Is it only eleven years since Occupy Wall Street? Such a short time for a movement to turn into its opposite. And for the warm words 'diversity and inclusion' to become something so cold and brutal.
Thanks for this excellent analysis of how and why it happened.
Another really wonderful insightful post Jennifer. Thank you. As someone from the old-school Left I think your approach of macro-analysis and class analysis is critical to understanding what is going on with the current "controlled-demolition" of material reality itself. Observing the ongoing fragmentation of any sense of class consciousness into a thousand different tiny aggrieved designer micro-identities has been surreal and frightening on many levels - but it has also been a "wake-up" call for many of us.
That the phrase "diversity and inclusion" means essentially the complete opposite (I made the tongue-in-cheek observation that it seems to mean "differently dressed penis" years ago) seems obvious. Thank you, though for breaking it all down so thoroughly yet succinctly.
It's scary to think I'm old enough to have been a somewhat late-coming "second wave feminist" (having been born in 1970) but I have been dismayed to see the movement to liberate the sexes from gender stereotypes be hijacked into a movement to codify gender stereotypes as identities that require medical intervention.
I don't like how conservatives respond to the trans movement - it's often too cruel and reductionist. We have kids who are clearly looking for meaning in a soulless world and identities give them this meaning they are lacking. We need to be compassionate and listen to their cries for help.
But to me the answer isn't to go back to traditional gender roles but to communicate a more positive message that you aren't bound by your sex (or your gender) and can just BE YOURSELF. So if you were born with an XY chromosome pair and like to wear dresses and make-up, go for it...but you can do that and still be a man. (Beyond that, I want to send a spiritual message...we aren't our clothes or our appearance regardless...but we are souls experiencing things in a human body. But I digress.)
The medicalization aspect of this movement is part and parcel to our Western corporatism. I wrote an article a while back that wasn't very articulate in terms of what I had in mind, but the basic gist of it is this: The trans movement requires "privilege" in the form of money, time, and resources. You can't trans a kid if you live in poverty in the third world, because transitioning a child requires not only access to hormones but ample clothing choices....i.e., the crass consumerism the left used to be critical of.
I point out in this article that the video used to promote trans identities to kids focuses on kids using a dressing room to put on different "outfits" - you can't do this in a country where getting the basics like food and water is difficult: https://wholistic.substack.com/p/what-is-trans-privilege-first-world
I am an old strait white male, This issued was not central to my anti-war, the country is amok, concerns. Your video and Federalist article from 2018, opened my eyes, Thank You.
Thank you. You write well and fearlessly. But I don't 100% agree. It's not ALL inclusive! Women in their scenario are irrelevant. One hideous example: The La Leche League, where I learned to comfortably breast=feed my newborn despite the efforts of the medical cartel to convince me she'd do so much better with their formula fake breast milk, is now a playground for men who' think it's fun to pretend to breastfeed and those women seriously trying to breastfeed, but resent this male intrusion are told they are no longer welcome.. And just yesterday, I spotted what I've seen all my life - the word "man" being used as a substitute for men and women - but it's all inclusive they told us.
"By tomorrow I expect it will be changed to man and trans woman. Unfortunately, I think it goes beyond sales - it's not just D&I, it's also D&C - divide and conquer. The smaller segments they can divide us into the less the chance we can fight back. And of course there's the obvious destruction of working class men as well as one more way to prevent us from procreating - in case the jab doesn't work..
I am also of the left. I have changed my political priorities (but not my principles) radically over the last three years, thanks significantly to your writing and speaking in interviews such as with Isabella Malvin's 'Who's Body Is It?'
Increasingly the global struggle is between people and nations who are pro-reality (mainly Eurasia and the 'global south' - ie. c. 80% of the world's population) and people who have been sold, and many of whom believe in, a delusion: the new religion of liberalism and neoliberalism (10-20% of the global population,mainly 'the West') which tragically includes, as you describe, many on 'the left'.
An extreme version of post-modern liberalism is Queer theory. The Ukraine war is being run by NATO as the first Queer war, where they consider information (narrative and performance) to be as or more important than military or economic. It isn't, it is a delusion. NATO is losing horribly. Reality is winning.
We are going through very dangerous times, as the hitherto dominant USA has degenerated into a psychopathic state where it thinks if it cannot continue to dominate, then no one will survive: "if I can't get my own way I will kill myself and take all of you with me" sound familiar? It is paranoid and thinks everyone is its enemy, even its allies (see Seymour Hersh, Nordstream).
The task facing humanity, led at present by China and Russia and other countries in BRICS+ (including Brazil, India and South Africa) is to manage the decline of the USA safely and enable a new and better world to be born, where countries respect each other's independence and don't interfere in each other's internal affairs, when possible co-operating for mutual benefit.
It is no coincidence that the faux-left are also sold on the new Cold War on China, that the US bi-partisan warmongers want to turn hot by 2025 - after they have left Ukraine 'scorched earth' as they did from Vietnam to Afghanistan. It is in all of our interests to resist and stop that.
Have you ever studied Marx? It is interesting to me that the so-called "real" left in the US since the McCarthyite purges of socialist/communists are still capitalists. How does one propose to stop this fraction of the entire corporatismo (Mussolini's term for fascism) that is global with no country (which Marx/Engels pointed out in the Communist Manifesto written in 1848) as imperialism (discussed in detail by Lenin) is the highest stage of capitalism---and why this particular form of capitalist consumerism spread so quickly over the objections of people in all countries subjected to this latest version of commodification of something. I mean you are consistently writing about the fact that this latest capitalist idiocy is, well, capitalist, but you don't mention the solution to the problem as being MARXIST revolution and the proletarian dictatorship over the means of production. The answer is already written and I have found no theoretical alternative to the solution put forward by scientific socialism. I see no one anywhere in the US at least, writing the solution to the problem. The protests are not a threat to imperialist status quo capitalism. That's why Occupy was not a threat and accomplished nothing. Same for protesting Tranz (TM.) It only addresses ONE form of the larger capitalist exploitation and extraction of $$$ and resources and will also never be a threat to the entire organism of power of the minority over the majority. Only the take down of the entirety of the beast will stop this particular portion of it. And for that, there is only one answer.
LGBT is sickness caused by evil supported by capitalism another evil disease!....to destroy the union of men and women , family , culture civilisation, human specie. its not just corporate monetary interest behind trans movement - its pure evil who's goals are not limited to money and worldly success , the dimension of this evil is beyond human comprehension ....its an attack of evil on human race !
Is it only eleven years since Occupy Wall Street? Such a short time for a movement to turn into its opposite. And for the warm words 'diversity and inclusion' to become something so cold and brutal.
Thanks for this excellent analysis of how and why it happened.
Regardless the product, the endgame is marketing. In the era of greed, there is no other cause.
People need to follow the money. If the wealthy are pushing something, it means it's probably making them even more wealthy.
Another really wonderful insightful post Jennifer. Thank you. As someone from the old-school Left I think your approach of macro-analysis and class analysis is critical to understanding what is going on with the current "controlled-demolition" of material reality itself. Observing the ongoing fragmentation of any sense of class consciousness into a thousand different tiny aggrieved designer micro-identities has been surreal and frightening on many levels - but it has also been a "wake-up" call for many of us.
That the phrase "diversity and inclusion" means essentially the complete opposite (I made the tongue-in-cheek observation that it seems to mean "differently dressed penis" years ago) seems obvious. Thank you, though for breaking it all down so thoroughly yet succinctly.
It's scary to think I'm old enough to have been a somewhat late-coming "second wave feminist" (having been born in 1970) but I have been dismayed to see the movement to liberate the sexes from gender stereotypes be hijacked into a movement to codify gender stereotypes as identities that require medical intervention.
I don't like how conservatives respond to the trans movement - it's often too cruel and reductionist. We have kids who are clearly looking for meaning in a soulless world and identities give them this meaning they are lacking. We need to be compassionate and listen to their cries for help.
But to me the answer isn't to go back to traditional gender roles but to communicate a more positive message that you aren't bound by your sex (or your gender) and can just BE YOURSELF. So if you were born with an XY chromosome pair and like to wear dresses and make-up, go for it...but you can do that and still be a man. (Beyond that, I want to send a spiritual message...we aren't our clothes or our appearance regardless...but we are souls experiencing things in a human body. But I digress.)
The medicalization aspect of this movement is part and parcel to our Western corporatism. I wrote an article a while back that wasn't very articulate in terms of what I had in mind, but the basic gist of it is this: The trans movement requires "privilege" in the form of money, time, and resources. You can't trans a kid if you live in poverty in the third world, because transitioning a child requires not only access to hormones but ample clothing choices....i.e., the crass consumerism the left used to be critical of.
I point out in this article that the video used to promote trans identities to kids focuses on kids using a dressing room to put on different "outfits" - you can't do this in a country where getting the basics like food and water is difficult: https://wholistic.substack.com/p/what-is-trans-privilege-first-world
Thank you Jennifer for excellent investigative journalism and intelligent commentary.. Keep it Up..
Wow! What a great article. Billionaire greed hidden behind an LGBTQ flag. Thank you.
I am an old strait white male, This issued was not central to my anti-war, the country is amok, concerns. Your video and Federalist article from 2018, opened my eyes, Thank You.
Thank you. You write well and fearlessly. But I don't 100% agree. It's not ALL inclusive! Women in their scenario are irrelevant. One hideous example: The La Leche League, where I learned to comfortably breast=feed my newborn despite the efforts of the medical cartel to convince me she'd do so much better with their formula fake breast milk, is now a playground for men who' think it's fun to pretend to breastfeed and those women seriously trying to breastfeed, but resent this male intrusion are told they are no longer welcome.. And just yesterday, I spotted what I've seen all my life - the word "man" being used as a substitute for men and women - but it's all inclusive they told us.
"By tomorrow I expect it will be changed to man and trans woman. Unfortunately, I think it goes beyond sales - it's not just D&I, it's also D&C - divide and conquer. The smaller segments they can divide us into the less the chance we can fight back. And of course there's the obvious destruction of working class men as well as one more way to prevent us from procreating - in case the jab doesn't work..
I am also of the left. I have changed my political priorities (but not my principles) radically over the last three years, thanks significantly to your writing and speaking in interviews such as with Isabella Malvin's 'Who's Body Is It?'
Increasingly the global struggle is between people and nations who are pro-reality (mainly Eurasia and the 'global south' - ie. c. 80% of the world's population) and people who have been sold, and many of whom believe in, a delusion: the new religion of liberalism and neoliberalism (10-20% of the global population,mainly 'the West') which tragically includes, as you describe, many on 'the left'.
An extreme version of post-modern liberalism is Queer theory. The Ukraine war is being run by NATO as the first Queer war, where they consider information (narrative and performance) to be as or more important than military or economic. It isn't, it is a delusion. NATO is losing horribly. Reality is winning.
We are going through very dangerous times, as the hitherto dominant USA has degenerated into a psychopathic state where it thinks if it cannot continue to dominate, then no one will survive: "if I can't get my own way I will kill myself and take all of you with me" sound familiar? It is paranoid and thinks everyone is its enemy, even its allies (see Seymour Hersh, Nordstream).
The task facing humanity, led at present by China and Russia and other countries in BRICS+ (including Brazil, India and South Africa) is to manage the decline of the USA safely and enable a new and better world to be born, where countries respect each other's independence and don't interfere in each other's internal affairs, when possible co-operating for mutual benefit.
It is no coincidence that the faux-left are also sold on the new Cold War on China, that the US bi-partisan warmongers want to turn hot by 2025 - after they have left Ukraine 'scorched earth' as they did from Vietnam to Afghanistan. It is in all of our interests to resist and stop that.
Have you ever studied Marx? It is interesting to me that the so-called "real" left in the US since the McCarthyite purges of socialist/communists are still capitalists. How does one propose to stop this fraction of the entire corporatismo (Mussolini's term for fascism) that is global with no country (which Marx/Engels pointed out in the Communist Manifesto written in 1848) as imperialism (discussed in detail by Lenin) is the highest stage of capitalism---and why this particular form of capitalist consumerism spread so quickly over the objections of people in all countries subjected to this latest version of commodification of something. I mean you are consistently writing about the fact that this latest capitalist idiocy is, well, capitalist, but you don't mention the solution to the problem as being MARXIST revolution and the proletarian dictatorship over the means of production. The answer is already written and I have found no theoretical alternative to the solution put forward by scientific socialism. I see no one anywhere in the US at least, writing the solution to the problem. The protests are not a threat to imperialist status quo capitalism. That's why Occupy was not a threat and accomplished nothing. Same for protesting Tranz (TM.) It only addresses ONE form of the larger capitalist exploitation and extraction of $$$ and resources and will also never be a threat to the entire organism of power of the minority over the majority. Only the take down of the entirety of the beast will stop this particular portion of it. And for that, there is only one answer.
LGBT is sickness caused by evil supported by capitalism another evil disease!....to destroy the union of men and women , family , culture civilisation, human specie. its not just corporate monetary interest behind trans movement - its pure evil who's goals are not limited to money and worldly success , the dimension of this evil is beyond human comprehension ....its an attack of evil on human race !