Originally a comment by Sastra on He’ll rename himself Anne Frank next.
Atheist blogs have long noted the existence of what we’d call “persecution porn” coming from Christian conservatives. Liberal Secularists were feverishly plotting ways to destroy Christianity and choosing the easiest and only viable method: the use of force against Christians. Laws banning Bibles and camps “reeducating” the faithful were always on the verge of being implemented or had become fact in a fictional drama about the near future. Being asked to renounce Jesus by someone holding a gun to your head was a viable possibility: prepare yourself. How will you answer?
General consensus was that there were several factors motivating this lascivious dwelling on people “coming for you.” First, there was fundraising, for obvious reasons. Second, was the thrill of seeing oneself as a crucial player in an important drama. And third was confirmation that your faith was true. Nobody would bother bringing such big guns to Christianity if one — they thought it insignificant and pointless and two — they weren’t on the side of Evil.
I’m not sure about the role of fundraising, but sense of significance and establishing truth — oh yes. Willoughby is intent on both. That may also apply to those with the stubborn inability to see the opposition as they are, as opposed to how they need to be if we assume they know they’re wrong.
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8 responses to “Guest post: Trans persecution porn”
It’s undeniable that the response to criticism by people like Willoughby is deeply mired in self-pity. That’s a psychological fact that says a lot about why people are attracted to a trans identity in the first place. But there’s a practical element that makes the deployment of the rhetoric of persecution by people in the trans moment inevitable. Unlike every other social justice movement they’ve never actually had to argue their case. Their privileges were won off the back of gay activism and maintained by a rigid policy of no debate. They had luxury of simply dismissing criticism as being motivated by either ignorance or malevolence. Now that that strategy no longer works they have no choice but to go full conspiracist. Someone must be holding a gun at their heads enforcing their silence. What other explanation can there be for their failure to explain clearly and powerfully what rights they want and why they need them?
Today, the following pile of shit came into my mailbox from the U where I work:
I have decided I won’t be using this new functionality.
‘Persecution porn’? I think what is going on there is something more complex, that has its roots in a well-known passage of the Beatitudes:
And no, I am not a Christian.
@NightCrow;
Oh, absolutely. “Persecution Porn” and an ideology in which intense, virulent opposition is not only expected but enduring what this opposition throws ennobles you would seem to go together. If the opposition appears to be surprisingly lackluster or intellectually grounded, all the more reason to discern the real danger and hatred below the surface just waiting to spring.
If Christianity did not involve a great divide between good and evil in an ultimate battle for the fate of the faithful, would it have had the same appeal? If the tale of the trans child didn’t involve great vulnerability and insensitive oppression, would it have captured so many imaginations? Yes, some are born with a Gender Identity at variance with their biological sex — but it’s no big deal. It’s not like that defines them or anything. Use whatever pronouns you want. Insist that single-sex spaces remain single sex and they’ll shrug and lurch off to the one that makes others more comfortable. Whatever.
Where’s the drama in that — the struggle and triumph, the cheers of the supporters and the wailing and gnashing teeth of the Wicked? Where’s the value? The more persecuted you are, the more meaningful your life and the more True your story. The more persecuted they are, the more your support really, truly matters. You have the right to expect persecution, dammit. You must be up against Evil.
The beatitudes reference is perfect; a group of insufferable and appropriative assholes conjures up a text to explain why nobody likes them…
This springs to mind as classic Christian persecution porn:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Said_Yes%3A_The_Unlikely_Martyrdom_of_Cassie_Bernall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel%27s_Tears
A small industry grew up around an alleged incident where a Columbine shooter heard a girl praying, asked her if she believed in God, and she said yes, knowing this would lead to her getting killed. A true Christian martyr! Two families each claimed their daughter was the martyr.
Except it quickly came out the “do you believe in God?” question was asked to a different girl who had already been shot and was asking God to not let her die. When a shooter asked if she believed, she answered yes, and the killers moved on without shooting her again, and she lived. So not a martyrdom story at all.
But the Christian martyr industry just ignored that and kept pretending that a girl had chosen to die for her faith. Books, lectures, church presentations…
What an interesting parallel.
Books, lectures, church presentations…and profit!!