Shotgun Badger
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2018
I don't really know how to put it into words but for some countries (see also New Zealand, Canada or Sweden) there's this sense, especially among the people in power if they represent very Liberal parties that have been well ensconced in things like academia, that the country is at the forefront of every progressive cause in the world and will lead the way on the next big civil rights issue, as a kind of shining city on the hill, to use a comparison you often see for people who think that America is the greatest country on Earth.
When I interact with these sorts of people a very frequently recurring term to describe their positions is 'the right side of history'. A lot of the time this ends up being an excuse, they can't really convincingly explain why they take certain positions and its more based on this broader anxiety about being perceived as the good guys for future generations so they don't go down as the kinds of people supporting segregation in the 60s or opposing gay marriage in the 90s, and for them trans rights is the next big civil rights issue so they think it will develop in the same way, so in 2050 everybody seen as vaguely reasonable will have exactly the same position in trans people as the most shrill tumblr user of forty years previously because of the implacable march of history and progress.
Suffice to say, I think this is a very badly mistaken attitude to say the least, its not a great idea to adopt policy based on esoteric notions of how the progression of history is meant to work or even see previous changes in societal attitudes as being this simple, I always point to the way that for a lot of queer activism history they were openly pro-pedophilia in a way that has become completely unacceptable, I'm dead certain some people had exactly the same 'right side of history' perspective then which prompted them to support a damaging position against their better instincts and which, shockingly, didn't turn out to be on the right side of history in this particular instance!
I suppose we'll see how this all pans out and if the storm breaks eventually, but one big problem all of these governments have is that they can't really put up to a vote the most absurd and accordingly controversial elements of trans ideology, notably self-id which is disastrously poorly thought out but doggedly defended by trans activists, so they have to undemocratically force these kinds of legislation onto the population at large which invariably causes backlash, especially among right wingers and Gendercritical feminists who can have a field day showing the painfully obvious shortcomings with these kinds of policies, the same applies with other hot button topics like trans women in sports and prisons or how trans children should be treated, especially if their parents aren't 100% affirming.
Scotland's politics also has an additional layer that you can go a long way but just doing the opposite of whatever England is doing, and since the rest of the UK is 'TERF island' you know where this will lead...
