Bud Light beer. Costa coffee. Target clothing. It’s hard to keep track of everything conservative’s have cancelled for LGBTQ+ representation in recent months. Now they have a new target: Paw Patrol.
This is totally out of control. Educators are literally losing their jobs and getting death threats from their neighbors. I had a thought progression about this that started with feeling like I couldn't actually identify what all these fascists find offensive. Some things, sure, but other things I would never in my wildest dreams see as a problem. Then I remember "oh" that's the point. The point is they are the ones to determine if you're a subversive predator and pick over your life until they can either take something out of context or make something up and then send the hounds after you.
My grandchildren have had classmates who use they/them pronouns since pre-school. This isn't indoctrination, it's reflecting the reality of the world we all live in -- and no amount of hysteria, hate or creepy 'warning' messages will change that.
"Ironically, the same conservatives who once lambasted the notion of “cancel culture” now seem to have fully embraced it."
It's not ironic at all, at least to conservatives. Conservatives have no sense of irony.
When a conservative gets mildly criticized for saying hateful things about [insert marginalized group here], that's "woke" and "cancel culture" and the entire conservative media ecosystem howls about free speech.
When a sweet, adorable children's book about two (male) penguins raising a chick together gets removed from library shelves, that's "protecting the children" from "obscenity", "propaganda", and "indoctrination". Schoolteachers and librarians become "groomers" and are threatened with jail.
One of the clearest examples so far of how our mere existence is cause for fascist outrage. I watched the Ruble & Crew video and this really is about nothing more than socks.
This seems so easy to characterize as simple hate. I'm probably naive but I can't see how this isn't used to expose the hate and intolerance to divide the conservative extremists from the moderate independents and left leaning democrats.
I refuse to watch the hate video but as always, thank you Erin for keeping us informed.
Every time someone sounds the Outrage Alarm about kids' entertainment I remember the Little Mermaid DVD Penis Castle Panic of the 90s. No one noticed the "penis" castle until a group of far-right religious moms rang the bell. Then *everybody* noticed it.
Except the kids. The kids had no clue, unless the parents told them about it.
Point being, there is no conspiracy to indoctrinate children or sexualize them. The alarmists are taking the lead on that one.
That video is one of the saddest attempts at justifying homo/transphobia I have seen. Spooky music, even. Outrage over socks! What can they dream up next, to indoctrinate kids into self-abuse.
The amount of hate in this country right now - as evidenced by the product censorships but many other things as well - is staggering, shameful, and horrifying. How did it come to this? I have lots of theories but it is still overwhelming.
It has become clear to the point that only deliberate dishonesty can deny it. The paranoid (and I mean that in the clinical sense) reactionaries want to disappear trans people.. To wipe them from existence. Perhaps - repeat perhaps - not physically, but politically, legally, socially.
This latest episode of the fanatic freakout over the cartoon "Rubble & Crew" just adds to the proof. There is nothing remotely sexual or obscene about the episode or the nonbinary character in the series. No actions, no words, nothing. So what are the fanatics objecting to? The very existence. of a nonbinary character. If they get their way, that character will disappear - after which they intend to do the same to the entire trans community.
Ironically, Paw Patrol is often a pro-fascist ad for police power being good. It is my least favorite kids' show and we managed to not have a lot of it in our house. Good for them for having a nonbinary character briefly in a spinoff and boo to the fascists trying to cancel it based on that, but it's a terrible franchise regardless.
These influencers fake outrage as a way to intimidate and control people, although their marks often do respond with genuine hysteria and paranoia. They are trying to create an enormous cost for any divergence from whatever bizarre standard they happen to have, for any kind of media. They are essentially trying to frighten creators and the corporations that pay them into thinking twice before ever having any representation of people who are not white, heterosexual, and ultra (seriously ULTRA) gender conforming. It’s really a psychological tactic where they use overreach to make everyone overcorrect. S
Absolute insanity. These people must have a ginormous amount of time on their hands. I’m just wondering when they’ll turn on other minorities; autistic community, diabetic children, red heads, green eyed people, etc.
I also think it has to be a very well-planned methodical and coordinated campaign, simply because it is so thorough and efficient, and because a lot of these influencers are paid. Someone is combing through children’s books and all media for children or youth or teens as well as creating freakouts about toys, clothes, and anything people might consume--because then you can create the sense that there is something shameful or disadvantageous about these identities.
It is way too well-designed from a psychological standpoint in terms of creating associations and fears to just be happening randomly, with different people picking up different hysterias every single day. There has to be some money behind some of it, even if some of it is just bandwagoning. Moral panics often do happen organically but this one has a robust political element that has to have some real funding behind it.
In some ways, it reminds me of the red scare where you create such a mental stigma that you make people slowly shuffle away from whatever it is that has these associations. But here you don’t even have some kind of anxiety about the government being taken over but just because of the hassles they perceive may ensue. People don’t genuinely embrace the ideas (if they are normal). If the idea of a transgender person has this negative association and there is no way for people to counter it then they hope the ideology will get a foot-hold over time.
And of course it is also intentionally modeled on antisemitism and Islamophobia.
It’s really too bad that it made such strides in the UK because it just encourages them to keep going when usually their moral panics are somewhat brief even if they recycle the same ones frequently.
There are several reasons I don’t think it will work. One is that there is no substantial thing to point to to actually justify the fear. With the red scare, there was Stalin and atomic weapons and national security. It was easier to create fear. There’s nothing like that here, except conspiracy theories which will peter out over time. Another reason it will not work is that it is sordid and hysterical and boring. It is astroturfed to a large extent and the people who are organically the audience for it are going to get tired of it eventually. You cannot keep people afraid of a thing whose danger is made up forever. Nevertheless, it does do a lot of damage. I guess the only thing that can be done right now is not give a single solitary inch and make as much noise about those who accede to these demands as they are getting from the other side? Also, ridicule and relentless messaging?
This is totally out of control. Educators are literally losing their jobs and getting death threats from their neighbors. I had a thought progression about this that started with feeling like I couldn't actually identify what all these fascists find offensive. Some things, sure, but other things I would never in my wildest dreams see as a problem. Then I remember "oh" that's the point. The point is they are the ones to determine if you're a subversive predator and pick over your life until they can either take something out of context or make something up and then send the hounds after you.
My grandchildren have had classmates who use they/them pronouns since pre-school. This isn't indoctrination, it's reflecting the reality of the world we all live in -- and no amount of hysteria, hate or creepy 'warning' messages will change that.
"Ironically, the same conservatives who once lambasted the notion of “cancel culture” now seem to have fully embraced it."
It's not ironic at all, at least to conservatives. Conservatives have no sense of irony.
When a conservative gets mildly criticized for saying hateful things about [insert marginalized group here], that's "woke" and "cancel culture" and the entire conservative media ecosystem howls about free speech.
When a sweet, adorable children's book about two (male) penguins raising a chick together gets removed from library shelves, that's "protecting the children" from "obscenity", "propaganda", and "indoctrination". Schoolteachers and librarians become "groomers" and are threatened with jail.
One of the clearest examples so far of how our mere existence is cause for fascist outrage. I watched the Ruble & Crew video and this really is about nothing more than socks.
This seems so easy to characterize as simple hate. I'm probably naive but I can't see how this isn't used to expose the hate and intolerance to divide the conservative extremists from the moderate independents and left leaning democrats.
I refuse to watch the hate video but as always, thank you Erin for keeping us informed.
Every time someone sounds the Outrage Alarm about kids' entertainment I remember the Little Mermaid DVD Penis Castle Panic of the 90s. No one noticed the "penis" castle until a group of far-right religious moms rang the bell. Then *everybody* noticed it.
Except the kids. The kids had no clue, unless the parents told them about it.
Point being, there is no conspiracy to indoctrinate children or sexualize them. The alarmists are taking the lead on that one.
That video is one of the saddest attempts at justifying homo/transphobia I have seen. Spooky music, even. Outrage over socks! What can they dream up next, to indoctrinate kids into self-abuse.
They always accuse others of doing what they’re doing. Which means they’re the ones indoctrinating kids, etc
The amount of hate in this country right now - as evidenced by the product censorships but many other things as well - is staggering, shameful, and horrifying. How did it come to this? I have lots of theories but it is still overwhelming.
It has become clear to the point that only deliberate dishonesty can deny it. The paranoid (and I mean that in the clinical sense) reactionaries want to disappear trans people.. To wipe them from existence. Perhaps - repeat perhaps - not physically, but politically, legally, socially.
This latest episode of the fanatic freakout over the cartoon "Rubble & Crew" just adds to the proof. There is nothing remotely sexual or obscene about the episode or the nonbinary character in the series. No actions, no words, nothing. So what are the fanatics objecting to? The very existence. of a nonbinary character. If they get their way, that character will disappear - after which they intend to do the same to the entire trans community.
Ironically, Paw Patrol is often a pro-fascist ad for police power being good. It is my least favorite kids' show and we managed to not have a lot of it in our house. Good for them for having a nonbinary character briefly in a spinoff and boo to the fascists trying to cancel it based on that, but it's a terrible franchise regardless.
These influencers fake outrage as a way to intimidate and control people, although their marks often do respond with genuine hysteria and paranoia. They are trying to create an enormous cost for any divergence from whatever bizarre standard they happen to have, for any kind of media. They are essentially trying to frighten creators and the corporations that pay them into thinking twice before ever having any representation of people who are not white, heterosexual, and ultra (seriously ULTRA) gender conforming. It’s really a psychological tactic where they use overreach to make everyone overcorrect. S
Absolute insanity. These people must have a ginormous amount of time on their hands. I’m just wondering when they’ll turn on other minorities; autistic community, diabetic children, red heads, green eyed people, etc.
I also think it has to be a very well-planned methodical and coordinated campaign, simply because it is so thorough and efficient, and because a lot of these influencers are paid. Someone is combing through children’s books and all media for children or youth or teens as well as creating freakouts about toys, clothes, and anything people might consume--because then you can create the sense that there is something shameful or disadvantageous about these identities.
It is way too well-designed from a psychological standpoint in terms of creating associations and fears to just be happening randomly, with different people picking up different hysterias every single day. There has to be some money behind some of it, even if some of it is just bandwagoning. Moral panics often do happen organically but this one has a robust political element that has to have some real funding behind it.
In some ways, it reminds me of the red scare where you create such a mental stigma that you make people slowly shuffle away from whatever it is that has these associations. But here you don’t even have some kind of anxiety about the government being taken over but just because of the hassles they perceive may ensue. People don’t genuinely embrace the ideas (if they are normal). If the idea of a transgender person has this negative association and there is no way for people to counter it then they hope the ideology will get a foot-hold over time.
And of course it is also intentionally modeled on antisemitism and Islamophobia.
It’s really too bad that it made such strides in the UK because it just encourages them to keep going when usually their moral panics are somewhat brief even if they recycle the same ones frequently.
There are several reasons I don’t think it will work. One is that there is no substantial thing to point to to actually justify the fear. With the red scare, there was Stalin and atomic weapons and national security. It was easier to create fear. There’s nothing like that here, except conspiracy theories which will peter out over time. Another reason it will not work is that it is sordid and hysterical and boring. It is astroturfed to a large extent and the people who are organically the audience for it are going to get tired of it eventually. You cannot keep people afraid of a thing whose danger is made up forever. Nevertheless, it does do a lot of damage. I guess the only thing that can be done right now is not give a single solitary inch and make as much noise about those who accede to these demands as they are getting from the other side? Also, ridicule and relentless messaging?
We need Biden to win relection.