inquiry family is anguished by the sudden and unexpected death of our colleague, teacher, and friend Tom Flynn at age 66.

Tom held numerous leadership roles during his more than thirty years with the Center for Inquiry, most recently as editor of Free Inquiry magazine, director of the Robert Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum and the Freethought Trail, and former

Woman who calls herself “transmasculine” gets all shaky-like when menstrual products say “for women” on the label. (If they do – I have my doubts that anyone who needs menstrual products also needs to be told at the point of sale that they’re for women.) Narcissism forevaaaaaaaaa!

My period has never triggered feelings of gender dysphoria as a trans masculine person, but the way people talk about menstruation and frame it as a “women’s issue” makes me experience feelings of dread and discomfort.

Really? It makes her do that? Or she does it because she’s conditioned herself to think she’s supposed to, by being exposed to 50 million stupid articles and tweets and videos like this. They’re all conditioning each … Read the rest

More from the pyramid:

They, like most fascist movements, try to hide their overt bigotry behind a veil of "defending" an imagined community, with appeals to tradition and indeed a cult thereof. They suggest invisible conspiracies and engage in campaigns of anti intellectualism.

When I term them fash—

— Harker, The Storyteller (@LtHarker) August 22, 2021

What is this imagined community that gender-skeptics defend?

Women, for one. Are women “imagined”? No. Women are real. I don’t refer to us as a “community” because I think that word is much overused and also manipulative (so in that sense I kind of understand the “imagined community” thing), but that doesn’t mean the word “women” doesn’t name a real category of people. Do … Read the rest

Stark truth.

In November 1923, Hitler’s attempted coup failed. But no one was held accountable. Ten years later, he took over Germany.

Trump’s January 2021 coup failed. But 7 months later, Trump faces no consequences, and his co-conspirators are still in Congress.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) August 22, 2021

It’s not even quite true that no one was held accountable – Hitler was sentenced to prison and served several months, during which he wrote Mein Kampf. So…

We’re in a race between global hotting and a fascist coup.… Read the rest

The FDA tells us Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19

First, snapshots.

On the left: no, not for you. On the right: yes, for you.

To be clear: 1: horse. 2: person. Horses take medication designed for horses, persons take medication designed for persons. Don’t swap between, don’t mix & match.

The FDA’s job is to carefully evaluate the scientific data on a drug to be sure that it is both safe and effective for a particular use, and then to decide whether or not to approve it. Using any treatment for COVID-19 that’s not approved or authorized by the FDA, unless part of a clinical trial, can cause serious harm. 

The FDA’s job, please … Read the rest

Hmm.

My notifications are a sight to behold. This anti-trans stuff is becoming quite extremist, and I don't use words like that lightly. It's not just an online thing – going to a transwoman's place of work and distributing anti-trans literature there is genuinely quite frightening.

— Captain Haggerty (@AngelaHaggerty) August 23, 2021

Wait. They didn’t go to “a transwoman’s place of work” – they went to a pub, a well known, popular, centrally located pub. They went to a pub, to get food and drinks. I think it’s extremely unlikely they knew it was “a transwoman’s place of work” because why would they? Why would anyone?

And the literature isn’t “anti-trans,” it’s pro-feminism and pro-reality. The gender critical view … Read the rest

The Times reports on the “we don’t allow feminist women in our pub” story:

A leading pub chain has been dragged into a transphobia row after police were called to a city-centre pub when bar staff complained of feeling “threatened” by the presence of a group of campaigners who oppose extending women’s rights to transgender people.

Yet another bad lede. Why can’t reporters write decent first sentences? Is it part of their contract not to, or what?

Also a factual mistake, the campaigners don’t “oppose extending women’s rights to transgender people,” they don’t believe that men are women and they of course opposed extending women’s rights to men, on the grounds that it’s women who need them, not men.

A

Says it all.… Read the rest

Perfect example of the frenzied dangerous rhetorical overkill.

We should be frank and abundantly clear.

A set of TERFs under @millar_marion 's guidance and leadership went to @DoctorsBar specifically to try and escalate the violence inherent in their hate movement.

They have attempted to escalate from the ongoing discrimination to violence pic.twitter.com/0VY84V1mVY

— Harker, The Storyteller (@LtHarker) August 22, 2021

To violence. What violence? In what way did they attempt to “escalate to violence”? BE SPECIFIC.… Read the rest

The Scotsman allows itself a touch of skepticism:

A major UK hospitality chain has launched an investigation after police were called to one of its pubs after a group of women were told they had to leave because they were “transphobic”.

The women, who allege they were threatened by bar staff, left after officers were called to Doctors, on Forrest Road, on Saturday night.

However one of the pub’s employees, who describes himself as an “AGP porn addict male” on his Twitter account, said it was staff who felt threatened by the women who were “belligerent”.

There’s the skepticism. I’m not the only one who thinks a guy who calls himself a porn addict in his Twitter profile might … Read the rest

And by the way…

Under the #EqualityAct it’s unlawful to discriminate against, harass or victimise those with a protected characteristic such as sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief. This law applies to employers, associations & service providers

— Joanna Cherry QC (@joannaccherry) August 22, 2021

… Read the rest

Meanwhile…

To report racist, homophobic, and transphobic incidents…but not of course misogynist ones, because they don’t exist, and misogyny isn’t even a word, let alone a thing.

Also what does the paint job on that car have to do with racism? What does it have to do with hostility and suspicion toward immigrants? What does it have to do with class? Why has Rainbowism & Pride displaced all other forms of human rights struggle?… Read the rest

@belhaven_pubs @greeneking is it company policy to ban "terfs"?

And why your staff member in recounting this tale liked tweets saying feminists are worse than domestic abusers, that they aren't people but slime, that you'll put a sign on the door etc.

Do you support sexism? pic.twitter.com/6V3iSKjXFL

— For Women Scotland (@ForwomenScot) August 22, 2021

But he had perfectly good reasons.

I think it's a behavioral thing tbh. My staff didn't like them from the start and things got worse

I don't think such hate groups are well suited to fitting in. Several of my regulars despised their presence & then left upon finding out who they were

I've not seen that in ages

— mebulous entity (@mebisdead) August 22,

This is the guy who called Marion “terf” and told her to finish her drink and get out:

Hi to all the new people, I'm not that interesting really honest, I just run a pub and kick hate groups out when my staff feel threatened

— mebulous entity (@mebisdead) August 22, 2021

His profile self-description is…candid:

AGP porn addict male, cumbrained, submissive, moisturised and in my lane

they/she siad/sí

‘power brat & feral’

mildly nsfw

Porn addicted autogynephile man tells woman to get out of restaurant/pub because she’s a Known Feminist and he recognizes her.

He told his story last night:

mother of fucking god you'll never believe who i just had to kick out my bar

literally terfs. i

More on that get out of our pub you bad bad woman incident tonight.

For those asking, I believe the t shirt said #womenwontwheesht and the main objection was to Marion's presence.

Member of staff tried to invent excuse to exclude her as she arrived and thereafter staff were hostile & aggressive.

— For Women Scotland (@ForwomenScot) August 21, 2021

Tis true. Bar staff didn't like faces of women with opinions they disagreed with so told us to leave. Called Police. I don't blame the Police, it was the @DoctorsBar @greeneking bar staff that wanted us our.

— Obsolesence (@Obsolesence) August 21, 2021

https://twitter.com/tweepwitch/status/1429210429209956352

The bar staff did, the person calling a terf was waiting staff.

— 'MarionMillar' #WomenWontWheesht #NoThankYou

I think I’m pretty conformist and orthodox on the whole Covid precautions issue, including the parts that are about not infecting other people as opposed to avoiding being infected myself. But I don’t know…

This aft I was walking down a side street and a woman pulling a grocery cart hove into view at the corner, and stopped to put a mask on. I kind of wondered “Mask?” because I was the only person in sight, but oh well – but then as the distance between us shrank she snarled at me: “I’d cross the street but my house is right there” – pointing ahead. For a second I thought she was joking but then I realized – cross the … Read the rest

There was a terf gathering in Edinburgh today.

In the evening they went to a pub.

The police were summoned.

Reports @policescotland were used tonight as personal arm of TRA bar staff @DoctorsBar who reported women for the heinous crime of paying for drinks and consuming them quietly while in possession of wrong opinions as expressed on T shirts.

5 officers were, apparently, needed.

— For Women Scotland (@ForwomenScot) August 21, 2021

The women, who were already leaving left. But very pissed off to be treated like criminals

— For Women Scotland (@ForwomenScot) August 21, 2021

Yes it's true, I was told I had 30 minutes to finish my drink terf, thank feck it was only one bottle I ordered

Good one.

Dear Science Deniers,

(Anti-vaxers, anti-maskers, climate hoaxers, flat-Earthers, etc)

You found one another & communicate via stupefyingly advanced technologies that pivot on the discoveries of scientists.

Just thought I’d remind you of that fact.

Sincerely,
Your Smart Phone

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 17, 2021

… Read the rest