Kirkup quoting Orwell; "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows."

[MrsSnippyPants]

blogs.spectator.co.uk/2020/01/was-this-journalist-sacked-for-saying-sex-is-binary/

James Kirkup seems to pop up with timely articles. Given what has happened to LangCleg, this one he posted today is particularly appropriate.

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It's one thing for people to be in an echo chamber of their own making, but it can't be healthy for media orgs to consult lobby groups and then hide facts as a rule.

But at least to some extent, this has become normal in some parts of the media. Lobbyists and activists are seen to represent the populations that should be "consulted" about questions of usage, controversies, etc.

What a vile... person. How can editors and IPSO endorse these lies???

It's revolting. Journalists should stand up to this lunacy. Tbh, I think some of them enjoy writing these pieces about 'women'.

True, Goose.
But it's not healthy. Take Mermaids for example. The CEO has tweeted about how she thought that her 2 yo child was gay because the child was drawn to "girls' things". It's not the first time she has tweeted stuff like that, but journalists won't touch it, and they should. It's inappropriate for the head of a children's charity to be suggesting that a child's preference for certain kinds of toys, or whatever, means that the child is gay. And she is in charge of one of the orgs that provide training to journalists. I despair.

Why does hardly any liberal or left-wing journalist dare to question the demands of transgenderism?

On the left, I've only found the Communist newspaper Morning Star solidly supporting women's rights. On the right, James Kirkup on The Spectator, is consistently speaks up for women for sanity along with Janice Turner on the Sunday Times, the rightwing news website Spiked, and a few others. The Telegraph generally takes an impartial stance, which is fair enough.

Bu where I'd have expected to find feminists, the Guardian and the Independent toe the transgenderist line slavishly.

A new religion that denied scientific fact and demanded "NoDebate" would be strangled at birth. So why are so few journalists now doing what they're meant to do: questioning, investigating, looking for answers? and refusing to swallow the story they're given if they don't believe it?

So why are so few journalists now doing what they're meant to do: questioning, investigating, looking for answers? and refusing to swallow the story they're given if they don't believe it?

Because most of them are working on the click model of journalism ?
Because lots of them go to the same 'church' ?

It's inappropriate for the head of a children's charity to be suggesting that a child's preference for certain kinds of toys, or whatever, means that the child is gay.

Isn’t there evidence the preference for toys traditionally played with by the opposite sex is a strong indicator of later same sex attraction though?

Tweeting that it means the child actually is the opposite sex - now that is bizarre and wrong.

I don't know if she would have been aware of such evidence 25 years ago, but that wasn't my point. To be fair, she has said that it was her husband who wanted to take the 'girl stuff' away, and I am not accusing her of homophobia. But whether or not she realises it, "I thought my 2 year old was gay, but they turned out to be trans" is offering a 'solution' to homophobic parents who struggle to accept a GNC child. The message from Mermaids should be "let toys be toys".

Isn’t there evidence the preference for toys traditionally played with by the opposite sex is a strong indicator of later same sex attraction though?

At age two? I don't know what the research says but I'd be very surprised if that were a strong enough correlation to draw any conclusions from. IME there is some degree sex based preferences but there is really quite a lot of overlap.

A new religion that denied scientific fact and demanded "NoDebate" would be strangled at birth

I realise it's not a new religion but could Scientology be deemed to be one such "No debate" religion that is clouded in secrecy and attracts some heavy hitters, and is left fairly unmolested?

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, was a connection my brain just made to the trans orthodoxy and the similarities.

Probably just a brain fart.

A friend of mine was an editor at a newspaper and several years ago mentioned to me that she was appalled at the inabilities of younger journalists to separate fact from their own opinion. Over and over she’d cut opinions woven into articles and be met by claims that what she had cut were indeed facts because “everyone just knew they were true.” Facts like: middle-aged people are bad at learning technology, or like: people don’t read books now.

Just great broad generalisations based on received wisdom.

These were journalism school graduates with 4-year degrees in the subject.

I have no idea if that issue relates to the quality of education or to something larger at work, a kind of narcissism that assumes that how one thinks is how everyone thinks, and that one’s own experience of the world is the blueprint for everyone else’s.

I for sure see a lot of that going in the genderism debate, in the plain astonishment some express when GC women disagree that TWAW, as if the very idea that that is NOT a fact as we define facts and is a matter of opinion such that reasonable people can disagree is utterly beyond their comprehension.

the plain astonishment some express when GC women disagree that TWAW... is a matter of opinion such that reasonable people can disagree is utterly beyond their comprehension.

Bickering

This is a key insight. The failure to distinguish fact from opinion, the Manichean simplistic certainties which dominate the liberal establishment, the zealots who don't believe in diversity of opinion, but conformity. The arguments deployed by this faction share certain features. The use of ad hominems immediately, particularly accusing their opponent of 'hate speech' despite zero evidence of it. The use of logical fallacies, specifically appeal to authority, guilt by association. The intent is to demonise because refutation by rational argument isn't an option. The #no debate squad can't debate and the existence of any other opinion to their own is so unbearable to them, they seek to shut down the forums hosting it.......

A kind of narcissism that assumes that how one thinks is how everyone thinks

That’s a great insight Bickerin. See also: the Labour Party defeat. I am an older sister and my siblings are all incredibly woke and early to mid 20s. They all voted Labour and were absolutely gobsmacked they didn’t get in. They genuinely just could not believe other people had voted differently, one of them actually said they didn’t know anyone who would vote Conservative so how on earth did they get in. I think there is a distinct lack of critical thinking in a lot of younger people but is it education or the byproduct of being part of online “tribes” where any wrongthink is enough to get you ostracised? It would be interesting to know if they are still taught to critically examine their own and everyone else’s ideas in school. I’m early 30s and we certainly were, same at uni.

I think there is a distinct lack of critical thinking in a lot of younger people but is it education or the byproduct of being part of online “tribes” where any wrongthink is enough to get you ostracised?

I'd say both play a part.

And maybe now that uni education is an expensive product, students / parents have an expectation of receiving 'goods' in the form of a qualification, so maybe turning out 'participation certificates' are easier than teaching critical thought?

I for sure see a lot of that going in the genderism debate, in the plain astonishment some express when GC women disagree that TWAW, as if the very idea that that is NOT a fact as we define facts and is a matter of opinion such that reasonable people can disagree is utterly beyond their comprehension.

Yes, at least to some extent I think this is a failure of understanding. People I know who say TWAW consider that it really is a fact. All the authorities - the doctors, the lobby organisations, political types who aren't bigots, all agree. Science tells them that sex and gender are complicated, they know because they read it in Scientific American, national Geographic, and Psychology Today. People who say otherwise are scientifically illiterate, probably also anti-vaxxers or climate change denialists. People who think all the real science is fake news.

My daily interest and life is in education, formerly more at the university level but these days focused on my own kids and also the school I work at, which is elementary kids in a somewhat deprived area. I've watched carefully how my kids when they went to school, their friends, and my stedents are being educated. There is alot of discussion about teaching critical thought, but little or no understanding of what is necessary to get the kids there. There is no real teaching of logic. There is no teaching about the assumptions or history of their own thought system so they can be self-aware in their thinking. There is very little content in terms of history or politics so the kids don't really know anything, they can't see patterns and they have little sense of how things change or develop over time, and little concrete political knowledge. (From what I have seen this is better in the UK than it is here in Canada.)
When they do teach history or social studies, making sure they think critically means setting up the teaching so they inevitably come to the "right" conclusions. And quite a lot of time is given over to books and films and speakers coming in to present on various social issues.

There really is no chance for these kids to learn real critical thinking.

Here's the link, ThePurported:
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/woman-caught-extreme-animal-porn-13399570

The press coverage nowhere mentioned that Wendy Jones was born male, though the photo outside court is pretty clear.

Trans Crime UK notes that the media call serious TW sex offenders like Jones and Kira Leverton "women", whereas TM offenders like Jay Ferguson are called, err .... "women". No need to humour women, after all.
transcrimeuk.com/2017/10/31/wendy-jones/

Just came on to post this article!

Thanks for the link.

Trans Crime UK notes that the media call serious TW sex offenders like Jones and Kira Leverton "women", whereas TM offenders like Jay Ferguson are called, err .... "women"

FFS. By the same newspaper.

I'm also reminded of that Star Trek episode where Picard was tortured into saying there were 5 lights even though there were really 4.

One of the most pernicious things about this debate is how facts that most of us know to be true are not only denied but absolutely forbidden to be discussed. Transwomen are male, transmen are female. There may be some situations in which it is polite or practical to act as if that weren't the case (e.g. using preferred names and pronouns), but that doesn't mean we have to believe that people can literally change sex.

So debates on transwomen in sports get into protracted arguments about testosterone and lung capacity and intersex people and the plight of the poor transgender athlete. When really the issue is that transwomen are male are therefore belong in the male category.