What have you learned from the trans takeover

I don’t trust any of them. They all have their own agenda. It’s necessary to read all over the political spectrum to get an accurate picture - and to read between the lines.

That many/most centre and left politicians have no concerns for the poor and vulnerable. They operate in a middle class political bubble.

The same is true of the Tories of course but I expect that. The lack of concern by the 'left' for the effect of gender bollocks on the poor and vulnerable especially in prisons, is startling.

That women (adult human females) don't matter.

Agree @Thatgirl1981

Ideologies do not create art. Ideologies create content.

And it’s hard for me to admit because I think representation is important, and one of the reasons I taught myself UK English and even lived in the UK for a while is that when I was growing up British films far more than American ones showed working class people, mixed race people, and other people I could relate to in a way American cinema (or the rubbish local output) never did. But all that stuff came from a place of authenticity.

I think the destruction of trust has been one of the very worst things, like having the rug totally pulled out from under you.

On the other hand, it's done my critical thinking skills no end of good. And made me realise what my values actually are, also that I'm not a person who's prepared to throw them off.

It's made me read right-wing newspaper articles. I no longer trust what left-wing newspapers say on either women's rights or trans issues.

I agree that it demonstrates Greers point about women not knowing how much men hate us. Also, how much the middle class despise the poor.

But its also taught me how inept people are in their jobs. Individuals push themselves into positions that they are staggeringly unsuitable for and it turns institutions into shells that, at best aren't doing anything and at worst are actively working against their remit. That includes politics, too.

Theres no such thing as left and right wing politics when it comes to gender ideology.

I wonder if it's something to do with the fact that the major giveaway that someone is a biological male (after puberty) is their deep voice.

Even if plastic surgery, makeup and filters can make someone look female, their male voice will usually be the thing that betrays them.

Since in music it's considered bad form to use autotune and voice-changers, they can't apply the same tricks to singing that they do to visual media.

And it would be too confronting and obvious to have lots of male voices on the radio singing about being women, as it would peak everyone instantly. Like when you hear a male being interviewed on the radio about being a woman and it's much harder to suspend one's disbelief. It's much harder to read a male voice in isolation as "transwoman" as the voice alone reads as male. It's only the accompaniment of the clothing and cosmetic props that indicate to others that the person sees themselves as trans, so without it, they're just a man complaining that the ladies' toilets is off-limits to him.

In fact, I wonder how much the fact that middle aged people are more likely to listen to radio interviews which sometimes feature trans people (where you have to listen really carefully to try to understand what they think they are versus what you're hearing as otherwise the conversation makes zero sense) might have something to do with why older people tend to peak more quickly than younger people. The latter tend to get all their news and entertainment from carefully curated (and often filtered) online sources which are more visual and less reliant on the audio, so it's far easier to suspend one's disbelief there and simply believe what people are typing about themselves. When someone on social media writes that they're a woman, people will automatically conjure up an idea of a woman in their heads. So they read it in a woman's voice even though their real voice is much deeper and obviously male.

It's catfishing 101 - don't agree to phone calls as it will give you away if you're not who you say you are.

These are interesting points.

The other that occurs to me from what you say here: the left is heavily into enforcing that you MUST pay lip service to named minorities.

However this is devoid of actual care or interest, and those minorities are only permitted to say and voice their experience of being that minority in pre approved ways (by those in power) and may not discuss aspects of their oppression save for the pre approved ones. In essence: they must be useful to the political agenda of the powerful, and are only of interest in so much as they serve this purpose. Those who get out of their box are heavily repressed.

Women.
Lesbians and gay men.
BAME minorities
People of different faiths and culture
Even trans people had better stay on message: we've seen how dissenters and detransitioners are treated.

This is also a culture that hates age and experience and represses and excludes it wherever possible. Interesting to consider why.

In essence: this is a movement that heavily identifies as being nice so sees no need to bother doing anything more, or real. It's performative words and image, not actions and real beliefs. And when you point this out, they stare blankly through the evidence and deny that it's there.

That there are self centred woman hating men out there, as there has been since human beings started crawling the earth… this generations flavour has emerged in this form.

Very interesting comments here. I agree with almost all, and some have opened my eyes to aspects I hadn’t noticed before.

To answer OP:
Political beliefs: I’m still a socialist, feminist, environmentalist — no change in my lifelong beliefs.

Others: the people who are currently called leftwing are not leftwing. Identity politics, especially genderism, is as solipsistic and antisocial as it’s possible to be! The Green Party in particular is a bad joke.
Very sadly, I now now longer respect the Guardian or BBC, which were old friends that I’ve always admired and learnt from. They have broken the cardinal law of news reporting, which is that it should be accurate — not slanted by personal bias. Same as in court: news reporters should tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

It has caused me to question all of my previous political positions and reflexes. I have always associated myself with being a political radical, and of the Left. Now I still see myself as a radical, but the landscape has shifted. The Left is no longer a truly radical place. It is reliant on fixed ideological positions, fantasy utopias, and also a lot of self righteous moral superiority.

For those that consider themselves to be kind and good people, the shadow is very dark. The hatred, intolerance, name calling, the "smash it up" anger has really opened my eyes. I have become more detached from the maelstrom, becoming more of an observer of social patterns and movements; taking. a longer range view of society and social forces.

i have also become very focused on goals. The goal is to push back, hold to account, question and critique, and to force public debate. People are still very much unaware of the true scale and inetnt of trans activism and also have no awareness of its rootedness in post modernistic theories such as Queer Theory. It is going to take time. I've always estimated about 20 years for it to really start to unravel. It has embedded itself in our institutions and so will take time and commitment to eradicate and root out.

What a youth movement with no interest in creating art looks like (beyond filthy anime fan art I suppose. But I’m thinking primarily of music)

Good god, yes. I hadn’t thought of that. There’s no music. That’s bizarre. Like the Taliban.

yes, turns out news outlets lie. even the 'good' ones. even the BBC

This for me too. Also, not to feel guilty about thinking that some boundaries are necessary for everyone.

That a man can get his cock out in a women's changing room and it's the people that complain who are in the wrong. So called feminists will cheer him on and call the objectors perverts.

It's made me question everything else that I've been told.

Very interesting observations. Separating equality from realty .Yes!

I remember the arguments about having a Black section in Labour and a young black guy telling me he found the idea regressive and patronising. I later met his parents who were in the old Communist Party.

That explained it - it was all about Class to them. Not much for time for identity politics.

What I've learnt is how contingent or provisional all our rights are. If women's rights can be so casually disposed of because of some tiny pressure group we are all in trouble. 51% of the people ffs!

what have you learned about
Your own political beliefs

That I am strongly anti-authoritarian
That I am still broadly left wing but “old school” and reality-based
That I think that focusing on truth and “what actually happens on the ground” is far more important than siding with your tribe come what may
Strongly pro freedom of belief and other human rights/democratic freedoms
Pro discussion and debate on uncomfortable areas
That I would rather have a pluralistic society that included people I virulently disagree with than I would a wholly left wing society that was compelled to be that way
That I am seriously alarmed about the extremely poor standards (behaviour, intelligence, integrity, joined up thinking) in evidence in political/public life across the board, especially re regulatory capture and capture by lobbyists and batshit ideologies
That many on the left don’t question themselves and their own moral superiority (which was a hard one to learn) and how dangerous it is

has this issue made you think about others differently.

Like others, I’ve been genuinely shocked how many "intelligent" people have fallen for it but imagine they’re being ‘kind’ and have lost respect for many on the so-called ‘left’and in so-called "academia" where the standards really have dropped considerably
How many "nice" people who think they're being "progressive" would have been exactly those who dobbed their neighbours into the Stasi/Gestapo or joined in with the frenzy of Mao's Red Guards, and that's frightening.
How many women put men above other women at all times (and the internalised misogyny)
The unadulterated hatred a lot of men (esp lefty men) have of women
How complacent most people are about the gaining of their own rights and lacking in knowledge of their own history and current legal rights
How many people don’t understand basic safeguarding

This has made me look at the WHOLE political and social landscape differently. Mind-blowing. I think it’s in the ‘low’ phase of a particularly grim cycle, but I genuinely fear for what is going to happen before it rights itself (I think it will eventually but then I’m an optimist. And it’ll take a long time to right this.)

Thanks. Interesting.

I was having a few arguments itrw about stereotyping. It was a bit earlier - in the days of let toys be toys, that I started wondering where this was going.

If this has taught me anything it is the value of old people with long memories.

That I didn’t leave the Left, it left me.

That some people who would pride themselves on being kind, progressive and inclusive are nothing of the sort.

That I have waaaaay fewer fucks to give than I thought.

I've really come to believe that there is a huge proportion of the population that isn't capable of really complex thinking.

One of the things that has amazed me, with this, but also other recent political events like Brexit, or Trump, has been how quickly people seem to be able to flip from thinking one thing to another, and it seems like they don't remember what they thought before.

I've also been shocked to see the glee many people seem to take in authoritarian moralism, and maybe even more, how very comforting many seem to find it. The pandemic really brought that home to me, but GI also has been an example. This is something I knew smome people were prone to, but I really had no udea how many.

I also became a much more skeptical reader of new sources, and have realized that there are whole sets of topics that are treated with the same disregard for real journalism that trans issues are.

I love this story. Brave women of Mumsnet FWR.
Did they reinstate those who had already been banned?

That nothing ever changes.

The Trans bullshit is the same old men wanting to control, silence, and abuse women and children bullshit - only difference is that this time it is wearing a dress.

That there are plenty of women who will help them abuse children and other women. I mean I knew it was a thing, I just hadn't realised they would do it so openly, I guess I thought most women were smarter than that.