4 ms·
When you conjure a national crisis out of a few very rare examples, that puts members of a vulnerable minority group at risk, with the express purpose to fright
by panarky 4y ago
When you conjure a national crisis out of a few very rare examples, that puts members of a vulnerable minority group at risk, with the express purpose to frighten your supporters while dividing your adversaries, so that your side can seize power, that's more than just a "moral panic", it's textbook fascist politics.
- red-iron-pine 4y agoIn the W Bush era it was gays getting married. Terrorists are taking over and gays are gonna shack up and destroy America. Gotta have a foreign and domestic set of enemies to get people riled up about. But the Overton Window shifted and no one really cares if the gays marry. Trans people are even fewer than gay people and there may be a number of real, or kinda real, arguments to be had there, such as the wisdom of giving younger kids hormones, or if trans athletes should be allowed to participate in gendered sports leagues. They make a fantastic wedge issue, with the benefit that they're 0.3% of the population -- political footballs, with no chance of actually burning a voting block.
- jrm4 4y agoAs a (Black) leftie, I really wish the political-internet-left understood this better. "They want to destroy us!" No, fam, that's not quite what's happening here. None of them (with power) wake up thinking "trans people are a menace that must be stopped." Now, it may be just as bad - but to them you're just a useful pawn, which requires different tactics from "this is exactly like Nazi Germany."