Lies and Misinformation about the SC ruling

[RareGoalsVerge]

Every social media other than mumsnet is really depressing at the moment. There's such a huge explosion of misinformation and hyperbole.

"The supreme court just made transphobic discrimination legal" - no, the supreme court confirmed that transphobic discrimination is still illegal.

"They are saying trans people don't exist" - no they aren't. Trans people exist, and have protected rights.

"They are reducing womanhood to outdated biology" - no, this expands womanhood because if biology is the only criteria then that creates complete freedom for every woman to be whoever she wants to be, whether that's a butch lesbian firefighter or a powerful lawyer in Jimmy Choos or anything in between.

It feels like an immense propaganda machine has been switched on to bombard us with fake declarations like this and I'm not confident that the majority of non-activist ordinary people are equipped to see through all the lies. Are there public bodies who have responsibility to issue real and reliable information that can counter this?

I think it's just the nature of social media. People mindlessly share things without thinking too deeply or without understanding the issue, and then they gain a lot of traction.

On some posts, you do see the odd sensible person trying to explain things, but they are out numbered sadly.

You're right, RareGoalsVerge.
The UKSC court seemed to be a major advance, didn't it? And within a day or so it was challenged/twisted/deliberately mis-represented, as you describe.

It just goes to show the multi-faceted, post-factual and amoral nature of what we are up against - anybody and everybody who comes to a conclusion, no matter how well researched or deeply considered, that displeases the TRAs, must be transphobic.

Facts, laws, public opinion, history - these are malleable to the TRAs, and can all be shaped into examples of 'bigotry' 'literal violence' 'genocide' etc.

The recent Yougov survey should help reassure, OP.

We've been a tiny grassroots smattering of people working against governments, media blackouts, huge well funded organisations and quangos. We've achieved masses. Five years ago you couldn't have even raised many of these issues.

But all those massive well funded organisations haven't just evaporated. They will be working double time to spread the gender gospel.

The trouble for them is, it's all bullshit, and most people see through it very quickly once they actually look at the issues. So long as it stays in the public eye, and people keep asking questions, and thinking about things, I think we will only gain.

Genderism worked best in 'stealth' mode, because it's all a lie.

You can fool some of the people, some of the time, etc.

The closest non-TRA comparisson I can think of is Brexit - rational and well-informed thought demonstrated that it was a bad idea and would make the majority of people worse off, though a small number of powerful and wealthy people would be better off. And in the run-up to the referendum the propaganda generated by those powerful and wealthy people totally saturated the media, and people voted for Brexit - and lo and behold the majority of people are worse off (but any suggestion that Brexit contributed to this will switch on the propaganda again)

I am deeply worried that this kind of misinformation campaign could sway the government back the other way - I hope that it won't because there literally isn't a rational way to give the TRAs what they want because there is no logical and objective means for determining the difference between a self-declared transwoman and any other male person so I honestly don't see how the law could be changed, and all the SC ruling did is clarify that law, but rational thought appears to be in short supply right now.

I think that the 'non activist, ordinary people' you speak of have a bit more sense than you're giving them credit for.

And I disagree - as a remainer - with your Brexit analysis but don't want to derail the thread.

What did the yougov survey show?

"It feels like an immense propaganda machine has been switched on to bombard us"

It does indeed feel like this...

It does.

But the lanyard class as the current term seems to be, have never clicked that the great unwashed don't appreciate being nagged and told what to do, and start to get actively fed up. Particularly when it's very obviously overdone.

Maybe Arabella mean this one?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5247162-results-of-yougov-survey-dec-24-for-sex-matters?reply=141176017

Or this one?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5337505-polling-of-the-sc-judgement-in-favour-of-biological-sex?page=1

With the data link here

https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/SexMatters_Results_250509_w.pdf

It was the second one I had in mind, thanks Helle!

Misinformation no.1 being that the ruling is hard to understand and not clear; and time and legal advice is therefore required.

Yes - the EHRC consultation is dealing with this nicely - on each point, the question is "is this clear and easy to understand" to which the answer is obviously "yes" because it really is very simple.

Not a perfect analogy but there are definite points of similarity between the Stonewall playbook and the tactics of Brexit and Maga. Steve Bannon's -' flood the zone with shit' and Dominic Cummings ' - ' move quickly and break things'. The tras don't really expect everyone to believe their lies and half truths. The trick is to keep people off balance and unsure what to believe.

Brexit had "sticking two fingers up at people who think they're better than you telling you what to do" on its side. Trans will never have that. Idk, for me the arguments are so clearly one sided that it's just a matter of time before society catches up. Maybe that's complacent...I really don't see how any government could touch womens rights without enormous backlash.

' If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie, a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days, but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please'

Hannah Arendt