“These people are sick … I blame the decline of American men … Someone should have just ‘took care of it’ the way we used to take care of things in the 1950s or 60s.”

Charlie Kirk

MONETIZING HATE

Charlie Kirk, the “CEO” of some present-day American version of a Hitler Youth fan club, recently was on some extremist startup YouTube channel quite clearly calling for the ‘violent murder of transgender individuals.‘ His justification, while not explicitly stated, I am sure will be drawing upon some random Christian scripture.

  • Click here to learn more about what the bible says about transgender people.

Like many of Kirk’s hateful, misinformed contemporaries, he has cracked a profitable business model. This simple get-rich-quick scheme perfectly aligns with his already-present, deep-seated obsession with trans women. Kirk, along with many others, order on Amazon their podcast starter kit, begin broadcasting to any free space they can find on the web spouting off hate-filled rants against BIPOC, “the immigrants,” trans women (their favourite and most profitable), and then share their embedded links to any dark, little corner of the hateful web and wait to monetize their cretinous audience and fan base through various scams and schemes.

For nearly a decade, many fringe nuts like Kirk and others were too fearful of saying what they were thinking; however, this all changed in the Trump era when the world quickly learned that not only could you say the most hateful prattle, but you could do so without repercussions, either by simply ignoring the pushback or rewriting/ignoring history by denying you even said it (even when presented with video footage). Anytime the narcissistic sociopath Trump said something hateful and was rightfully called on it, he would claim “fake news!” (as if that meant something or was a legitimate rebuttal) and would move on to do or say something even more loathsome.

For folks like Kirk, Trump, there is no bottom to their hostility to anyone that does not look, sound, or pray like them.

“As a Christian theologian, a minister, and the president of a seminary with many transgender students, I am horrified by the continued use of Christianity and the Bible to viciously attack the transgender community. The Bible never said that being transgender is wrong. This extremist, wrong-headed belief is simply based on shaky extrapolations of the text. In contrast, nearly every page of the Bible tells us that we must love and care for one another, not degrade and harm each other. This message of love and care is clear, not a false extrapolation. But in this legislative onslaught, a biblically false hate-message is the prized weapon of attack.”

Rev. Dr. Serene Jones

NO MORE DOG WHISTLES

This is what Trump taught his like-minded knuckle-draggers. He taught them there is no consequence for what you do or say. You could be as racist, bigoted, or misogynistic as you want. Even better, if you are forward-thinking enough, you could monetize that hate by taxing the stupid, angry – and all with a cheaply made podcasting kit, an internet connection, and most importantly, by being as pestiferous as imaginable.

In the clip above (to be embedded later), Kirk is saying the quiet part out loud. He is not-so-subtly tipping his hand and showing his audience that he is as violent and repugnant as his audience aspires to be.

He has dropped the unsubtle dog whistles and is just saying what he thinks. I believe this is partly because success in his business, the business of monetizing contempt, is obligatory, or perhaps because, like many suspect, Kirk isn’t all that bright and just slipped up. In the opinion of this simple observer, it appears to be a combination of the two. Kirk is both shrewd enough to read the room while also being so in-artful as to adequately shape a dog whistle discernible enough for his feeble-minded audience to pick up on – while also baking in enough plausible deniability (if someone were to push back and call him out on it).

For years, those that shriek the loudest (from their basement podcast dungeons) for the outright violent assault of those they disagree with are the ones with open bibles on their desks and bats in hand.

A POSSIBLE MOTIVE? LINGERING, LATENT ISSUES?

As an aside, what seems to be self-evident, at least with many of these philistine ‘exemplars of hate’ that preach cruelty (and are overwhelmingly obsessed with trans women), is that their unbridled fascination with trans women could signal the possibility of a struggle with their own gender or sexual identity (as is the alleged case with at least one local, Niagara-based anti-trans goblin). Another likely possibility is that this depression-turned-outwardly (and now manifests as unrestrained rage) could be as a result of the unnecessary shame they feel for consuming as much trans-based pornographic materials as they do; an act which is in direct conflict with the pious dreck they have consumed over the years.

WHAT’S REALLY HAPPENING HERE

What is abundantly clear is that this ‘war on trans women’ is just a diversion tactic meant to redirect focus from the genuine problem of the misogyny and danger present by many in the right. To quote myself from an article I wrote on a related subject, “there’s a certain uneasy irony in the fact that groups like the Family Research Council and AFA employ a number of people that have been accused of, charged with, or convicted of pedophilia, rape, incest and possession of child pornography (Josh Duggar, et al.). Statistically speaking, if conservatives want to ‘protect their sisters, wives, and daughters,’ they should do so from their own family, college fraternity parties, and those that often seem to protest the loudest.”

Instead of dealing with chronic, grievous issues that prevail among conservative communities; the abating status women have in the family; the place or position women have in the workplace; the lingering pomposity of rape culture; conservatives are either too weak-minded or incapable or resolving and are too disingenuous about calling out said problems, instead aim attention and demonize trans people (a convenient scapegoat considering the baked-in hate espoused in Christian dogma).

To associate [non-existent] “potential?” crimes with a marginalized group is puerile as it is transparent. By activating their army of bitter, illiterate plebs, the vanguard of this ‘Christian-Nationalist wave of hate’ is calling on the codification of laws that will do everything possible to delegitimize the health and wellbeing of an already-marginalized group. Their goal is to obliterate an entire class (or group) of people; to wage a culture war; a genocide on those in the trans community.

It should be noted that despite calling the trans group “one of the most problematic groups in American (or Canadian) culture,” they have yet been able to point to a single case of a trans person (that has been undergoing treatment) to a single case of (whatever it is they imagine us doing). It’s pseudo-intellectual. It’s factless. Much of this directed hate comes from loud, lonely cis-males (Kirk, et al.) from their creepy little corner of the web known as the “intellectual dark web.” They might not be the genesis behind this hatred and fear, but they are the “intellectual bagmen” for this enraged, panicked constituency of fanatics. And their despicable arguments go a long way to legitimize this new wave of transphobia.

Two articles you might consider reading:

  • “I’m a gay, Christian pediatrician and have no doubt: Jesus would reject anti-trans laws” (by Terrance Weeden) [here]
  • “Stop Using the Bible to Dehumanize Transgender People” [here]

Below are two micro-docs I strongly suggest watching. It’s alarming but not all that surprising how similar the language and tactics right-wing neo-cons used back in the 50s and 60s and what they are doing today; except in the place of targeting the BIPOC and gay community, they are going after the trans community.