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Gender politics is a cancer on the left, even though I agree with it, it takes up so much time and energy away from things that would benefit everybody includin

Gender politics is a cancer on the left, even though I agree with it, it takes up so much time and energy away from things that would benefit everybody including trans people, like universal healthcare, better employee protection laws and better, more available education. Such a small percentage of the population has been the center point of so much discussion and debate, and for what benefit? All I see it doing is give the right-wing more ammunition to harden their bases.

ixacto 5y ago
Yeah I’m not on the left any more and now an independent due to the left trying to use identity politics for political engagement. Still support what Bernie/Yang are doing though with trying to universalize healthcare and income though.
istorical 5y ago
The same could be said for most wedge issues. In the US, gun rights and and abortion also become a focal point of US politics despite the existence of issues that deal with millions of preventable deaths (automobile safety, obesity epidemic, poverty), issues that deal with hundreds of thousands of displaced peoples and killed civilians (Afghanistan and Iraq war, war mongering over Syria, Libya, Iran, etc), and climate change, which our brightness minds continue to tell us could lead to not insubstantial percentages of all forms of life on our planet going extinct and billions or trillions of dollars of economic cost. But we just focus on emotional trigger point issues. See focus on and mass protests because of police brutality (hundreds of deaths a year) compared to zero widespread action on the injustice of the prison system (hundreds of thousands of lives ruined, literal slavery and imprisonment in cages over antiquated unequally applied drug laws).
- edrxty 5y ago
  There's truth here, feels-over-reals is very much a problem in US politics. That said, feelings/perceptions have consequences if left unchecked. A few hundred people being "made an example of" by the police each year can functionally oppress an entire ethnic group in a country. All that said, in light of the previous example, it makes the abortion fight seem particularly...whimsical...given the stakes. The evangelicals believe they themselves are going to heaven regardless of what the non-evangelicals do and those getting abortions don't care so it's rather hard to point to a group being oppressed by their beliefs here.
- shigawire 5y ago
  Difference is it is fairly clear cut to say that the state does not need to murder people already in custody. It is harder to get a clear consensus on how to handle crime and imprisonment in general. It's a problem without a single good solution. Whereas the solution to police brutality incidents like George Floyd should be pretty simple in comparison.
tdeck 5y ago
This is the same thing people said about gay rights 15 years ago.
busterarm 5y ago
> it takes up so much time and energy away from things that would benefit everybody including trans people, like universal healthcare, better employee protection laws and better Distraction working as intended then? Neither political party has really shown any clear legislative intention on delivering on those things you ask for.
bob_roberts 5y ago
> Such a small percentage of the population That's not a good argument for the left to stop defending trans people's rights.
- dgb23 5y ago
  It’s almost like those who are opposing acceptance are slowing things down for little reason.
edrxty 5y ago
Gender politics are interesting because they are mostly just a source of in-fighting within various factions of the left [1] but because they cover a set of topics that seem so foreign to the right, it gives them lots of ammunition for cruel memes to distract themselves from their own internal struggles. That said, it's a nuanced issue that touches a lot of aspects of life and effects more people than one would initially assume. It's very much worth sorting out, but it's the kind of issue that's easily going to be derailed by toxic personalities because much like guns and religion, it's an attack on one's self image. If you're a billionaire wanting to cause havoc to prevent wealth taxes or environmental regulation, throwing money at either side of this cause seems like a pretty good way to get high political-chaos ROI. [1] - https://xkcd.com/1095/ https://xkcd.com/1095/

ixacto 5y ago

Yeah I’m not on the left any more and now an independent due to the left trying to use identity politics for political engagement. Still support what Bernie/Yang are doing though with trying to universalize healthcare and income though.

istorical 5y ago

The same could be said for most wedge issues. In the US, gun rights and and abortion also become a focal point of US politics despite the existence of issues that deal with millions of preventable deaths (automobile safety, obesity epidemic, poverty), issues that deal with hundreds of thousands of displaced peoples and killed civilians (Afghanistan and Iraq war, war mongering over Syria, Libya, Iran, etc), and climate change, which our brightness minds continue to tell us could lead to not insubstantial percentages of all forms of life on our planet going extinct and billions or trillions of dollars of economic cost. But we just focus on emotional trigger point issues. See focus on and mass protests because of police brutality (hundreds of deaths a year) compared to zero widespread action on the injustice of the prison system (hundreds of thousands of lives ruined, literal slavery and imprisonment in cages over antiquated unequally applied drug laws).

edrxty 5y ago
There's truth here, feels-over-reals is very much a problem in US politics. That said, feelings/perceptions have consequences if left unchecked. A few hundred people being "made an example of" by the police each year can functionally oppress an entire ethnic group in a country. All that said, in light of the previous example, it makes the abortion fight seem particularly...whimsical...given the stakes. The evangelicals believe they themselves are going to heaven regardless of what the non-evangelicals do and those getting abortions don't care so it's rather hard to point to a group being oppressed by their beliefs here.
shigawire 5y ago
Difference is it is fairly clear cut to say that the state does not need to murder people already in custody. It is harder to get a clear consensus on how to handle crime and imprisonment in general. It's a problem without a single good solution. Whereas the solution to police brutality incidents like George Floyd should be pretty simple in comparison.

tdeck 5y ago

This is the same thing people said about gay rights 15 years ago.

busterarm 5y ago

> it takes up so much time and energy away from things that would benefit everybody including trans people, like universal healthcare, better employee protection laws and better Distraction working as intended then? Neither political party has really shown any clear legislative intention on delivering on those things you ask for.

bob_roberts 5y ago

> Such a small percentage of the population That's not a good argument for the left to stop defending trans people's rights.

dgb23 5y ago
It’s almost like those who are opposing acceptance are slowing things down for little reason.

edrxty 5y ago

Gender politics are interesting because they are mostly just a source of in-fighting within various factions of the left [1] but because they cover a set of topics that seem so foreign to the right, it gives them lots of ammunition for cruel memes to distract themselves from their own internal struggles. That said, it's a nuanced issue that touches a lot of aspects of life and effects more people than one would initially assume. It's very much worth sorting out, but it's the kind of issue that's easily going to be derailed by toxic personalities because much like guns and religion, it's an attack on one's self image. If you're a billionaire wanting to cause havoc to prevent wealth taxes or environmental regulation, throwing money at either side of this cause seems like a pretty good way to get high political-chaos ROI. [1] - https://xkcd.com/1095/ https://xkcd.com/1095/