Am I going crazy? (Poe's Law)

submitted by SexualityCritical from self.GenderCritical

So, I thought that Titania McGrath (who I only realised minutes ago was a satirical writer) was a genuine TRA, like very word she wrote was actually serious, that her book, "My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism," which contains every gender ideologue cliché in existence wasn't, to any degree, a joke. I mean... I've actually seen worse, far worse, from people of every political ideology. I absolutely cannot tell apart those who are serious from those who are joking. For months, I had it in my mind that she was a serious writer, to the point where I was going to respond to some of her insanity in an essay of mine. I mean, her statement that if Abraham Lincoln was a trans-identified man, he'd be the first 'female' president, and, thus, not on the level of 'cis' male presidents, wasn't even particularly astounding (at least for me, anyway). I was actually going to reference her belief that self-identification can apparently create more female leaders, in response to a radfem asking TRAs if Donald Trump suddenly choosing to identify as a woman meant he would be the first female president. Like, I was going to cite her. Her celebrating of Magdalen Berns's death from cancer felt as real as the tweets from misogynists celebrating it. In fact, it was accompanied by statements which were overall less unhinged.

We live in a world where TRAs can take to social media, and receive full support with their sentiments, that lesbians need to date and fuck biological men who identify as men, simply because they're occasionally non-binary (genderfluid). That's real, commonly agreed upon take from TRAs, that lesbians need to have sex with men who even identify as men. You can't make this up, but it turns out Titania McGrath's beliefs were indeed made up. MOST posts on MOST TRA subreddits are literally as crazy as the stuff which McGrath parodied.

I literally could not tell her apart from all the other TRAs, everywhere on Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Tiktok, every single site they infest, who say all the insane nonsense that they do. In fact, many well known TRAs, and trans-identified men, say things that are even more absurd and deranged than what this satirical writer had typed out.

I feel like I just need to pause for a bit, you know?

Edit: this is more relevant than ever before (sadly). https://twitter.com/Biorealism/status/1421677462035996677/photo/1

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

This reminds me of when Tina Fey was doing Sarah Palin. Very little exaggeration, mostly reenactment.

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

Cloudy McCloudy social media cray-cray-osphere has certainly surprised me as well, as to who's "sincere" and who's critical/satirical.

[–]emptiedriver 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I think the internet almost creates a strange abstract group of envelope-pushers who barely know themselves if they are serious or not, who can always fall back on "it was just a joke" if things go too far, but can take advantage of "you better believe it" if they're getting privileges for what they're claiming they deserve... Should white males be seen as stunning and brave and oppressed and be able to walk into girl's dressing rooms naked, and win women's awards and take women's jobs? Just call us lesbians, it all makes sense... But I think the only real believers are confused kids or hardcore committed political idealists who get swept along without really thinking anything through

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

Well... this has become more relevant than ever.

https://twitter.com/Biorealism/status/1421677462035996677/photo/1

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

I didn't mean it wasn't relevant - it was more the question of "true believers". I just think that online people will push harder to see if they can get benefits for going even further without having to worry over whether they actually believe what they're saying. The percentage of people who actually believe the things being said is a subgroup.

There have always been people who push agendas for power not truth, but I am just saying it's been enlarged, especially by the internet, to the point where I think there are a lot of people who don't even see the difference.