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| Roundheads, Know Nothings, and Transgender Post-Modern Fundamentalism |
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| Opinion - Global Warning | |||
| Lisa Jain Thompson | |||
| Saturday, 16 August 2008 17:30 | |||
 Springfield, VA, USA. A strong current of post-modern fundamentalism runs deep in the Transgender movement, leading to an outright rejection of science and lubricating a preference for the safe, non-intellectual confines and academic theories of left-liberal social engineering.
At the far extremes, the political platforms of the leftist social engineers and the rightist socio-religious fundamentalists have more in common than either would willingly admit.
Both extremes demonstrate an appallingly shallow knowledge of science or the scientific method. Whether this ignorance is rooted in personal philosophies or the lingering effects of a scientifically illiterate education system matters little. The intellectual inability to understand Science and the methods and findings of scientific research is widespread and colors much of the discourse on the world wide web.
When Science and ideology confront each other, these ever present Know Nothings, products of a dysfunctional educational, system insist that the flaw lies in science– not their personal political or religious philosophy.
Throughout the web, they couch their positions in left liberal or right religious code phases (elitism, everyone is the same, intelligent design), attempt to discredit scientific methodology, the scientists themselves, and, of course, Science and the findings of scientific research. Often these attempts involve misrepresentation, obfuscation, and outright lies and denials.
Which brings us to the subject of this column.
Leigh, a sometimes poster to TS-Si.org, has exercised her American right to free speech and posted a lengthy entry to her Word Press blog entitled The Hypocrisy of the HBS Movement. [Cf. Citation] Leigh is a very entertaining writer, a regular ripsnorter. As Mark Twain said, eloquence is the essential thing in a speech, not necessarily information; of course, in the straw man that Leigh sets up, I will admit that, as always, there is wheat among the chaff.
But not much.
The whole hullabaloo started when Cathryn Platine launched an internet petition asking that the “T” be removed from “GLBT” (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered), an idea with some merit. She posted an announcement for the petition as a comment to a column I had written. Much merriment ensued.
Speaking for TS-Si.org, I immediately posted a notice that, as a non-profit organization, we neither supported nor opposed the petition and would remain officially neutral. I added my personal doubts as to the efficacy of such a petition, noting that meeting its objective would require perhaps 10,000 signatures from transsexual men and women who were willing to identify themselves publicly by name and address (to check the validity of the signature identity).
I found (and find) it unlikely that 10,000 transsexuals would sign their real names as, even on TS-Si.org, many of the posters use pseudonyms to protect their identity. The petition was a nice idea, but politically impractical and possibly destructive to the argument if only a handful of signatures were obtained (making it easy to reject the petition request).
In a separate response, Sharon Gaughan wrote on behalf of TS-Si.org that our main focus is addressing the specific needs of individuals who are in transition toward corrective surgery. TS-Si is
Sharon noted that the specific term, HBS, is enormously descriptive and suits our mission. [Since withdrawn. —Ed.] When our birth condition reaches full recognition by the scientific and medical community, a different term may well be used. We do not, however, use the term to set us apart but to focus attention.
Neither of us liked the idea that the title of the petition was
Let My People Go.
As much as we care for and respect Cathryn Platine, we would not as individuals ever sign a petition with such a presumptive and politically insensitive title. Both of us have worked in and for the Civil Rights movement over the years. We find it ludicrous and distasteful that someone would equate transsexuality, or transgender identity politics, to the Black Civil Rights movement. We would not dishonor Dr. King by signing such a carelessly entitled petition.
Soon after we posted, all hell broke loose. We had upset the one world, gender spectrum transgender fundamentalists. We must have struck a deep, unprotected nerve as the reaction still continues.
Now comes a blog entry by Leigh, a post-op exhibiting a deep belief in the transgender political agenda — and manners. One could argue she is a fundamentalist true believer in the cause.
After a brief discussion of the petition, including a plea to sign it as a show of solidarity (sort of like raising your hand at church when the preacher asks you for a pledge of virginity until marriage), the blog turns to TS-Si.org, Sharon, and me. Her first reference to HBS is as
using the term movement for the sole purpose of setting up a rather adolescent joke
Wicked. Penchant and devastating.
Leigh plainly states her opinion of science and TS-Si.org
A mind numbing array of scientific papers.
Mind numbing.
Only if you don’t understand the scientific method. Research relevant to transsexuality is ongoing in a vast variety of scientific fields and locations. Most of the topics are adjacent to transsexualism per se, but address fundamental questions with potential for elucidating the underlying mechanisms that result in, well, us.
One of our objectives at TS-Si is to distribute the relevant papers and citations widely, consolidating much of the research in one location, accessible to scientists and researchers who, focused on their own specialty, might otherwise overlook related research in another field. We suggest areas that require further research, subjects that might prove interesting and beneficial to both scientists and the transsexual (and some who are both).
But I guess if your fundamentalist belief system already has all of the answers, none of that scientific stuff has any value to you, does it? It’s just mind numbing. You might as well ignore it. It’s all flawed anyway and — nonpolitical.
Leigh also ignored abundant evidence to the contrary and said:
We never said anything like that and don't really care about "tranny world". Fact is, we aren't trans-anything and never have been.
This is yet another example of an individual blocking out facts, objectifying their own emotional state, ascribing ownership to others, and declaring victory over a non-existent foe.
Then there is this:
We have never actively supported the "LGB", though we certainly support fundamental civil rights for everyone, whatever their sexual orientation. While attaching the "T" (for transgender) to "GLB" strikes us as conceptually flawed and politically imprudent, we don't even talk about that.
What we do say is this: wherever you choose to place the "T", leave transsexuals out of it. We do support fundamental civil rights for everyone, whatever their transiness.
As for the opinion pieces, we have repeatedly invited transgender advocates to submit articles for publication, the only restrictions being they must be free of libel and personal invective, science literate, and well written. Oh, and we must have the legal name of the author (although we will allow them to publish under a pseudonym).
So far, no transgender activist has taken us up on the offer.
A little farther down in the blog, Leigh does a rather satirical description of us both. Lisa is the bad cop; Sharon is the good cop. Leigh then sneers at us for being bisexual, referring to it as sitting on the fence (a typical left liberal charge that bisexuals are not fully committed to the queer cause).
Leigh also has a hard time separating TS-Si (Lisa and Sharon) from the comments other people make to the articles. Everyone gets to post. We only review for libel, over the top personal attacks, and self-serving advertisements.
She then does a cute bit about Lisa tracing her roots back to John Adams (actually, it was Iroquois and The Five Nations) and how Sharon attended Vassar (she did not). Quite droll, especially the bit calling us star players. Nope, we are the founders and principal officers. Others will follow when the time comes.
Apparently, Leigh does not remember thinking at an early age that she was born into the wrong body (like many of us do). She seems to believe that, since she had no early self knowledge, the rest of us who do are just making it up.
And of course, as part of her objection, Leigh makes fun of us (Lisa and Sharon) for being educated, successful, and scientifically literate (one of us is a scientist). There’s that anti-science fundamentalism again.
Oh, and Leigh would like us to sign the petition. That neither of us would sign the petition, combined with the fact that we will not conform with Leigh’s personal brand of transgender fundamentalism, only means, in her mind, that we both must be against the transgender movement. We are ruining transgender solidarity.
This is not communism. The petition is not a socialist moment. It’s a poorly conceived, meagerly written attempt at initiating social change. If the transgender movement is fearful of dissent in the public forum, there is little reason to suggest it will ever be anything more than a passing social contrivance.
Especially if it asserts, as Leigh does, that
It’s nice for Leigh to have those beliefs, but TS-Si.org — and we — are about science and the grace of life fully lived (and incidentally, post-op).
Show us the science, Leigh.
Or is your mind too numb?
Notes[N1] Leigh speaks of TS-Si.org as the headquarters for the HBS movement, which, as previously stated, we are not.
[N2] Other than transsexual women, where do the other women fit on this transgender spectrum? At which end are the transmen and the female transgenders and cross-dressers? Is transgender simply a club designed by boys that wants to include transsexual females so it can pretend to be more than just guys in dresses? CitationThe Hypocrisy of the HBS Movement. Leigh. Available at tgnonsense.
Lisa Jain Thompson is the Co-Founder & President of TS-Si, Inc. She also serves as a Contributing Editor and columnist for the TS-Si website. She maintains another site, StarPoet.com, for her poetry and literary works. Ms. Thompson's signed articles contain her own opinions and do not necessarily convey an official position of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates. Lisa welcomes your comments. Use the form below or email via her TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission. To create link towards this article on your website, copy and paste the text below in your page. Preview :
Roundheads, Know Nothings, and Transgender Post-Modern Fundamentalism Saturday, 16 August 2008
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