Happy pride month wishing everyone a very don’t forget about disabled queers
“Fuck it, we slay” (heavy eye bags, dehydrated, on the verge of insanity)
i'm both dumber and smarter than you think so don't underestimate me because i'm actually smart about a lot of stuff but also don't be surprised if i'm dumb about some other stuff hope that helps
Still remember when a homo- and transphobic acquaintance tried to bring up JKR’s views on trans people in conversation and I shut it down with «oh yeah she’s been saying a lot of dumb shit on Twitter after she finished writing Harry Potter, like when she claimed Dumbledore was gay, just to be politically correct», which made it absolutely impossible for him to admit that he agreed with anything JKR had ever said. Sometimes you just have to weaponise people’s homophobia against their transphobia.
Other ways to stop family members/acquaintances from going on bigoted rants:
- «Isn’t this all a bit silly? I mean, I’m more concerned about the economy/the war in Ukraine/covid/my job» - weaponised whataboutism
- «Do you work with a lot of trans people? Because it seems like this is a problem you frequently encounter in everyday life from the way you talk about it» and when they say they don’t, follow up with «well then I don’t see what you’re making such a fuss about»
- «Idk, I haven’t been much on social media lately, I think Twitter is a waste of time» - make them feel like they’re the ones who are terminally online
- «Idk, I’m not that concernced with other people’s genitals and sex lives» - creep shaming
The point is that I’ve used all of these in various contexts and they’ve saved a good number of dinner table conversations from derailing into pointless debating. You don’t de-radicalise friends and family members by entering into political discussions they initiate just to stir up shit. You de-radicalise them by shifting the focus away from their shitty opinions and onto the things you have in common and the practical everyday stuff that exists outside their internet echo chambers.
This made me realise that not all people may have been taught persuasive techniques in high school. Most of which are 1 to 1 with logical fallacies. There is a reason why news article rely so heavily on persuasive rhetoric and its because its sincerely effective at changing people's views.
Maybe I'm missing something but what does this actually achieve, you havent stopped them being transphobic nor "shifted their focus onto the things you have in common" you've just agreed with them on the homophobia to try and get them to stop talking. All the bullet points in the follow up make perfect sense but I fail to see how this aligns with putting gay characters on par with transphobia. You may think she was wrong to do so bc it wasnt written in the books but I presume your homophobic uncle thinks that calling a character gay was wrong full stop so like??
What you achieve is a family dinner/work lunch conversation that’s not a transphobic rant, how is it so hard for people to understand that this isn’t intended as the Solution To All Bigotry Ever, it’s just a handful of tips to make bigots feel a wee bit silly about their bigotry so they’ll stop wasting your time by trying to drag you into a debate in a situation where you’re just minding your own fucking business
If they can't be cool (about trans people simply existing), they can at least be quiet.
i hope oceangate gets sued to hell for violating basic safety principles in pursuit of profit, i hope a teenager doesn’t die a horrible death, and i hope the world pays much more attention to the fact that 500 migrants died that same horrible death last week in a completely preventable sinking that was engineered by bureaucratic racism and cruelty. where were their millions of dollars and manpower hours in rescue efforts?
thedoctordionysus