To what extent are we allowed to discuss parallels between cults and gender ideology?

The clear clear line that some people can't see?

Oh, that clear clear line.

Yes I think this is probably the case. Unfortunately some people are so emotional about the subject they cant see when they are overstepping what is quite a clear line.

Is that when you say some or all, though?

i think the change occurred around the time of the Supreme Court ruling. It’s was a watershed moment and clarified the law. When we look back at this weird time in history in fifty years, the SC ruling will be the pivotal moment I think.

They have not.

I've been talking about it on her for a number of years and the posts have stood. Even at the height of issues.

The key part is to be very explicit about why and what your concerns are and to heavily caveat.

We definitely were not allowed to mention any similarities between gender identity and cults only a few years ago.

I remember starting a thread with this video from The State Media using the video name 'Is gender Ideology a cult?' as the thread title. It was deleted very promptly by MN, I think it was within about 15 minutes of me posting the thread and only a few people had time to comment before it was zapped.

Nowadays we are able to speak far more freely but it was only a couple of years ago when this board was monitored very closely and certain words/connections (e.g. mentioning AGP, even as an acronym) would lead to posts and threads disappearing.

Comments insinuating that the motivation for some trans identifying males is a sexual fetish are usually deleted despite the accuracy of the observation.

There is something about all online culture which is 'cultish' - the medium facilitates extreme ideologies and makes it easy for them to maintain their extremes by punishing and excluding dissent. It encourages soundbites and simplistic, repetitive mantras and discourages critical thinking. Social media in particular encourages a lot of appeal to charismatic authority figures. I see this in all the leftist omnicause ideas (gender, critical race theory, anti-Israel) to some extent.

The aspect of potentially cult-like behaviour I'm interested in is how otherwise intelligent, educated and forthright people become fearful of any kind of dissent.

I stuck my head above the parapet in my workplace to question a paragraph of misplaced guff about trans/non binary in a scheme aimed at women in STEM. It transpired that every senior member of the dept leadership team agreed with me, but were too scared/weak to say anything until someone else did. These are highly paid, highly educated, highly respected academics whose line of work means they are used to challenging claims, robust disagreement and clear language.

There are a lot of things described as a cult on mumsnet : motherhood, Boden, centre parcs, Trump, all without deletion, but gender ideology can’t take it it seems.

Snap!

Wasn't mention of "AGP" another cause of deletion? Hence the references to Málaga Airport.
And TIM/TIF?

Also deleted were posts with the three letter acronym AGP. We used to refer to people flying in from Malaga instead.

There was a very, very rapid change in what was allowed to stand and what merited deletion - I feel like it happened over the course of the live discussion of the Sandie Peggie tribunal.

Blimey I didnt know that. Thank you. It's important that those of us who came to this later know the history.

Okay well it is obviously not like that now, you can say pretty much what you want about trans people it seems for the most part.

I can't imagine why this kind of thread would be deleted, but perhaps I'm being naive.
The only obvious difference between trans ideology and a cult that I can think of offhand is that there isnt an overarching leader/prophet/god/...
The most obvious similarity I'd say is the insistence on cleaving young followers from their families.

It only changed in the last year or two

"Originally a comment by Artymorty at Miscellany Room 8.

Per the New York Times:

"Experts said that young people increasingly have the language and social acceptance to explore their gender identities"

This drives me crazy. What kind of “experts”? The journalistic principle in play should be to weigh the testimony of “experts” against the possibility of influence by a religious belief system that’s applying pressure on the debate.

If you’re talking about any other religious belief — say, Scientology — it becomes very clear that there’s two kinds of “experts” about it: believers themselves, and those who look at the belief system from the outside."

Continues here-
www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2022/guest-post-what-kind-of-experts/

Okay I'm not sure all posters agree that it is still like that, even if it was in the past. It definitely isnt like that now.

With respect, those of us who have been here a while have seen many posts mentioning that c word deleted. Posts by respected, articulate users who were quite definitely talking about an ideology rather than named individuals.

Did you know the word "peak" used to warrant deletion? Again, talking about a concept (a moment of realisation) rather than any kind of personal slagging off.

As those of us who have been posting here for years know, OP, certain people do not want others to see the comparison stand. Expect a lot of DARVO and projection if your OP is allowed to continue.

We used to get deletions for this sort of speech/thought 'crime' but not any more. I have also discussed one of the recent Netflix documentaries on another thread ( 'False Prophet'). And yes, the parallels are very stark. Group Think and faith based positions are incredibly powerful motivators.

Yeah, no..its the blatant personal attacks that would put the website in violation of the guidelines provided by the Internet Police that each country has. To some very limited extent, you can't allow discrimination against groups of people. The mods here have to have some restrictions on what their members can say.

That's why if you really think something should be deleted, you report it on a different site.

Nope. It’s the C word that gets them deleted. It’s well known on this board.

Some of the ones I report are deleted. Many are not. That's my point... the only ones that are ever deleted have personal attacks so obvious, the moderators cant allow it to stand and still act as if they guidelines mean anything. You have to say something really quite extreme about trans people for that post to be deleted. Far worse than you could ever say about a racial group, for instance.

Comparing some of the movement to how cults operate will not get you deleted. You will have to say considerably more than that.