4 ms·

> I don't think there is a shift to the right, but rather a shift towards authoritarianism. In my opinion, that may be a fairly contrary-to-fact opinion to hol

> I don't think there is a shift to the right, but rather a shift towards authoritarianism. In my opinion, that may be a fairly contrary-to-fact opinion to hold. Take the contentious issue of transgender human rights, for example: the HN discussions that I’ve seen quite heavily tended towards right-wing principles of distrust of intellectuals [0] (vis-a-vis completely discounting readily available scientific information). I presume that much of the indignation towards trans topics also stems from a the right-wing principle of religious traditionalism [0]. Granted, that’s just based on my experiences in the comments. I’ve not done any sort of in-depth analysis to arrive at the above opinion. Alternatively, perhaps the latest stage of right-wing politics could be defined as the replacement of democratic law-and-order with righteous authoritarianism, rendering the quote somewhat nonsensical, in my hypothetical opinion. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics

LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
> Take the contentious issue of transgender human rights [...] tended towards right-wing principles of distrust of intellectuals There's a weird form of "intellectual"ism going on these days. I've gotten insanely mad pushback on my contention that we simply cannot know if Covid leaked from Wuhan. (Or, back in 2020 we couldn't - who knows where we're getting now.) It could be easy to show there was a leak, but would be almost impossible to show there wasn't. Note that I wasn't saying "we shouldn't take the vax" or anything, just the leak issue. Total rabid culture war. Similarly, there's a huge push that "trans women are women" and that there's science for this, gender spectrum and so on, but there's no ability to look behind the curtain. The studies don't show what they purport to, and don't match the claims they're being used to defend. Nobody has attempted to show a midpoint on the sex spectrum, and even if they did - the argument has moved on and now trans is an issue of self-id that doesn't require any physical issue. Bring this up and you're "literally saying trans people shouldn't exist", etc. In both cases there's no depth to the argument, despite that it apparently comes from the best scientific minds in the world - it claims to be a factual claim but when you ask to see the facts it becomes a purity issue where you're then shamed for not simply believing. I was told I was a Covid denier because of not simply accepting the no-lab-leak story. > perhaps the latest stage of right-wing politics could be defined as the replacement of democratic law-and-order with righteous authoritarianism One side makes "facts" a matter of righteousness and the other side simply eschews facts for their religion.
- 9wzYQbTYsAIc 3y ago
  > but when you ask to see the facts That’s the scary part - the facts are readily available, but so few take the time to understanthe current state of it. Instead, they argue from their armchair based on this-or-that principle of the day. The science is still new, but has solid foundations. It might only be a matter of years before a genetic test for tendency towards “transgender” will be created.
  - LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
    > It might only be a matter of years before a genetic test for tendency towards “transgender” will be created. Do you recognize that you're about five years behind in "the message"? Trans is purely self-id, to declare yourself trans in the "progressive" countries like NZ and Canada you don't need to even suggest that there's anything physical involved. Specifically you're even allowed to keep changing your identity, something that couldn't happen if trans had a physical nature. Also, you're allowed to claim non-binary but use the women's washroom without even explaining why this would be appropriate. In Canada you'd be called a trans-medicalist, which theoretically is advocating conversion therapy - to talk people out of their felt experience of gender or gender identity. It's borderline 'hate speech'. > The science is still new, but has solid foundations. What is the contention? Not the evidence, just the premise? Do you suggest that males, like William (Lia) Thomas and Boyd (Fallon Fox) Burton are no stronger than women the moment they transition or that they rapidly become female-like by taking estrogen and losing testosterone as a consequence of their genital surgeries? In these studies, is Caster Semenya treated as female despite fathering a baby? > That’s the scary part - the facts are readily available, but so few take the time to understan the current state of it. What facts? Be specific. Because many studies in the subject area would have failed a second-year student recently in any other specialty. Specifically the small sample size and self-selected nature of the trans athletes who have a motive to sandbag and return worse times in order to "prove" that they belong in women's sports, etc. If that isn't what you meant, then please list these good studies because the space is crowded with academically blessed nonsense.
    - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 3y ago

LawTalkingGuy 3y ago

> Take the contentious issue of transgender human rights [...] tended towards right-wing principles of distrust of intellectuals There's a weird form of "intellectual"ism going on these days. I've gotten insanely mad pushback on my contention that we simply cannot know if Covid leaked from Wuhan. (Or, back in 2020 we couldn't - who knows where we're getting now.) It could be easy to show there was a leak, but would be almost impossible to show there wasn't. Note that I wasn't saying "we shouldn't take the vax" or anything, just the leak issue. Total rabid culture war. Similarly, there's a huge push that "trans women are women" and that there's science for this, gender spectrum and so on, but there's no ability to look behind the curtain. The studies don't show what they purport to, and don't match the claims they're being used to defend. Nobody has attempted to show a midpoint on the sex spectrum, and even if they did - the argument has moved on and now trans is an issue of self-id that doesn't require any physical issue. Bring this up and you're "literally saying trans people shouldn't exist", etc. In both cases there's no depth to the argument, despite that it apparently comes from the best scientific minds in the world - it claims to be a factual claim but when you ask to see the facts it becomes a purity issue where you're then shamed for not simply believing. I was told I was a Covid denier because of not simply accepting the no-lab-leak story. > perhaps the latest stage of right-wing politics could be defined as the replacement of democratic law-and-order with righteous authoritarianism One side makes "facts" a matter of righteousness and the other side simply eschews facts for their religion.

9wzYQbTYsAIc 3y ago
> but when you ask to see the facts That’s the scary part - the facts are readily available, but so few take the time to understanthe current state of it. Instead, they argue from their armchair based on this-or-that principle of the day. The science is still new, but has solid foundations. It might only be a matter of years before a genetic test for tendency towards “transgender” will be created.
- LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
  > It might only be a matter of years before a genetic test for tendency towards “transgender” will be created. Do you recognize that you're about five years behind in "the message"? Trans is purely self-id, to declare yourself trans in the "progressive" countries like NZ and Canada you don't need to even suggest that there's anything physical involved. Specifically you're even allowed to keep changing your identity, something that couldn't happen if trans had a physical nature. Also, you're allowed to claim non-binary but use the women's washroom without even explaining why this would be appropriate. In Canada you'd be called a trans-medicalist, which theoretically is advocating conversion therapy - to talk people out of their felt experience of gender or gender identity. It's borderline 'hate speech'. > The science is still new, but has solid foundations. What is the contention? Not the evidence, just the premise? Do you suggest that males, like William (Lia) Thomas and Boyd (Fallon Fox) Burton are no stronger than women the moment they transition or that they rapidly become female-like by taking estrogen and losing testosterone as a consequence of their genital surgeries? In these studies, is Caster Semenya treated as female despite fathering a baby? > That’s the scary part - the facts are readily available, but so few take the time to understan the current state of it. What facts? Be specific. Because many studies in the subject area would have failed a second-year student recently in any other specialty. Specifically the small sample size and self-selected nature of the trans athletes who have a motive to sandbag and return worse times in order to "prove" that they belong in women's sports, etc. If that isn't what you meant, then please list these good studies because the space is crowded with academically blessed nonsense.
  - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 3y ago