But when public figures

The lies they tell.

I don’t know who O’Hanlon is, but Rowling doesn’t “normalise hatred of queer people” or “legitimise extremists who want trans people to stop existing,” nor are the women who joined Rowling for that lunch the “extremists” he points out. They don’t want trans people dead. If we accused him of libel for saying they do he would “explain” that by “stop existing” he meant “stop existing as what they say they are” or some such formula – but that’s a dishonest tricksy dodge. The obvious meaning is “these evil witches want trans people dead,” and the denial might as well be made wearing a clown mask.

And saying that kind of thing is far more likely to whip up hatred of gender skeptical feminists than anything gender skeptical feminists say is. They accuse us of whipping up lethal hatred as a way of whipping up lethal hatred against us.

This guy is an editor (or maybe the editor) of the student paper Trinity News.

Comments

16 responses to “But when public figures”

  1. maddog1129 Avatar

    He obviously never read a single word JKR wrote.

  2. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    But that’s not going to stop him scattering stupid lies about her all over Twitter.

  3. Mostly Cloudy Avatar
    Mostly Cloudy

    “O’Hanlon” is Eilis O’Hanlon, a right-wing Irish journalist with gender-critical views:

    https://twitter.com/EilisOHanIon/status/1460259276178530306

  4. twiliter Avatar

    Pronoun morons coming out of the twitter woodwork like cockroaches. WTF is wrong with these idiots.

  5. NightCrow Avatar

    … when public figures like Rowling … normalise hatred of queer people and legitimise extremists who want trans people to stop existing (like those with whom Rowling was mixing the other day) …

    Who does this fellow mean by ‘queer people’? Nearly half the women who were at that lunch are lesbians, out and proud. As for the claim that they are ‘extremists who want trans people to stop existing’: that is a vicious lie.

  6. Mostly Cloudy Avatar
    Mostly Cloudy

    Laurie Penny and comedian Ilana Glazer both call themselves “queer”, even though they are currently in relationships with men:

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/how-broad-city-helped-ilana-glazer-embrace-her-queerness-studio-1270675/

    The journalist Terrell Jermaine Starr also identifies as “queer”, despite saying he’s only attracted to women:

    https://twitter.com/terrelljstarr/status/1506676992241979397?lang=en

    Apparently being into BDSM or polyamory makes you able to call yourself “queer” nowadays, even if all your sex is hetero.

  7. Ophelia Benson Avatar

    Laurie Penny reminded me she’s “queer” just last weekend. I asked her if she thought she [nevertheless] benefits from straight privilege at all, and she said “Oh absolutely.” So that’s something. But how is she actually “queer”? Still a question.

  8. J.A. Avatar

    “Queer” these days means not conforming to some norm or other, although what supposedly makes one queer can be as trivial as badly colored hair. You don’t have to be queer to be a lesbian though, that much I’m sure of.

  9. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    “Queer” these days means not conforming to some norm or other…

    Well, if the norm being “transgressed” is arguing in good faith or being truthful, I’ll give Penny that. The badly coloured hair is, as it were, just the cherry on top.

  10. Brian M Avatar

    It’s simple. By “ I am Queer” they simply mean “I am so special”.

  11. Lady Mondegreen Avatar
    Lady Mondegreen

    J.A. @8

    “Queer” these days means not conforming to some norm or other, although what supposedly makes one queer can be as trivial as badly colored hair.

    And they fail to see the paradox: if everybody’s “queer,” if it’s a category just about anyone can opt into, then “queer” becomes meaningless.

    What do you want, kids? Do you want to normalize your particular fascinating fashionable quirk, or do you want to be “queer”–i.e. outside the norm? You can’t be both. Queerness isn’t like quantum superposition.

  12. Lady Mondegreen Avatar
    Lady Mondegreen

    Borkquote. Sorry.

  13. Beth Clarkson Avatar
    Beth Clarkson

    First they redefine her words as ‘hated’ and ‘violence’. Then they accuse her of spreading hated and violence. Not a lie, but truth by their definition. It’s a tactic I’m seeing used a lot these days.

  14. Your Name's not Bruce? Avatar
    Your Name’s not Bruce?

    And they fail to see the paradox: if everybody’s “queer,” if it’s a category just about anyone can opt into, then “queer” becomes meaningless.

    What do you want, kids? Do you want to normalize your particular fascinating fashionable quirk, or do you want to be “queer”–i.e. outside the norm? You can’t be both. Queerness isn’t like quantum superposition.

    Wait.

    There must be some rules or standards as to who is and is not queer. Are there degrees of queerness? Maybe some people are just faking it just to appear cool when really, they’re not. If not everyone is queer, then their must be someone gatekeeping and policing queerness. But we’ve been told that “policing”, “gatekeeping” and “exclusion” are always wrong. Seems they want that both ways, too.

  15. Holms Avatar

    I don’t know who O’Hanlon is, but Rowling doesn’t “normalise hatred of queer people” or “legitimise extremists who want trans people to stop existing,” nor are the women who joined Rowling for that lunch the “extremists” he points out.

    In order for those to be taken as true, there are 3 items of misinformation which must first be taken as true.

    – TWAW/TMAM,

    – Trans people are among the most psychologically fragile people on earth, with many already so close to attempting suicide that even a small negative stimulus might prove to be the last straw,

    – Disagreeing with TWAW/TMAM is always done knowing the above, and so is an act intended to cause a spike in suicides of trans people.

    All bullshit.

  16. YoSaffBridge Avatar

    The background to this is the horrific murder of two gay men in Ireland:

    https://www.rte.ie/news/2022/0415/1292503-vigils/

    A young man has been arrested for the murders, as well as for assaulting a third man. He is believed to have contacted his victims on Grindr. His connection to JK Rowling and her lunch buddies is yet to be established.