I’ve begun to think of ‘trans’ in terms of an organized crime syndicate. Judith Butler might be the well-dressed criminal defense attorney whose job is to talk a good game and maybe pay off a judge here and there so the family can escape justice and accountability. It’s a crucial role, but it seems to me the kingpin doesn’t write books or give lectures. The ‘gender’ dons are men with inherited wealth and influence, cluster-B tendencies, and a fetish. In the final episode, the audience will be shocked to learn who was behind the curtain all along. All the spoiler alerts we attempt now tend to make us look crazy because really: who would ever believe this?
Paul, thanks for writing this, it is genuinely interesting. I never really thought about Judith Butler et al being active swindlers, I mostly considered them demented True Believers. But you have made an interesting comparison with an actual con man.
I appreciate your honesty about being swindled, and maybe you can put it down to being jet-lagged and tired, I have to assume you are NOT that naive (how old are you, anyway?). I would also say that I think academics are even maybe especially prone to con men as they dont live in the real world, and hence are relatively easy marks. Street smart people rarely if ever get swindled.
Also, you make great points about getting conned, and various stages of psychological commitment in the con process. You correctly point out the commitment people make when transing their own kids, its like the Japanese hold outs on Pacific islands, they simply can never accept that they were wrong.
This is a very valuable piece. "Once buy-in has been extracted, how can one then buy-out? Buy-in to a swindle is a one-way trip." And because this is usually the case, my daughter who fully medicalized herself against my wishes, and all those allies who surround her, either continue to force "trans" everything one me or cast me out of their lives. For me to think that they would behave otherwise has caused me suffering. I had to let them all go because holding on with hope that they would reverse course was shattering me.
We have come full circle. When I first heard about Jazz Jennings my first last and only thought was it's a con and we are marks. As old as time. Now the con is in plain sight.
Yes, the queer gender theorists started this, but there is plenty blame to go around. The system where medical treatments can be promoted without supporting data. The system that resulted in doctors doing extreme treatments based on a report by a “therapist.” That organizations do not go away when their goals are achieved, instead they latch on to anything to keep the money coming in. The whole idea of social credit scores for businesses. Ignoring that schools were demanding students take worthless classes. That Universities grant worthless degrees. The horrible propaganda on social media and our failure to protect our children from it.
naming Judith Butler as the main swindler is maybe because you're an academic? I do not think that she was instrumental in writing the Yogyakarta Principles, which have been devastating laws on sex across the Western world & in some countries in South America & Africa. The funders of those two conferences (the first & then the Y + 10 conf) are lynch-pins. What about people such as Martine Rothblatt? What about all the very active online trans influencers? And those like "Rachel" Levine who openly expresses gratitude for having children while also promoting the sterilization of children?
Judith Butler is a "famous" academic and no doubt drunk on her fame, but she's small time in comparison with the Rothblatts of the world, and the Pritzkers, for example, who are hugely influential in Illinois and in national Democratic party. There's a nexus of deep-pocketed influencers who also invest in medical technologies. Those are the ones pushing this "medical care" to turn profits.
It might help to not think of medicalization as an on off switch. Surgery is. Done or not. But those on cross sex hormones - it's like smoking - I smoked a lot in the past so no point stopping now....?
But indeed the Dutch clinic which originally pushed these interventions has now published an article against looking for benefit in the usual way of medicine. It's becoming clearer that the point is to provide the intervention to anyone who asks. No matter what.
I’ve begun to think of ‘trans’ in terms of an organized crime syndicate. Judith Butler might be the well-dressed criminal defense attorney whose job is to talk a good game and maybe pay off a judge here and there so the family can escape justice and accountability. It’s a crucial role, but it seems to me the kingpin doesn’t write books or give lectures. The ‘gender’ dons are men with inherited wealth and influence, cluster-B tendencies, and a fetish. In the final episode, the audience will be shocked to learn who was behind the curtain all along. All the spoiler alerts we attempt now tend to make us look crazy because really: who would ever believe this?
Paul, thanks for writing this, it is genuinely interesting. I never really thought about Judith Butler et al being active swindlers, I mostly considered them demented True Believers. But you have made an interesting comparison with an actual con man.
I appreciate your honesty about being swindled, and maybe you can put it down to being jet-lagged and tired, I have to assume you are NOT that naive (how old are you, anyway?). I would also say that I think academics are even maybe especially prone to con men as they dont live in the real world, and hence are relatively easy marks. Street smart people rarely if ever get swindled.
Also, you make great points about getting conned, and various stages of psychological commitment in the con process. You correctly point out the commitment people make when transing their own kids, its like the Japanese hold outs on Pacific islands, they simply can never accept that they were wrong.
Great work.
This is a very valuable piece. "Once buy-in has been extracted, how can one then buy-out? Buy-in to a swindle is a one-way trip." And because this is usually the case, my daughter who fully medicalized herself against my wishes, and all those allies who surround her, either continue to force "trans" everything one me or cast me out of their lives. For me to think that they would behave otherwise has caused me suffering. I had to let them all go because holding on with hope that they would reverse course was shattering me.
We have come full circle. When I first heard about Jazz Jennings my first last and only thought was it's a con and we are marks. As old as time. Now the con is in plain sight.
Jazz Jennings parents should be in jail
Yes, the queer gender theorists started this, but there is plenty blame to go around. The system where medical treatments can be promoted without supporting data. The system that resulted in doctors doing extreme treatments based on a report by a “therapist.” That organizations do not go away when their goals are achieved, instead they latch on to anything to keep the money coming in. The whole idea of social credit scores for businesses. Ignoring that schools were demanding students take worthless classes. That Universities grant worthless degrees. The horrible propaganda on social media and our failure to protect our children from it.
The system where prestigious medical journals publish the crap produced by gender ideologies
naming Judith Butler as the main swindler is maybe because you're an academic? I do not think that she was instrumental in writing the Yogyakarta Principles, which have been devastating laws on sex across the Western world & in some countries in South America & Africa. The funders of those two conferences (the first & then the Y + 10 conf) are lynch-pins. What about people such as Martine Rothblatt? What about all the very active online trans influencers? And those like "Rachel" Levine who openly expresses gratitude for having children while also promoting the sterilization of children?
Judith Butler is a "famous" academic and no doubt drunk on her fame, but she's small time in comparison with the Rothblatts of the world, and the Pritzkers, for example, who are hugely influential in Illinois and in national Democratic party. There's a nexus of deep-pocketed influencers who also invest in medical technologies. Those are the ones pushing this "medical care" to turn profits.
It might help to not think of medicalization as an on off switch. Surgery is. Done or not. But those on cross sex hormones - it's like smoking - I smoked a lot in the past so no point stopping now....?
But indeed the Dutch clinic which originally pushed these interventions has now published an article against looking for benefit in the usual way of medicine. It's becoming clearer that the point is to provide the intervention to anyone who asks. No matter what.
https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-024-01143-8