Charlie Stross2d ago

About trans rights:

They're a wedge issue. If you think it's okay to deprive trans people of the right to exist in the public sphere then you're saying human rights are conditional and/or can be withdrawn. Which puts you on a slippery slope to no human rights for anyone.

When you trace the roots of the modern anti-trans movement they boil down to some combination of bigotry and billionaire bullshit— the oligarchs think rights are for the rich.

So: trans-rights are human rights. No exceptions.

Show threadMathew Storm2d ago

@cstross

I'm just sad that "this group deserves to exist" is a wedge issue, and not just something most people can agree on 😞

Show threadCharlie Stross2d ago

@smattymatty Agreed, but also it's a manufactured wedge issue designed to ease the trans-ignorant into taking a series of that will lead them into a reprehensible position that they would mostly direct if they were confronted with it cold.

"Hi! We are your leaders and we want the right to dehumanize you and strip you of your rights at will!"—who'd say yes to THAT? Much easier to start by targeting a small minority nobody knows. Could have been left-handers or germophobes: but they picked trans.

Show threadOrion (he/him)1d ago
@cstross @smattymatty This is the tactic exactly. Pick a tiny group that's no threat to your fascistic movement but that a lot of people fear and hate so that you're entirely safe *and* you can terrify your bigot followers. This is why Nazis targeted Jews.
Show threadKevin Karhan 6h ago

@orionkidder @cstross @smattymatty and why the #Nazis started with #Trans* people in 1933!

https://web.archive.org/web/20220309141339/https://twitter.com/Delafina777/status/1221502678699663361

Jessica Price on Twitter

“Non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, a thread. Let's start with trans people, and LGBT and gender non-conforming people more generally. The Nazis set back progress on LGBT rights at least 75 years.”

Twitter
Show threadOrion (he/him)5h ago
@kkarhan @cstross @smattymatty Yes, thank you! The trans hate is not new. None of this is new. The difference is that we're in an environment today where it's not socially or politically viable to be as blatantly antisemitic as it is to be blatantly transphobic. Of course, American fascists are drooling at the chance to be unrepentantly antisemitic, too.
Show threadKevin Karhan 5h ago

@orionkidder @cstross @smattymatty exactly that!

Show threadOrion (he/him)

@kkarhan @cstross @smattymatty Yes, exactly. It's the overlap of:

people fascists genuinely hate

AND

people the fascists can get away with hating in public

8:19pmWeb