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Is this hypothetical "real Liberalism" or "actual liberalism we're dealing with in real life"? Cause I can see how ideological liberalism may say that. But not how the one in our world actually does. The one in our world has taken the stance - as of now, it is being rolled back in some places - is basically that the liberal state throws its immense power into coercing all of the rest of us into abandoning the gender binary.
In fact, if anything, what separates the trans movement from the transhumanist movement is that Ray Kurzeweil-disciples can't actually compel you to validate their ideology right now. That's where trans has all of the worst elements of too-early transhumanism combined with the endless moral busy-bodying of rights discourse.
Arguably it is a perverse outcome due to trans being early: if transhumanism actually was viable, there would be no need for this sort of coercion and tyranny in order to be "validated". We don't have heated debates about "validating" that people with cochlear implants can hear.
To be fair: this is a substack that has a clear and strong stance on the issue and has basically already laid out its canonical counter-arguments so I think part of it is just not retreading old ground for the choir.
Even in the trans-human future trans people would still be personality and interest wise more like their birth sex than what they transitioned into. Unless we are also changing our brains now. That is the biggest lie of the transgender movement, that trans people are psychologically more like their preferred gender on psychometric traits than their biological sex. Programmer socks are a meme for a reason.
Or, why not just preemptively use our magical transhuman technology to erase the existence of people who are transgender.
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A little of both. I think we move the ratchet as we grow in capability. Catholic/Protestant tolerance was an existential threat in 1600; by 1800 it is plausible, and by 2000 it’s normalized in the West. Debating sex changes and related culture was completely useless in the Industrial Revolution. I’d say it’s in the second stage right now.
Cthulhu's swim is powered by technological surplus. If we keep accruing more, we will grow closer to the liberal ideal.
I’m told this is actually a point of contention among the deaf! Partly generational, but those without implants sometimes view them as breaking solidarity, cultural erasure, etc. The full oppression stack that you’d see for more salient issues. Deafness is “settled” enough, in the mainstream, that there’s no political capital in the tribal lines, so we don’t get the same framework of allies and validation built on top.
That's its value: as a contrast. A "marginalized group" complained about being erased and most people don't care - hell, even know about the debate! There's no outrage, no drama in the mainstream. From a naive perspective - if we're just gonna be culture-warring over medical interventions - you'd think the older, already organized, objectively easier to define contingent of deaf people could have some say. But it's never been a live issue.
Meanwhile: the President is weighing in on "gender affirming healthcare" (puberty blockers, mastectomies and hormones) and we can't stop hearing about the on-trans violence because being a sexual deviant/sex worker in Brazil is dangerous.
Oh, I read that a different way.
People got used to making accommodations for the deaf. Subtitles and transcripts. I’d expect most Americans know of ASL, and dismiss it as a fun curiosity, rather than because it’s an imposition. This is despite that fact that it gets taught in schools and pandered in media!
The deaf have already won. They have an obvious disability, and our culture shifted to accommodate it, despite the costs. Something similar goes for the blind and the wheelchair-bound. It wasn’t without a fight, either: this was absolutely one of the culture wars.
Trans people don’t trigger the same flags, and the social and medical costs of accommodation are higher. That’s why I expect acceptance to improve with technology.
This is a different fight though. There was no question as to whether the deaf could actually hear or whether the best way to help them was to increase accessibility for people who cannot hear. These are not givens for the modern debate over gender.
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Accommodations for people with disabilities are not nearly as divisive as trans issues. Divisiveness is a key feature for something to be part of the "culture war", according to my interpretation of the term at least.
But it was! Down to the sweeping gestures in DC.
Before that there were legal battles over involuntary confinement and forced sterilizations. People were joining all sorts of inappropriately named (by today's standards) activist groups.
Or to go further back, Helen Keller is a household name. I don't think most Americans could name a trans activist.
Hellen Keller is remembered more as a deaf person than a deaf activist though. Most Americans probably couldn't name Anne Sullivan, the corresponding non-deaf activist. And if you ask Americans to just name a trans person, they'll probably know Caitlin Jenner.
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The latter is termed progressivism, not liberalism.
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