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1/ It should be obvious that when someone has accumulated many thousands of followers, some percentage of them are ALWAYS going to be really shitty people.
When they inevitably rear their ugly heads, people will often say "Wow, look at this following YOU'VE cultivated!"
When they inevitably rear their ugly heads, people will often say "Wow, look at this following YOU'VE cultivated!"
2/ This line of criticism is tempting but wrong. It's an easy way to convince yourself the person with the large following is bad, and dismiss them and and their arguments wholesale. This urge should be resisted.
3/ I frequently argue with decent people about gender and trans issues, and inevitably receive inflammatory comments and DMs that reflect some variant of "Die TERF scum!"
It's tempting to write off every proponent of gender ideology as containing some drop of this extremism.
It's tempting to write off every proponent of gender ideology as containing some drop of this extremism.
4/ But doing so is how conversations stop. And I don't want to stop having conversations, since it is imperative that we resolve difficult issues through conversation.
When conversation is taken off the table, all we're left with is violence and authoritarianism.
When conversation is taken off the table, all we're left with is violence and authoritarianism.
5/ So please, let's all accept that there are crazy and terrible people on all sides, but they're a minority and their existence shouldn't prevent the rest of us from having productive conversations.
We must not let the extremes shape our perceptions and guide our conversations.
We must not let the extremes shape our perceptions and guide our conversations.
