As Twitchy told you yesterday, our moral superiors at Twitter have decided to institute a policy of suspending or outright banning users they deem guilty of “misgendering and deadnaming.” They’ve updated their terms of service and everything:
What they don’t seem to realize, however, is that in their pursuit of tolerance and intersectionality, they’re only showcasing their own intolerance and close-minded foolishness.
This thread from Hans has some really brilliant insights –> https://t.co/yCLXlZNk9F
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) November 26, 2018
Lutheran pastor and senior Federalist contributor Hans Fiene set out to explain Twitter’s huge mistake, and let’s just say that our Twitter overlords would be wise to pay attention:
A little rant about this: https://t.co/UtkU0ip7CN
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
Threatening twitter-bans (or lawsuits or whatever) for "misgendering" is a giant exercise in begging the question. In order to make the argument that "misgendering" is wrong, you would first have to prove that people have a gender.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
But how can you prove such a thing? Gender, we are frequently told, is not rooted in biology. It's not rooted in anatomy or chromosomes. It can't be viewed under a microscope. It is an immaterial, inner feeling.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
In other words, gender is a philosophical/religious concept like the idea of the soul and, perhaps more to the point, soul mates. Can you prove that people have a soul? Not scientifically. Can you prove that someone is your soul mate? Again, no.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
Recommended
You can believe it. But if a biological male says to me "ignore my anatomy. My gender identity is female and you must refer to me as such," he's not simply asserting his dogma. He's imposing it on me.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
If Twitter forces me to do the same, they are engaging in anti-religious bullying–harassing those who reject the new, hip orthodoxy. And if the state hops in, well, that's just flat out theocratic tyranny.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
Just like the Handmaid’s Tale!
If gender identity weren't so wrapped up in the leftist agenda, this would be much more obvious. If Bill says Ella is his soul mate, but Ella marries Dave, we won't let Bill sue Dave for violating his civil rights.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
We'd say to him "you can believe that Ella is your soul mate, but you can't force everyone else to believe it." We normally recognize that organizing society around unprovable philosophical/religious concepts is a recipe for disaster.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
But the Selma-envy-riddled youngsters want to play both sides in their civil rights movement LARPing. They want to be the heroes on the right side of history. And they also want to be the guys controlling the firehoses.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
We couldn’t’ve said it better ourselves.
Twitter is the perfect platform for such an endeavor, where users can tattle on those who refuse to embrace the new orthodoxy and where admins can say "we don't care about free speech or religious freedom. Use the pronouns we want or get out."
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
All of this is a gentle reminder that:
1. Leftists only value free speech as a tool, not as a concept. Once they've used the free speech tool to assume positions of power, they will burn it lest anyone else use it to take that position away from them.— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
2. When people imagine Christianity to be foolish and cruel, the religions they invent to replace it are a thousand times stupider and more oppressive.
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
Well said.
This is dead-on https://t.co/5d1utKGt4s
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) November 26, 2018
Fiene absolutely nailed it.
Oh, also, if this thread ends up getting me banned, let my final words on Twitter be this: SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!
— Hans Fiene (@HansFiene) November 26, 2018
If that thread ends up getting him banned, at least he can take some comfort in knowing that he’s absolutely right.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member