An excellent piece from Glinner

[Tricyrtis2022]

I was invited to deliver a few words at the Battle of Ideas party being held tonight. here is the full text of what I hope is a short speech.

grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/my-speech-at-the-battle-of-ideas

Spot on. I hope he can feel a tiny measure of vindication that Mermaids has finally dug it's own grave.

Well, it was women's rights really. The issues affected, and had consequences for the life and limb of women. 'Reproductive rights' sounds so reductive. And Americanised. Women's rights to choice, safe pregnancies, and not to become an incubator whose life was secondary to an unborn child. Even with an unviable foetus. To be treated with respect and dignity.

Long battle for women. From women's inability to access contraception (for religious/ideological reasons). Women's inability to control their own fertility and knowledge that they would not be saved in situations like Savita Halappanavar. Or like Natasha Perie, although brain dead, left on life support as an incubator to support a pregnancy. Only ended with a court case.

I would be sceptical your accusation is true, but indeed many different groups can work together on social justice campaigns. I remember what passed for 'left' in Ireland marching with religious groups on various social justice campaigns. I can't remember exactly what for now, but it would have probably have involved such things as inequality and unemployment. Indeed the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM) was one such a campaign
The success of our campaigns derived from the fact that at every opportunity every effort was made to make the Movement as representative of every aspect of Irish life as possible. Over 30 years of its existence, the IAAM involved the entire spectrum of Irish life - parliamentarians, trade unionists, religious organisations, students and ordinary people - in its objective to isolate the apartheid regime and to provide solidarity to the people of South Africa.

That was a good while ago, of course. If it was now, I would not be at all surprised if similar self-ID 'progressives' would be trying to smear the the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement as being a terrible thing. Accusing them of being on the wrong side of history, I would imagine. Considering that trade Unionists and Students were tainted in the same movement as religious right wing people.

www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/IrishAAM-Mottiar.pdf

trade unionists, that is!

@Glinner thank you, you keep me sane. Well, sort of. This fight is frequently overwhelming but things like this speech, The Mess, your humour & your fundamental refusal to be bullied keeps me going. Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.

Exactly!

One of the ways gender ideology has captured so much of society is that people are too obsessed with being seen to be aligned with the 'correct' tribe so they don't think for themselves. I read Glinner's speech and thought 'Hallelujah! Some truth and common sense'. I'm not going to worry about who gave him the platform or who else might listen to it or like it, I'll judge it myself on what I think and I don't feel that my personal ethics are compromised if maybe someone who I don't agree with on other subjects shares one point of agreement with me.

me: let's escape our bubbles!

person: get back in your bubble!

@Glinner on the plus side the mermaids bubble and subsequent purity spiral has led to Susie Green, a woman, losing her job because she's the wrong sort of woman, so bubbles have their uses.

As for you, you talk anywhere that will have you.

All power to your elbow.

Right I'm off to round up mine and the neighbours cat.

Exits stage left sighing happily.

Today has been a good day.

I honestly think @glinner saved my sanity. The cognitive dissonance with this nonsense and the gutless sheep I was surrounded by, I thought I was going mad. There were a few people who risked it all publicly to denounce it. Glinner was one of them. Thank you, Graham!

Isn’t it ridiculous how easily ‘oh, I don’t like these people he said that near’ turns into a derailment that distracts from the substance of what he said.

Is it simply that people realise they aren’t capable of challenging the arguments so they find some way to dismiss everything before even having to risk listening?

For sure. It’s a strategy and a transparent and cowardly one.

My impression of BOI is that in their festivals they actively try to have people with opposing viewpoints—thus the name. So naturally you would have both pro-choice and anti-choice panellists. Makes for a good discussion in my experience.

Again feel a bit bad hijacking what is such a good news story, but this isn't about "sharing a platform".

The Battle of Ideas is very much about free speech, so if the organisers had a debate on abortion and invited speakers from both sides, that's because they support free speech. They weren't organising a shared campaign platform. I dont like it that Rees Mogg can contribute his reactionary ideas about abortion at a House of Common's debate. But that is what the House of Commons is for.

For those of us who get angry or upset about GC speakers being no platformed, but dont think a Christian organisation should have a voice in a debate, need to think what precedent that sets.

And also if we only ever talk with and to those who agree already with us, there is no chance of getting (hoping) the other side will listen to our arguements.

So thanks goodness, even if it is a relatively small organisation, there is a group that does believe in free speech so that Glinner can have a public voice.

I'm so sick and tired of this so called "Liberal" attitude that you can't speak at an event or through an outlet if people with opposing views speak at the same event or outlet.
It's so. Fucking. Tiresome.

"As Linehan well knows". Pay no more heed to this arsehole.

I’m not even surprised at this point by the ‘liberal’ tactic of focusing on the ideological purity of forum and participants over substance.

It’s reached a point of absurdity really. An organisation (ADF) is involved in a forum that gives a platform to a range of views, including those that are completely at odds with their political views and agenda. And somehow we are supposed to ostracise anyone who speaks there for fraternising with the enemy. That’s the liberal position. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I find it especially depressing that the (genuinely complex) issue of reproductive choice is so often used as the barometer for this too. Because those debates aren’t polarised, and weaponised, enough already. And, of course, it’s always at heart about female biology and the thoroughly embodied experience of being a woman. 😮‍💨

Just wanted to add my agreement.

@Glinner thank god for you. You say what most smart people believe but sadly are too afraid to say. We are lucky to have you. We know that putting your head on the parapet has cost you a lot.

Just adding my voice in support. I'd send the link to my TRA brother, but the words would float about and distort in front of his eyes.

It's like the broken mirror at the beginning of The Snow Queen.

@Glinner can write a damned good speech on a serious topic as well as comedy gold.

Exactly. I was at BOI and attended the "Can We Take a Joke?" (I think it was called) session where Graham was on the panel. A young woman asked a question at the end, quite GI sympathetic, and Graham's response was to thank her for attending and being brave enough to speak up. He was very welcoming and compassionate. Did not shut her down but tried to have a discussion. This is what BOI is about fgs. So yes, fuck off with the purity spirals. It was a great day.

This bogus diversity benefits men, and there are plenty of hands on deck to ensure an absurd situation continues for as long as possible.

good speech glinner and thanks for sharing it OP, more people need to read stuff like this. I know exactly what he means when he says a siren is going off and you wonder why others cannot hear it too.

There’s a lot of useful idiots who are placing children in danger by blindly going along with this insidious ideology in the name of “inclusiveness” and a culture of not wanting to question it for fear of seeming “unkind” to differences. The pharma companies must be laughing all the way to the bank.

We need more people like you glinner who are willing to put their heads above the parapet despite the great personal cost. Thank you for keeping on but look after yourself too.

Very good speech. I'm really awed by this man's sense of principle. His position really hasn't budged, even if only ten years later are mainstream outlets starting to gently investigate the problems he pointed out in the beginning.

Just echoing this!

It's like the Righteous Grown-Up-Playground-Behaviour version of "Don't let him tig you! He's got cooties!"

(What are cooties, by the way?)

I am also in awe of @Glinner. He never gives in just for an easy life. No other man has been so dogged in this fight. He could have slunk off and saved his career but he didn't

Lie down with dogs … wake up with fleas.