And aside from that, there’s also the fact that they’re horrible representations of the “White male straight cis Christian” demographic. Apart from the “Christian” part, that’s what I am, and it describes a lot of my friends as well. But I don’t see myself or my buddies in these weirdos. All that weird “culture wars” stuff marks them out as not being normal, even by white guy standards. The obsessions with pregnancy, and how many kids you have, the obsessions with transgender issues, the obsessions with who is a cuck, the obsessions with being alpha male, all that shit seems weird to me, and most of my friends. The guys who show up at the pub acting like that pretty much all get snubbed for being so weird.
I’m a straight white male cis Christian and those people are so weird to me they might as well be space aliens.
I would like to extend a harty Fuck You to the Ohio Democratic Party.
And the stupidity on Acton’s part there was even more glaring than the bigotry.
Supporters of trans-bans in women’s and girls’ sports (of whom I am not one, btw) COULD very easily get away with condoning or endorsing the bans WITHOUT sounding blatantly transphobic. All they have to do is make concerned noises about ”importance of protecting fair competition among female athletes”, ”all children deserve access to athletic participation but we must be careful not to let accommodations for a tiny minority outweigh fairness to girl and women athletes in general”, etc. etc.
Such noises would still have a non-negligible transphobic influence IMHO, but ironclad plausible deniability. Nobody’s misgendering anybody, nobody’s directly insulting constituents’ kids, nothing. This whole topic would have been at best a transitory ripple in the Ohio gubernatorial race.
So what does Amy “Concrete Cortex” Acton do instead? Gratuitously refers to transgender female athletes as “boys in girls’ sports”, thereby rousing the ire of all parents snd supporters of transgender children, athletes and non-athletes alike. And then the ODP suppresses a press release by their progressive caucus calling her out on it. Dumbasses.
Thanks, I hate it.
Yep, just gross.
I had totally forgotten about this thread when I was thinking of where it might make sense to post this.
Thing is, as stupid as @Kimstu makes it sound, it’s even stupider.
“I do not support boys playing in girls sports. This is already settled law in Ohio, and as governor I will enforce and uphold the law,” Dr. Acton said.
“As a doctor, public servant, and a mom, I will always stand up for fairness and protect kids’ health and safety,” she continued. “While my opponent tries to divide us, I’m laser-focused on issues that matter most to Ohioans: lowering costs, cracking down on corruption, and cutting taxes for working families.”
So this was apparently her attempt not “to divide us”! Yes, let’s take this controversial (and wrong) position on this controversial issue. That’ll keep the “laser focus” on these other issues! Hell, let’s throw in some misgendering to really get it in the headlines!
She’s basically neck-and-neck with her Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy–who I assume I don’t need to tell you about. This is stupid even from a strategic point of view.
Here’s this one for free: "My job as governor is to enforce the law whether I agree with it or not. As a doctor, public servant, and a mom, I will of course always stand up for kids.
“While my opponent tries to divide us, I’m laser-focused on issues that matter most to Ohioans: lowering costs, cracking down on corruption, and cutting taxes for working families.”
There you go. Both sides can read what they want into it, but she says nothing. If you must do the whole “don’t divide” shit, do that.
But is this really a stupid liberal idea, or is it a liberal espousing a stupid conservative idea?
Personally, I think that liberals adopting stupid and insulting transphobic rhetoric qualifies as a stupid liberal idea, even if the conservatives started it.
There are plenty of ways to talk seriously and respectfully about fairness and inclusivity for people of all gender identities in sports competitions. Calling transgender girls “boys” is not one of them, and I for one am not willing to offload onto conservatives the stupidity of a self-proclaimed liberal’s choosing to do that. (Irrespective of how stupid the conservatives in question are being off their own bat.)
It sure isn’t the liberal side of the party being silenced, now is it? This is quintessential liberalism, covering for their own and telling progressives to shut up.
And notice specifically she was linked. Any idea this was just Acton was proven false the second they made the Progressive Caucus take down their rebuke.
Plus, I’d call the trans sports debacle more a TERF thing that conservatives (and MAGA) saw and ran with. Fair Play for Women are the big popularizers, and they very much claim to be feminist. You really think conservatives would have thought about women’s sports and equality?
This is the unfortunately common liberal idea that throwing yet another minority under the bus is somehow better for their election chances.
She’s espousing a conservative idea, which by definition makes her less liberal rather than more. Obviously life isn’t 1 dimensional so whether this is a thread for people or ideas that are liberal is up to interpretation.
That’s why the other thread is about “Republicans”, and not “conservatives”.
And I think it’s also a big reason why this poorly-conceived thread has had much less participation.
The Stupid Democratic Idea of the Day thread died about a year before this one popped up.
I always figured it was the spiritual successor after Clothahump’s nonsense.
This thread is Clothahump’s.
The “Democratic” one was mine, in an attempt at equity. It starved to death.
Well yeah, but it became more useful after his made-up bullshit about imaginary neighbors was dealt with.
Yeah, I remember he showed a picture of his alleged garage, and it had a mower with an electric cord, the one he claimed the liberal jogger was yelling at him about.
But doesn’t she need something on tap if she gets asked for specifics?
I guess I’m imagining a gubernatorial debate, where the Republican candidate gets asked about this and looks right into the camera and proudly says something instead of nothing; hell, he probably uses the exact choice of phrase that Acton did. Maybe he’s brainy enough to bracket it just like you suggest — by stating that other issues are more important, and naming them — but, he adds, he can spare a moment to walk and chew gum at the same time by giving a point-blank answer about “boys” that tells the audience exactly where he stands: there’s no evasiveness, no Read-Into-This, just the thing itself. “Since you asked,” he replies to the moderator.
The moderator then asks Acton where she stands.
“There are less than 100 trans athletes, nation wide. That’s in all sports. Less than one hundred. Last election cycle, Republicans spent 215 million dollars on ads targeting this minuscule minority.
They did that because they want you angry at trans people, instead of angry at housing prices. They want you angry at trans people, instead of angry about starting another endless war in the Middle East. They want you angry at trans people, instead of angry about the Epstein files.
My opponent wants you angry at trans people, because he doesn’t have a single policy that will actually help you, and he hopes if he gets you angry enough, you won’t notice.
But I think the folks of Ohio have had enough of Republican scapegoats. Don’t fall for his misdirection. Ask yourself, when he talks about this group that’s 1% of 1% of 1% of the population like they’re the greatest threat to the nation today: what is he hoping you won’t get angry about instead?”
That doesn’t sound stupid to me..