The Left Exploits Inaccurate Stories Of Transgender Victims For Political Gain

[NB Adult]

I read a lot of both Left and Right wing articles, not sure what to think about this one because it deals with brutality and murders of our own people, but the author may have struck on good points regarding the motives to politicize it.

 https://thefederalist.com/2019/10/08/the-left-exploits-inaccurate-stories-of-transgender-victims-for-personal-gain-and-bad-policy/

[lauraincolumbia]

Violence against transgender people, like violence against any group, is a complex issue.   You can't lump every incident the same way.  This writer has cherry picked the incidents that are outside of the typical narrative as a way to try to prove the narrative is always wrong.  

Its a very common strategy from the right.    Unfortunately, very effective for their readers....

[NB Adult]

The truth is so trampled and parsed now that one doesn't know what to believe anymore. 

[Charlize]

If one wants to know the truth about 45's supporters attitude towards the GLBTQ community one could always attend a rally as an open and out person.   You might survive unscathed if you loudly proclaim your support but i wouldn't try it.  The truth is that many trans women of color are being injured or killed by violence at the same time the administration wants to take away our rights to work or find housing without discrimination.

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[NB Adult]

Indeed, and it is a travesty!

[NB Adult]

Wouldn't waste my time and energy attending a rally, I'd probably get killed by some bigot. 

[Jackie C.]

Well, having read the article, I believe it's disgusting. I'm trying to parse the message here and it keeps coming back to victim blaming.

 

"Oh, she shouldn't have been out there selling herself."

"Oh, that was a bad area."

"Oh, she ran afoul of a bad person and is just collateral damage."

"Oh, she could have just been murdered for her things."

"Oh, the violence was black on black, that makes it OK."

"Oh, it was just two men fighting, that's fine."

"Oh, she wasn't REALLY trans, it's fine."

 

Do any of those bring Booker back? Is someone paying a stranger to beat a trans-woman (or cis-woman) in public somehow better? Is it somehow OK if she was killed for the contents of her purse? Odds are she was targeted because she was black and trans. Two marginalized groups makes for an attractive victim. The more boxes you tick, the more likely you are to come to your end by violence at the hands of some monster who wants to feel better about his own sad self. Black. Trans. Poor. (That last one is an extrapolation from clues in the text. If she had ID to back up her identity, there likely wouldn't be a question over birth name vs. preferred name. A lot of us don't get proper ID because of the expense.)

 

My point is that NONE of those things are OK and the fact that she was a trans-woman just makes the situation worse. Yes, marginalized groups need more protections than the white, "christian," male majority. A society is judged by how it treats its least fortunate members. I can't possibly see how shining light on how dangerous it can be to be a trans-woman is a bad thing.6 These are stories that need to be heard.

 

Gah. Now I'm all mad at the world. Stupid world. That's not the fault of anyone here though so I can still sign off with...

 

Hugs! (I could really use one myself now. I'm going to cuddle my cat.)

[NB Adult]

Hugs to you sweetie! I had some concerns about posting the article knowing it would cause some fuming, but I find it always interesting to get other people's take on these things that concern our LGBT community. For the most part, we are living in a fractured and divided nation and it behooves us to examine both sides of that chasm to get a fuller picture of the dynamics at work.

[Jackie C.]

Then I doff my metaphorical hat to your intestinal fortitude. Most everything I see from the Right these days makes me physically ill.

 

Hugs!

[NB Adult]

Me too Sis, there is so much about life that we have no control over, we just can't let it get us down.

[michelle_kitten]

Sure, the left exploits the news.  Just like the right exploits when the left exploits the news.

 

So, in order to really get people to do something you have to make them believe in it.  Dr. Martin Luther King's dream was something to believe in.  Steve Jobs succeeded with Apple because he got people to believe in great electronics which were easy to use and made life better.  Politicians get you to vote for them by making you believe in something.

 

Politicians get you to believe in a picture of what the future will be like.  Politicians make campaign promises, but nothing too specific.  You see, they know you already have an idea in your head of what you want the future to look like.  All the politicians have to do is invoke just enough of the right language to stimulate your imagination.  "Under my plan, there will be no homeless people."  What's that really mean?  How does that actually look?  Oh they aren't going to tell you that.  They leave that to you to fill in the blanks.  "Yes we can."  "Make America Great Again."  Who cares what we can do, and what a great America actually looks like as long as it gets your vote?  It is all about what it looks like to you, who you think this 'we' is, and what you think 'we' can do.

 

The second half of the battle of getting your vote is making sure the other guy doesn't inspire you more.  This is where the mud slinging comes in.  Negative ad campaigns and carefully sifted and expertly spun 'news' works.  Studies have shown the impact of negative attack ads on opposing candidates.  It doesn't even matter if the accusations are true.  Even a false accusation can do its damage before anyone can correct it, and the changes of suffering consequences for lying are slim to none.

 

Part of what we like to believe in is our own moral and/or intellectual superiority.  When faced with the fact our side or our candidate messed up, we say, "Well, at least my side doesn't..." or "at least my person didn't."  The attack ads play to our sense of superiority.  "See," we say to ourselves, "we are smarter or morally superior than them."  If they convince us the stakes are high enough, we will even accept the notion the end justifies the means to allow them to disregard the law, push the limits of their power, and get away with nothing short of murder.

 

Power and the potential for wealth attracts dishonest people.  Politics involves both of these elements - wealth and power.

 

The dynamics of power are such that the greater your power, the less empathy you have for those who do not have power.  Believe me, these politicians believe if you're dumb enough to let them do what they are doing, then you deserve it.  Those in the media are the same.  They see themselves as being in possession of the big picture, and all you need to understand is what they feed you.  The arrogance is staggering.

 

Want evidence?  The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was opposed by the American public overwhelmingly.  The offices of our Congress people were getting calls on the order of 50 to 75 to one against it.  Harry Reid came out onto the Capital steps after passing it and admitted that Congress knew the American people opposed it, but they passed it anyway, because they really know what's good for us.  We'd  thank them when we got our next paycheck.  Whether you agree with the passage of TARP or not, the fact the will of the people who elected these politicians was disregarded, even for 'our own good' was tantamount to disenfranchising ALL of us from the process.  When it came time to vote on the Affordable Care Act, they simply turned the phones off in the Congressional offices.  They closed the switchboards.  They didn't even want to know what you thought, for or against it.

 

In regards to Ms. Booker, it is tragic she is dead, but to the best of my knowledge, the murderer is still to be caught.  Until he/she is caught, any attempt to determine motive is speculation only.  We simply don't know who killed her or why.  It could have been, because she was a transgender person, or because she urinated in someone's breakfast of champions.  If it turns out she was killed for being transgender we can hold her up as a martyr and rightly so.  If she was killed because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, then we can't use her as a symbol of our cause.  Until then, we can expect both sides to play on our beliefs and politicize her death, which I find disingenuous and disgusting.  Let's not play that game, and let our trans sister rest in peace.  No one deserves to be shot in the streets and left in a gutter.  No one. Not even a liberative Demopublican.

 

- Fuming completed -

[NB Adult]

12 hours ago, michelle_kitten said:

.The dynamics of power are such that the greater your power, the less empathy you have for those who do not have power.  Believe me, these politicians believe if you're dumb enough to let them do what they are doing, then you deserve it.  Those in the media are the same.  They see themselves as being in possession of the big picture, and all you need to understand is what they feed you.  The arrogance is staggering.

 

 Excellent rant Michelle!

[michelle_kitten]

1 hour ago, NB Adult said:

Excellent rant Michelle!

Thank you, dear.

[Jackie C.]

OK, fantastic. You've outlined the problem. Now what are you, a strong independent woman, going to do about it?

 

Personally, I got active locally. You need to start somewhere, right? As Americans we need to be more involved so this train-wreck gets a little nicer.

 

Hugs!

[NB Adult]

Like Michelle pointed out, the arrogance on both sides of the political spectrum is staggering, no one will listen to anyone they identify as being on the other side. It would surprise me if this nation even survives and doesn't wind up in the dustbin of history. 

 

 

[Maid In Bedlam]

left/Right

 

Its all just a creation of the mind.

 

If you ask a child what they believe in then the answer is very simple. They believe in whats in front of them.

 

The left can say what they want. As can the right. But ultimatly you decide what you want to believe. No easy task when its trying to be rammed down your gullet. Personally im led by facts and science and i make my own desions based on those.

 

If im wrong i am open to be put right. As long as its based on fact and not feelings or pseudoscience.

 

Listen to both sides and make up your own mind. Simples. Dont be led by the crowd.

 

If your not true to yourself then how can you expect others to be true to you?

 

 

[NB Adult]

True and absolutely the best advice!

[Jackie C.]

Yeah, I totally expect a USSR-style fracturing with two or more smaller nations shaking out at the end. I really hope we somehow manage to keep the violence to a minimum when it happens. I also hope the resulting nations are a bit more like the EU. Admittedly, the United States is a prototype, but I see so much potential wasted on fighting and robbing each other instead of lifting each other up.

 

Maid, you probably don't see it (and I SO envy your citizenship), but America has a REAL problem with its media right now. There's not really any fact checking and whichever source you pick is going to have a bias. Most likely biased to the right because people who own media outlets tend to back republicans. It would be nice if we had a non-biased public access news outlet to give people facts, but screaming in an echo chamber sells more papers/ads/clicks/whatevers.

 

So yeah, here we are. All you can really do is try to make whatever you can reach a little better than when you found it. Hopefully, it pays itself forward.

 

Egad, I am SUCH a Pollyanna.

 

Hugs!

[NB Adult]

1 hour ago, Jackie C. said:

 

Egad, I am SUCH a Pollyanna.

 

 

 

???

[Maid In Bedlam]

I can understand your concept Jackie.

 

However what i am trying to say is All media outlets have an agenda. Either they are left wing or right wing. They all have a narrative that they stick to and bend and twist anything to suit such a narrative. worse thing is people actaully believe what they say.

I can name many instances where the truth has been left out or turned to suit there thinking. Even facts being left out because it didnt suit there end game.

 

Trust me it isnt just a exclusive US thing. The media does it over here. What makes it worse. If they cant win a war of words they eraticate there enemy. Take them out of the game. Its easy now with social media. Which is where most people get there daily influx of news etc. Who Buys a newspaper now? Its all online  I have seen diffrent thinking being banned for outspeaking them and telling a diffrent story to the narrative.

 

 

My point was. Dont be one of the sheep. We all have a mind of our own. Way up the facts and make your own desion.  All medai should have there say and we should be granted the right of making up our own minds. Without any predejuce. The truth should  prevail. But sadly if you dont know all the facts without digging then how can you come to the fair and just desion?

 

This is not a new thing either.

I wont go into conspiery theorys. But I will say , burning of the Reichstag (parliament) building in Berlin, on the night of February 27, 1933. They said it was the communists. but was it? The Nazis used it to gain ultimate power of Germany. now we believe. The proganda made it so. In reality who knows if it was a dutch communist or herman goering himself? It doesnt matter because it did what it was suppose to.

 

More modern. Where were the weapons of mass destruction?

 

You see where im going. Do we have to believe all they say?

 

Time and time again its just used to make you believe and justify there actions to suit there narrative and end game.  even if it  the truth or maybe  a fantasy But do we ever learn they may not be telling the whole truth.

 

those are extreme cases granted But they happened in the one thing you cannot argue with is History. You learn. But sadly in this case many do not and just blindly follow