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PaperclipPerfector  12d ago (text post)   33241 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 10, 2025

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If anything Trump is doing now is giving you pause, what kind of America do you envision where you do not feel similarly towards whatever person it is that could push forth some kind of HBD driven policy? How would anything going on now not pale in comparison to that?

One of the reasons I assume centrists are not dealing with reality is because they never formulate their viewpoint into a political movement. Even if it's just an online larp on X. It never goes further than personal opinions and browbeating their left and right sides within the Overton Window.

I don't think it's a coincidence that when they actually do go into real politics, like Carl Benjamin did a few years ago, that they end up moving towards firmer ground, be that on the left, or in this case the right. Same thing happens all the time in countries with multi-party systems. The big 'left and right' parties scoop new 'not on a side' political parties up into government coalitions, they serve that sides interest and then implode next election. Or, like happened recently with my local Pirate Party, they refuse coalitions and instead slowly drift towards the left until there's no point in having them, and then they implode.

I can go on 'lefty twitter' and see what the various factions on the left are up to, same for the right. Both groups have animating theories for how the world works and what is best to do based on that. They can have fundamental differences with each other about what the world around them actually is. They stake their claims, dig their heels in and stand for something. I can't go on 'centrist twitter' and see what the propositions are from their side. What is their view on the fundamental problems and what answers do they hold? Moderate re-education camps? Racism 0.5?

At the heart of the left-right divide is a fundamental difference in how people see reality. There is also a shared understanding of the inherent necessitated logic that drives both theories. Both parties recognize this. 'Centrists', for the most part, do not. Which is why they seem endlessly bewildered why the two sides are so hostile to them.

I mean it's pretty simple, my ideal world is one in which you can talk about the fact that different ethnic groups have different intelligence levels and that trans women are more like men than they are like women, without losing your job. But at the same time, individuals of whatever ethnic group would be judged based on their individual characteristics rather than based on their group averages, and politics would not be dominated by resentment-driven fanatics of either a left or a right persuasion. This is not some weird abstract ambivalence between left and right, it is a genuine solid third view that is opposed to both the left and the right, and it is my view.

You're describing what you want, not how to get there. That's the fundamental difference between engaging with reality and not.

If colleges judge black people on their individual merit you will lose the vast majority of black enrollment overnight. Black people and many others will resent this. Black people and many others will organize based on their race and advocate as a group block for their group interest. This political movement will dominate politics. Call it 'Civil Rights Reloded'.

To fight this you would have to purge academia and nigh every single popular base of mass media in actions that make the Trump of today pale in comparison. That's the reality we're getting at.

trans women

Can I call them trans men, because they're actually men and nothing can or will ever change that?

Can I refuse to hire them because they're weird and gross and frankly, mostly, perverts, and I don't want to sort through for one of the good ones? Can I fire them when they want to transition for the same reasons?

Did you even notice the assumption you smuggled in?

This is not some weird abstract ambivalence between left and right, it is a genuine solid third view

Your 'third view' is nothing of the sort, it's just stopping the insane train one stop earlier. It's a ratchet, and you want to stop turning the ratchet, but can't possibly stand the idea of turning it back the other way. Classical liberals would not have passed the CRA, and classical liberals would not be forcing me to both have health insurance and forcing that same health insurance to cover boob jobs for pervert men on the basis of some phony-baloney 'mental health.'

MTF and FTM would leave no ambiguity.

Can I call them trans men, because they're actually men and nothing can or will ever change that?

Nobody will understand what you're talking about. 'Trans men' is a word that already exists and people will understand you to be referring to mentally ill women pretending to be not-women. Words have meanings even if their etymology is stupid.

Trans men are women who identify as male: the opposite of trans women.

The term you are looking for is "trans-identified male." Trans people consider "TIM" and "TIF" to be transphobic, so it probably serves the purpose you want, though it was coined by TERFs, so maybe it doesn't.

(From a moderator point of view, I would not mod TIM or TIF, but if you start calling people trannies or ranting at length about how you think they are all disgusting perverts, you're going to run afoul of the rules, because we do allow trans people to participate here and you're expected to be civil to them too, even if you really don't want to be.)

Doesn't "trans" also connote some kind of medical procedure or is it entirely based on identifying?

I am not ignorant of your definition. I reject it.

The term you are looking for is "trans-identified male."

No, I was not looking for that term. I do not use that term, because I do not want to use that term, because I do not agree with the assumptions necessary for it to make sense.

I thought that was clear when I accused goodguy of smuggling in assumptions. This was the very assumption I objected to in the first place, and simply repeating it does nothing to change my objection.

Your terms don't make sense, though. You're just using words in an idiosyncratic way because you think you're putting some extra fire into them, but you will actually fail to communicate what you're talking about.

Man is the noun, which I think is well defined.

Trans is the adjective, which describes the man.

It makes perfect sense.

I tend towards "ex-man" and "ex-woman" for this, for 3 reasons:

  • Doesn't allow useful information about that person to be lost
  • Is indicative of how the person in question feels about having been in that category (and suggests parting on bad terms; contrast 'former'), while at the same time, doesn't force me to validate any further Special Snowflakery
  • Is a comic book reference, and that series tends to be at the very least inspiration for these kinds of people (for obvious reasons)

To be fair, this is more intuitive. The world is mad, you are sane.

So you call women who identify as men trans women, and you call men who identify as women trans men?

Okay, you do you, but most people will think you mean the opposite of what you're saying.

Bro you're being way too sensitive, to be frank. Yes, I'm completely fine with you calling them trans men, I just used the term "trans women" because that is the most common and thus least confusing term these days. And yes, you can refuse to hire them if you want to. I lean in favor of freedom of association overall. Although, you might want to be careful with that principle, since the same principle will cause some people to refuse to hire anyone with views that are seen as too right-wing, which indeed we have already seen happening.

As for the CRA, I think we can agree that it was in many ways a bad idea for the country. But that does not mean that it is a good thing for fervent, resentment-driven right-wingers to take over the country. Those are two somewhat separate conversations. CRA and Trumpists can both be bad.

Here’s an idea why don’t we call trans women men who play make believe?

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