I just took a hidden transphobe to task on another forum

[Guest Erika_1984]

"Ye shall know them by their fruits," so the Bible says. I made plenty of references to the fruits born by this user, a user who like to maintain a guise of respectability and reasonableness among a forum of mostly center-left people, who was defended from my accusations by many of them, on a group of weather forums (with many shared members) I had been posting on for a long time. To break down their defense, I referenced his fruits. I called him what he was, a transphobe, and said that if ever he tried to cloak himself as an ally of the trans community, I'd keep an eye out for his dagger.

I also made reference to Brad Lee's analogy (callout to Brad Lee here!), that if you squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out, not grape juice, not apple juice. Well, apparently, I said, all I had squeezed out of that user was transphobia, so a transphobe he was.

It was empowering to take him to the matt like this, to lay bare all that he had been doing by putting his different actions, separated by time, together, to show them in their proper context.

[Guest KimberlyF]

So in the end, you won? You said you took this person to task, and they were defended from many members? Did you change the views of these other members?

[Guest Erika_1984]

Haven't gotten a response back. I set the thread on follow, so I'll get via email any replies to it, and blocked the forum again on my hosts file.

[Guest Erika_1984]

Well, I've seen responses, overall encouraging. The first response seemed to be one of shock; after all, the original post was a rather long post that read like an indictment, with the refrain "Ye shall know them by their fruits" being repeated throughout. I basically carefully laid out each of his actions that made him totally suck at trans issues and concluded by saying at the end he was a transphobe and "not worthy of alliance" with the trans community. In my usual style, I peppered the post with antiquated ways of speaking and a bit of poetry, which usage fills in me the feeling of something permanent, established long before, something with everlasting power, something never to be completely apprehended by the mundane being!

After the initial shock, the posts were reservedly supportive; they didn't exactly condone my, erm, indictment of the guy but they could tell why I was peed and actually criticized the dude I was attacking for not checking his privilege. One called the statement "Gender reassignment is not important" the 2014 version of "Gay people all have mental disorders." So I think I accomplished what I set out to do.

The last reply I have received was from my defendant, saying, "Feel happy now?" I guess my answer would be yes.

[Guest KimberlyF]

Well, I've seen responses, overall encouraging. The first response seemed to be one of shock; after all, the original post was a rather long post that read like an indictment, with the refrain "Ye shall know them by their fruits" being repeated throughout. I basically carefully laid out each of his actions that made him totally suck at trans issues and concluded by saying at the end he was a transphobe and "not worthy of alliance" with the trans community. In my usual style, I peppered the post with antiquated ways of speaking and a bit of poetry, which usage fills in me the feeling of something permanent, established long before, something with everlasting power, something never to be completely apprehended by the mundane being!

Was this your typical style that you mentioned in an earlier post led you to believe causes people to take the opposite position as yours?

[Guest Erika_1984]

Well, I've seen responses, overall encouraging. The first response seemed to be one of shock; after all, the original post was a rather long post that read like an indictment, with the refrain "Ye shall know them by their fruits" being repeated throughout. I basically carefully laid out each of his actions that made him totally suck at trans issues and concluded by saying at the end he was a transphobe and "not worthy of alliance" with the trans community. In my usual style, I peppered the post with antiquated ways of speaking and a bit of poetry, which usage fills in me the feeling of something permanent, established long before, something with everlasting power, something never to be completely apprehended by the mundane being!

Was this your typical style that you mentioned in an earlier post led you to believe causes people to take the opposite position as yours?

I don't understand the question.

[Guest Erika_1984]

Anyway, a big wig on the forum posted a reply in support, which was met with agreement by other members, that if the defendant himself, a staff member, said that telling it like it was (when he had outright told another member he didn't like her) was how things rolled on that forum, then I did no wrong by making my post.

Even more interestingly, he also referenced an earlier statement made by me where I showed ambivalence about continuing trans activism: in reply, I said that if I did continue m trans activism there, it would be done, at least in part, to spite those who had said they were exasperated by my activism.

[Guest Erika_1984]

And to make sure everyone is clear, such continuation of trans activism there can only amount to a declaration of war against those members. Continuing my trans activism there would, by necessity, spite those members.