Stephen King, Margaret Atwood - cowards, rape enablers and science deniers - sign open letter championing transgender demands

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[–]MarkTwainiac 19 insightful - 3 fun19 insightful - 2 fun20 insightful - 3 fun -  (7 children)

Here's what this incredibly juvenile, mollycoddling, patronizing, cringey and imbecilic letter actually says:

As members of the writing and publishing community of the United States and Canada, we stand firmly in support of trans and non-binary people and their rights.

We are writers, editors, journalists, agents, and professionals in multiple forms of publishing. We believe in the power of words. We want to do our part to help shape the curve of history toward justice and fairness.

To that end, we say: non-binary people are non-binary, trans women are women, trans men are men, trans rights are human rights.

Your pronouns matter.

You matter.

You are loved.

Signed:

I can't believe grownups who claim to be writing and publishing professionals and educated, thoughtful members of the "intelligentsia" would put their names to that without dying of embarrassment.

But hey, 2020 is the year that keeps on giving in surprising ways, innit?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E2wUhFjDHFaoQLQkFeG0HIhKUFknmTw076hctywqxUc/edit

[–]NecessaryScene1 18 insightful - 3 fun18 insightful - 2 fun19 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

dying of embarrassment.

Speaking as a Brit, seeing this sort of nonsense kind of confirms my basest low stereotypes of Americans and their gullibility.

So open-minded your brains have fallen out, as Magdalen said.

Can you not go back to do something more entertaining and harmless, like Scientology again? :P

[–]MarkTwainiac 11 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

LOL. But please don't blame just us Yanks. Or all us Yanks, either.

The letter is from "the writing and publishing community of the United States and Canada."

Last I looked, Canada was still a British Commonwealth country.

Also, this letter was signed by 1,200 people from the US and Canada. That's tiny considering the of the US population is 331+ million, and Canada's is 38 million.

Look at all the anti-women, transmaniac policies embraced by the UK Labour Party, the Lib Dems, the Greens, the SNP. And the nutty things said by all the women who ran against Starmer in the Labour Party leadership race recently. I wouldn't judge the entire UK based on their nuttiness.

BTW, there are apparently now only 20,000 Scientologists in the US. Small spuds out 331+ million, though of course we have all sort of other religious nuts too in far greater number.

Since you brought the topic up, I hope you know that in Scientology's most formative years, it was headquartered in the UK, and the UK's role in its development is very much part of the lore:

Hubbard moved to England shortly after founding Scientology, where he oversaw its worldwide development from an office in London for most of the 1950s. In 1959, he bought Saint Hill Manor, a Georgian manor house near the Sussex town of East Grinstead. During Hubbard's years at Saint Hill, he traveled extensively, providing lectures and training in Australia, South Africa in the United States, and developing materials that would eventually become Scientology's "core systematic theology and praxis".

While in Saint Hill, Hubbard worked with a staff of nineteen and urged others to join. In September 14, 1959, he wrote: "Here, on half a hundred acres of lovely grounds in a mansion where we have not yet found all the bedrooms, we are handling the problems of administration and service for the world of Scientology. We are not very many here and as the sun never sets on Scientology we are very busy thetans."

The most important achievement of the Saint Hill period was Hubbard's execution of the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course (SHBC). It was delivered by Hubbard from March 1951 to December 1966 and "is considered the single most comprehensive and rigorous training course for budding auditors in the church". Scientology groups today called "Saint Hill Organizations" located in Los Angeles, Clearwater (Florida), Copenhagen and Sydney still teach this course.

Scientology only relocated its base of operations back to the USA in the late 1960s.

Scientology still claims it has a large membership in the UK. Of course, nothing Scientology says is trustworthy.

But it's still got a big presence in the UK, with 10 separate bases there and a TV station that operates out of the UK. What's more, apparently Scientology's legal status in the UK has improved significantly in recent years - a far cry from decades ago when it was investigated by the UK government & efforts were made to ban it.

https://sheerluxe.com/2018/03/28/scientology-uk-should-we-be-worried

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/england/london/articles/london-scientology-centre/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_status_by_country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology_in_the_United_Kingdom

[–]NecessaryScene1 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That was a longer reply than that deserved. How very you :)

Seeing Canada is interesting - always thought they were more sensible. Maybe they are, but apparently excessive politeness cancels out and then some.

Plus they clearly suffer from the "complex about having a bigger more powerful neighbour" you also see in Ireland and Scotland which apparently compels them to show they're more "progressive" by really enthusiastically getting into something their "backwards" neighbour isn't as keen on.

Look at all the anti-women, transmaniac policies embraced by the UK Labour Party, the Lib Dems, the Greens, the SNP. And the nutty things said by all the women who ran against Starmer in the Labour Party leadership race recently. I wouldn't judge the entire UK based on their nuttiness.

True, but at least we're not the centre for it - they're just tagging along. It does make them look very out of touch though - it's as if a large chunk of our ruling elite identifies more with America than their own population. (On top of the obvious fact they identify more with men than women...)

But it doesn't half open up opportunities for hilarity when they have to actually justify what they're doing in public meetings and phone-ins. They can't totally avoid the British public, much as they'd like to, so they are going to get repeatedly grilled about what a woman is, and why they're teaming up with "males-in-women's rugby" groups to discuss misogyny.

[–]BEB[S] 6 insightful - 4 fun6 insightful - 3 fun7 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

How about EST? Or Heaven's Gate? Or the Manson Family? Or Jim Jones and his Kool-Aid drinkers?

Note that these are all tied to California, the place where the Trans Cult has its headquarters (the California state legislature) and its Grand Wizard, Scott Wiener.

Oh, and the Mad Mother of the Universe, Judith Butler.

[–]verystablegenius 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

please, it’s not all of us.

[–]LasagnaRossa 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

These people keep misinterpreting the meaning of respect.

You can respect the humanity of someone without agreeing with their opinion.

I respect my religious friends, but I still think they believe in bullshit. My respect is expressed by not telling in their face my atheistic opinion without being asked first. On online forums I do. Respect is preserved.

In the same way I respect trans people and their pronouns, but I still think they believe in bullshit. My respect is expressed by not telling in their face my gender critical opinion without being asked first. On online forums I do. The respect is preserved.

That's it, that's simple.

[–]jet199 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They don't misinterpreted the meaning. Respect has 2 common meanings in English and they use the 2 interchangeably in the same argument purposely to confuse their intentions.

https://kottke.org/18/05/the-respect-of-personhood-vs-the-respect-of-authority

[–]kalina 20 insightful - 1 fun20 insightful - 0 fun21 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I can't get over the irony that Margaret Atwood would sign this. Not that I know much about her but the Handmaid's tale would be 100% impossible in a world without biological sex.

[–][deleted] 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

She was in the news recently for retweeting a junk science sex is a spectrum article from some magazine like National Geographic or the Smithsonian.

[–]BEB[S] 14 insightful - 3 fun14 insightful - 2 fun15 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

I read the HANDMAID'S TALE when it came out and it very much cemented my thoughts on women's rights. Also, just a few years ago, there was a demonstration against Kavanaugh being annointed to the Supreme Court where female demonstrators were wearing outfits from the HANDMAID's show and I thought it was very apt - but now, FUCK YOU, MARGARET ATWOOD.

Stephen King probably has a hidden closet full of decapitated monkeys dressed in fetish gear, so no real surprise there.

[–]PassionateIntensity 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I still don't believe either one of them actually believes this bullshit. They aren't stupid, they're lying, because they think they're being kind/helping the oppressed. While ignoring oppressed women, because their incredible wealth allows them to forget sexism is alive and well. What did that Medium writer call it... The Reverse Voltaire.

[–]BEB[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Stephen King said something slightly gender critical a little while ago, took a lot of heat, and then backtracked. He doesn't believe this bullshit, he's a coward and a hypocrite in love with money.

However, I read Margaret Atwood's defense of TiMs, which was lengthy, and she does seem to be a true believer.

[–]Shesstealthy 6 insightful - 2 fun6 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Cunningly written story that doesn't misrepresent Rowling.

[–]ArthnoldManacatsaman 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

That's disappointing. This month's book club book is by Stephen King.

[–]divingrightintowork 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I have no issue with that letter if it made any sense, what exactly do they all mean when they say man and woman and valid and all that nonsense?

[–]crodish 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Of course they did. Sigh.