This is the second post in an extended review of the book Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices. The first post is here. A recurring theme is that the authors are aware that their trans and Buddhist beliefs conflict, but then there’s an epiphany of doublethink. Cooper Lee Bombardier writes: Most of all, I never thought I…
I recently wrote a series of posts respnding to Spectrums, a collection of essays by trans autistic people. This is the start of a new series. I’ll be doing a close reading of the book Transcending: Trans Buddhist Voices. It caught my attention because, for reasons explained in that earlier series, I consider Buddhism a…
The difference in arguing with liberal and conservative white men about race is in the crudeness more than the content. There aren’t that many talking points, either. A good example is Eric Levitz’s How anti-racist is Ibram X. Kendi’s anti-racism? It’s not as deep as it thinks it is. It has 3 main points: 1.…
I was bored enough to look at Newsweek’s website, and got baited into clicking on this article. Robert Cherry, economics professor, white guy, says “Both Sides of the Critical Race Theory Debate Are Abandoning Black Children.” The little picture of his head looks insufferable. Before going into the details, allow me to summarize the point…
Unpopular opinion: sex positivity is neoliberal gaslighting. In a hilarious coincidence, Slate and Reddit’s BlackPeopleTwitter had simultaneous discussions of “race play.” The contrast is illuminating. I like to go on Reddit and pick fights with liberal and leftist white guys with negative things to say about “identity politics.” A good way to make them lose…
Current Affairs just published some brocialist criticism of Robin DiAngelo. I don’t like this trend of class reductionist dudes making her the leader of black politics and taking her to task for not being woke enough. The lady runs corporate diversity training. She’s with HR. No, she won’t singlehandedly lead white people to revolution, but…
Early in high school, especially after looking up atheism websites on the 1990s internet, I developed an interest in logical fallacies. You can find big lists of them and learn to recognize the patterns. I believe that should be part of the education system, for everybody. The straw man fallacy is found in bad faith…
My self-understanding has evolved with the theory I’ve read and the therapy I’ve done. I was exposed to CRT and Judith Butler in high school. I’ve written a little bit about my experience with Gender Trouble here. When trans issues became more prominent I started bickering about them with my ex, who spent a lot…
The issue of “trans rights” is contentious within feminism, with the trans faction having stigmatized all criticism of itself as bigotry. For a lot of reasons (see here), I don’t think the trans movement makes very good arguments. I think it represents a pernicious neoliberal tendency. I’m even annoyed that its tactics make “free speech”…