Yeah, making a “quip” that clearly reinforces the bigoted idea that, let’s be generous, some trans-women are only doing the trans thing so they can get access to bathroom/changing rooms for purposes of sexual titillation is in no way transphobic.
I’m still not sure you realize this thread isn’t in CS.
No, what I realize is that no one would have the slightest problem with any of this if it had been on some show other than Real Time With Bill Maher.
If this had been on some other show, the host’s response would hopefully have been “What the fuck is wrong with you, you degenerate bigot?”
That it wasn’t Maher’s response shows how absent his sense of empathy or support for oppressed minorities is.
Fox News continues to gleefully cite Maher’s show.
Apparently, Democrats are all about no-spending days and interpretive dance to protest the System.
It’s even more daft logic than normal: cherry-pick one kind of protest from a long list and then lament that this activity is all that Democrats are doing.
And it’s especially frustrating hearing that the left has “fixated on niche liberal issues like transgender bathroom policies”. Oh yeah, if only the left hadn’t politicized and weaponized that incredibly niche issue!
It’s a time-honored oppo tactic - focus on what the other side’s fringe is doing and pretend that it’s representative of the party/philosophy as a whole.*
A Maher specialty is revving up contempt for what his (ostensibly) own side is doing, for clicks and giggles. Guests who’ll support and add to this behavior are preferred. Far fewer will tune in to discussions of what most Democrats are actually doing to resist Trumpism.
*it’s gotten more complicated for Democrats using this tactic, as the lunatic fringe increasingly has become the Republican Party.
I’ve only seen the first half of the show, but I remember both Emanuel and Zakaria taking sense about what the Democrats need to do in this the worst timeline.
He said some other stuff that didn’t have anything to do with trans people, therefore the bit where he specifically repeated right-wing fear-mongering about trans people couldn’t have been transphobic?
It’s not that he also “said some other stuff”, it’s that the ill-advised contentious bit was a point made in passing that was so minor it never made it into the summary, and its sole purpose was to illustrate that, in Emanuel’s opinion, Chicago school administrators have the wrong priorities, and are focused on “woke” issues while the overall school system goes into decline.
But as I said earlier, I disagree with this false equivalence and in fact I’m increasingly bothered by it the more I think about it. If the first thing has nothing to do with the second and in no way precludes it – and it clearly does not – then why mention it at all?
If Emanuel is saying to school administrators “stop doing this thing that you’re doing (creating a supportive environment for trans students) and focus on the quality of your schools instead” then I vehemently disagree. Creating a hospitable environment for everyone including LGBTQ students is an essential part of a school’s responsibilities and an essential part of the education process. If Emanuel doesn’t believe this then he’s an ignorant bigoted jerk of Trumpian proportions, but I just didn’t think that Obama’s former chief of staff was a right-wing bigot. Maybe I was being too charitable.
No, your not recognizing that anti-trans bigotry is not solely the domain of right-wing bigots.
Sure, anyone can be a transphobe, but when someone’s background is described thusly:
Emanuel is generally liberal on social issues. He has maintained a 100-percent pro-choice voting record, supports LGBT rights including same-sex marriage, and is a strong supporter of gun control
then I think the intent of their statements may be entitled to a more charitable interpretation than statements made by known right-wing assholes.
LBJ gave the US the Civil Rights Act, LBJ was also a fucking racist.
I’ve said before, people are more complicated than you assume.
A smart person can do something dumb, a bad person can perform an act of kindness, and a generally liberal person can express a horribly bigoted right wing viewpoint on a particular issue.
Anyone who whips out the old “I would’ve said I was trans so I could be a creep in the girl’s locker room” line that was already a worn-out joke 20 years ago is at best a fair-weather ally who will toss disadvantaged communities under the bus the second a focus group tells them it’s only polling at 49.8%.
Why would any trans person vote for a party that feckless?
Was it even actually on Real Time - I could swear it was on the overtime segment on YouTube.
Deleted
Because of the alternative. But it’s still a sad state of affairs.
Considering how well that approach went for the party in 2024, I don’t think doubling down on it is a good idea.
I wasn’t offering it as a campaign slogan. I was answering the question why trans people would vote for the sorry excuse that is the Democrats.