Blog

person in a formal gray suit, crossing their fingers behind their back

Hate-crimers and their pronouns

Ignore the Club Q shooter’s statement of gender identity. A homophobic, transphobic murderer says they’re what? Let’s differentiate good-faith and bad-faith declarations, as well as reality and fiction.

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Letters LGB on a rainbow background. Letter T has been ripped off the paper.

The people who use LGB-minus-T are homophobes

Brendan O’Neill does not support gay marriage and is impressed with the LGB Alliance. Yes, everyone may speak their mind. What’s on mine: Gay organizations that are trans-exclusive are homophobic too in complicated ways. Homophobes love this.

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two hands almost touching against a sky backdrop with glowing sun between their fingers

Two things ‘cancel culture’ refers to

On ‘speaking first’ and the meaning of ‘engagement’. You can decline to “engage” online. Think quietly somewhere else. That’s not “cancel culture.” Rewarding someone for being wrong serves no one’s interests.

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two cartoon guys argue face-to-face, hands overlapping, against a backdrop of a city in flames

A hostile critic isn’t impartial

They complain about our greatest strengths. In real life, when our enemies point out our ‘faults,’ we don’t always need to take it to heart. They don’t have our best interests in mind.

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Swampy forest with little fires everywhere

Quit Twitter?

It’s been a Fire Swamp, and it’ll get worse. Here’s where you can go. If it isn’t Trump who’s given free rein to make Twitter swampier than it already is, it’ll be someone like Trump. Maybe a hundred Trump figures.

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We may not have Twitter tomorrow

Letting go is a complex process, and there’s no one right way to do it. Sometimes good things can’t be saved. We can be sad and frustrated. But, even not wanting to let go, we can give ourselves permission to actually let go.

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candle flame seen blurred in triplicate

We mortals must combat hate speech

Starboard buys Parler, and it looks like strange fire. This is all kinds of strange fire, except for the queer kind that we like. It is instead made of strange fires that deserve to be scrutinized and judged.

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