this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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As a non US person, it's baffling to me that there's this whole background of being "the land of the free", but half the country would want to turn it into Saudi Arabia 2.0, Christian Boogaloo.
That said, anyone of you over there who are opposing these changes, keep up the fight. When one country gets more conservative others will follow. There's no country in earth immune to this.
It's terrifying to witness active dehumanization in a nation that supposedly wants you to live your best life. They'll try to convince the whole nation that trans folk aren't people, aren't human, we can't let them. Once they're not human, they can get away with anything they do to them. If you see these efforts to dehumanize any group, no matter where you are, try to be brave because you never know when you're next.
As a trans woman it's really fun getting to be the minority that it's totally okay to just openly hate and dehumanize, the right's newest whipping girl ;-;
Stay strong girl! You have every right to exist in your most comfortable form, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Identity is an innate human right, you deserve the freedom of expressing that identity like everyone else!
<3
Especially when so many pedojacket us which in turn causes trans folks to infight.
I remember in my university's then-Gay and Lesbian Association (getting the "B" added was a whole thing) we got leafletted by the North American Man/Boy """Love""" Association (spit). Had to make a motion to reject them entirely, which is gross it even needed to happen. Happily it was unanimous.
I'll never forget this poem, it really shaped my perspective on speaking up sooner rather than later. There was another poem that echoed similar sentiments, but I can only remember the line "I will not be an agent of death."
It's freaking amazing, and terrifying, how quickly the right wing wackos have been able to demonize a group that almost nobody has even thought about in forever. It's like a case study in finding some marginalized group to vent rage on/about.
Definitely terrifying and can be surprising, but I think it's easier to demonize unfamiliar groups than to demonize a well-known one. I think demonizing and dehumanizing relies on some degree of the unknown to make all the hysteria and fear plausible. If the group is well known by the general public, it's easier to say "now wait a minute, I happen to know many trans people and they're very kind." It creates a strong base of informed allies to speak up on the group's behalf. It's not impossible to demonize a well-known group, I just believe it's easier when your target has no personal interactions to check against the fear mongering.
This is also why "colleges indoctrinate students" is wrong even though college students do tend to get more liberal. When college students leave their home towns and go to college, they run into people of differing backgrounds. Stereotypes get challenged and broken to pieces. The college kids return to their home towns unwilling to engage in the demonization because suddenly it's not some faceless Other they are railing against, but an actual person that they have interacted with.
You described my college experience to a T, it was hard going home and realizing my family, not just my community, is plagued by hatred of people they never met.
Even worse than the demonizing is how they dehumanize trans people. Don't get me wrong, demonizing a group is bad, but dehumanizing is so much worse.
I learned this lesson during a trip to the Holocaust Museum in DC. I walked through one of the train cars and tried to picture fitting as many people in there as the plaque said were crammed in. I couldn't. Then, I realized that I was trying to fit people in the car. Even though these were imaginary people existing solely in my head, I was still treating them like people. I switched to trying to cram that many human shaped objects in the car and realized it was easy to do.
The right is pushing dehumanization of people they don't like. Once you've accepted a group of people as "not human," all sorts of horrible options open up to deal with them.
Conservatives here have a different definition of "freedom". They want to be free from being bound by the laws yet still be protected by them, whereas minorities should be bound by the laws, but not protected by them. This is how conservatives in this county are both the party of "law and order" at the same time as being the party of "freedom".
Shit is dangerous over here right now in some areas especially...
Of course Riikka is stuck in the red zone. siiiigh
Thanks for posting that anyway. resumes going outside approximately never
You're not alone in this, and it's important to remember that many of these laws are gaining support based on falsehoods and misinformation. Additionally, a lot of people haven't had personal experiences with transgender individuals, but when someone close to them, like a coworker, friend, or family member, comes out, it often leads to a change of perspective and understanding. Personally, I intend to maintain red zone for now, while gradually opening up to others. If things still seem discouraging in a couple of years, I may consider leaving for a better environment. Remember, your well-being matters.
The very concept of "freedom" has been twisted by conservative media and church leaders into a tool of oppression.
Exactly^ the phrase has no meaning anymore.
The best part about this is that the people wanting to turn the country into Saudi Arabia 2.0 have a tendancy to spread conspiracy theories about the other side imposing sharia law...
It's projection. Every single thing they accuse "the woke left" of doing is something they are already doing.
Conservatives have never really been known for their compassion.
Trans folks are just the current target. Gay people, BIPOC folk will be back on the chopping block soon enough. 😔
And Jews, such aa myself. In fact, they're already railing against the Jews even if they hide it behind "Soros," "Globalists," or other code words.
And their "support for Israel" isn't incompatible with their antisemitism once you realize that:
This is because the evangelicals think Jews need to be running Israel before Jesus will return. So it's for the evangelicals, not for the Jews.
After Jesus returns, he supposedly will toss all Jews into hell. So it's delayed antisemitism.
It gives antisemites a "dual loyalty" trope to use as well as an expulsion plan. I've never been to Israel. I have no "loyalty" to Israel. I'm an American citizen and have lived in the US my entire life. However, many antisemites would love to ship me off to Israel or demote me to second class citizen simply because I'm Jewish.
@Wander Let's not forget the US also has way more influence than any other country. What I've seen so far in my life is that what happens in the US happens a few years later here.
It used to be a 10 year delay, and it was mostly for positive things, like innovations. Now it's more like 2-4 years, and for bad things. The first turning point for the bad, IMHO, was the iraq war and the death of UN Sérgio Vieira de Mello. It was mostly silent but it really changed international cooperation for the worst.
The second big turning point was Trump. It basically told every bigot, racist, ignorant person around the whole world "Now it's your chance". It validated so much of the bad stuff it would soon be felt everywhere.
Its been going on for a while.
https://i0.wp.com/wiredpen.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/06-goldwater-1-this-one.png
Barry Goldwater has a few good quotes about it.