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Comment by nemothekid | Hacker News Reader

>a particular mod who has personal reasons to dislike JK Rowling

I think it's disingenuous to paint what are likely political reasons as just personal quibbles.

If I painted it as a political agenda someone else would complain. They are personally affected because they are trans. That seemed the most honest way to phrase it.

It's still political. It's extremely unlikely the mod in question and JK Rowling have ever met, which makes it impossible to be personal.

Personal as in their private life or identity is affected, not interpersonal as in a relationship between two or more people or groups. Political would relate to government policies, or how a country is run. I’m flabbergasted that I need to explain this.

That's just plainly false. Their private life was not affected by what JK Rowling has said. Rather, their political opinion differs and a choice to be offended was made. As political protest, the mod decides the best course of action was to violate subreddit rules and spoil a game for people (instead of, you know, offering a counter position to Rowling's views).

You keep claiming it’s political when it isn’t. The mod feels personally that JKR is bad and lashes out on a website to hurt other people. They aren’t protesting the legal status of trans people. They aren’t demanding changes to health care policy. They are saying some rich celebrity is bad and fuck you if you enjoy that person’s creation.

It’s all about personal feelings and has nothing to do with politics. What role does JKRs crusade against the trans community have to do with politics? Does she hold office or set policy?

Unless you’re loosely defining politics as an umbrella term for personal beliefs which makes your initial response moot.

> What role does JKRs crusade against the trans community have to do with politics? Does she hold office or set policy?

Her "crusade" is about who can make decisions in society, i.e. control what others do, which is what politics is. Formal political structures are not the only venue through which it happens.

> What role does JKRs crusade against the trans community have to do with politics

Is she on some kind of crusade I'm unaware of ?

All I've heard from the ones complaining was not a single quote or anything actionable, and all I've seen from sources trying to just report on the situation was some spicy tweets that summed up to "biological women are not the same as trans women" and "I will wipe my tears with my royalty money" response to the twitter abuse.

> Does she hold office or set policy?

Does she influence those who do?

> personally affected because they are trans

That's something I find surprising about reddit - I can't remember what the exact percentage is, but I think it's something like 0.1% of the world population is trans... but it seems like 90% of the moderators on reddit are. What is it about reddit that attracts them?

I have similar questions about the apparent over-representation of LGBT people among high-profile software developers, but it feels like it's never okay to ask those questions.

I've heard some theorize that there's a link with ADHD, but I don't claim to know for sure: https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/comments/5v6wlq/adde...

My own explanation is that to be good at computer science you need to have had spent a lot of time in front of a computer during your childhood. The LGBT community used to be much less (and still is in most places) accepted IRL, and as such you'd have to find your community online.

So here you have it, that's my theory, a lot of LGBTs spent a lot of time online and then got hooked on computer science stuff.

Part of it is Alphabet Tourism.

I'm gay and many of my legit LGBT friends have noticed a trend where lots of younger folks are claiming to be queer, bi, non-binary, asexual, pansexual, trans, etc., without a lot of evidence that they're anything other than a straight person looking to feel special.

Same thing on Mastodon, which I tried for a month or so. It seems every single profile you open some of the claims you mention are there, followed by disabled, and a bunch of (self-diagnosed?) mental illnesses.

It's like they're collecting pokemons. And it's not used as a list of characteristics, it's their "identity" and an accomplishment. It is center to every single thing they say, whom they associate with, etc.

"You are now banned from /r/games" lmao

I'm done with even calling myself gay or straight or anything, the moment you do you are surrounded by insufferable people.

One possible factor is that GSRMs are still widely persecuted and thus are not inclined to be "out of the closet" about it. That's also why people can get a bit defensive about asking questions; enough people ask such questions in bad faith that it makes it hard to identify when someone's asking in good faith.

Perhaps it's because they feel more comfortable expressing themselves in a pseudoanonymous forum. Perhaps they discovered that they were trans by virtue of being eternally online. I believe it is the latter to a great extent. I don't know if there are any studies of this (or if studying such things is even permitted), but in my own fairly small family/friends groups there are 6 people (out of around 30 or 40) who have apparently learned they are trans within the last 6 years, and to a person they are highly active on social media, chat rooms, and reddit or other internet forum sites (resetera, kiwifarms, 4chan, etc.). Prior to becoming internet addicts, not one of them expressed any behaviors or interests suggesting they were born the wrong gender, despite it being relatively acceptable in their social groups prior.

Just learned this week that an extended family member is trans. Not a single sign of gender dysphoria throughout her entire 21 years of life. 6 months of university and surgery is pending.

The social contagion is so plain to see but I guess talking about it is a taboo.

> The social contagion is so plain to see but I guess talking about it is a taboo.

This is very sad yet, regrettably, very true. It is becoming increasingly popular to promote drugging and mutilating not only adults, which is bad enough, but also children. This goes far beyond just the most obvious extreme of so-called "transgenders" but also beyond to the entire "LGBT" complex. I've personally heard, firsthand, college students express sadness about being "straight" or put various "identities" on a pedestal.

Acting like you are trans, why not, who cares. What ever feels good to you. Surgery is permanent, and we all did stupid things in the past. 6 month is pretty short for a life changing surgery where there is probably no comeback.

Interesting to see the downvotes.

Obviously your family, but… What’s more likely?

That a person of a marginalized group _hid_ aspects of themselves and lied about about themselves to prevent harassment.

Or a person goes to college for 6 months and decides to get major surgery because it is socially popular?

Just because YOU didn’t see the signs doesn’t mean they didn’t and flippantly using your interpretation of their story as proof of a “social contagion” is unfair to them.

What harassment? What marginalized group?

She's an ordinary girl. Privileged in every single way: wealthy, good looks, good brain. She's never showed even the tiniest sign of being uncomfortable in her body. Not in toys, clothing, choice of friends, just zero signals at all. She does not live in an environment that is in any way conservative or oppressive, nor religious.

You don't have to take this lack of signs from me, it's from her mother whom lived with her for 20 years in a row. The change comes out of the blue, is drastic, and closely aligns with her new environment and friends. So yes, social contagion is very much on the table if not the most likely factor. There's nothing controversial about social contagion as a mechanism, most people's behaviors and mindsets are drastically influenced by culture.

You seem to take my comment as judgmental, but it's coming from empathy. It's her choice and she'll live with the consequences, not me. But when there is an inexplainable spike in young girls changing body parts and making irreversible choices, and seemingly only in big city universities, then I have questions. Because I care about them, and I will never apologize for that.

> What is it about reddit that attracts them?

The internet is the only place where the reality of who they really, down right to the DNA, really are. In real life, in the average case, it's not difficult to see that someone is a man dressing as a woman or vice versa, not so on the internet. When you combine this with the near-complete domination of certain political ideologies on the site it becomes much clearer.

There's a big overlap between people with autism and people that are trans.

Yep. Same with speedrunning community, autism, and trans. In the Jordan Peterson interview with Chloe Cole is where I learned that autism is correlated if not causally related to transitioning. Two hour interview warning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O3MzPeomqs

I find it funny that the same kind of people seem to attack Jordan Peterson and not it "here is why you are wrong and here is evidence" way but in "<a bunch of insults>" way.

Many such cases.

“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

A corollary to that might be “on the Internet you can be whatever you want to be.”

If someone is trans, or cares about trans people, its entirely personal to them. The "issue" isn't always a political one.

Yes, the mod in question may be forcing their personal worldview on a subreddit, but the OC's phrasing of the overall situation seems completely accurate.

>The "issue" isn't always a political one.

It's political because JK Rowling actively donates to enact political change for anti-trans legislation. It isn't the case that the recent hysteria is because JK Rowling dislikes trans people.

> The current process for receiving a gender recognition certificate dictates that applicants have to be “medically diagnosed as having gender dysphoria, go through a minimum two year process and be aged over 18,” The Times reports. The reform bill no longer mandates medical evidence of gender dysphoria and lowers the age requirement to 16.

I dunno, sounds like a solid reason to have issues with it, having medical professional not be involved in the process sounds like travesty ripe for abuse and mishandling

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/jk-rowling-opposes-reform...

Sure, but I never made a value judgement on JK Rowlings views so I’m not sure how your own personal perspective on this ruling is relevant.

Just because you agree with JKR it doesn’t make the message any less political

She's a feminist whose activism includes fighting for the rights of women and girls to have female-only spaces and services. This isn't an anti-trans position.

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