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DiscussionResolved: Allies are more delusional than TIPs
Just need to get this off my chest. I contend that allies as a group are more deluded about the state of everything than the TIPs that they are guilty of enabling. I present my case:
1. Allies believe the opposite of what is demonstrably true about social trends. They think T acceptance is growing rather than plummeting. They think their definitions for words like woman and man are widely accepted rather than widely rejected. They think gender critics are exclusively right-wing Trumper types rather than being an increasingly motley coalition that includes progressives as well as sane centrists and conservatives. They refuse to absorb any evidence that challenges their preferred beliefs about these trends.
TIPs are delusional about themselves, while allies are delusional about society. The latter requires a bigger outlay of self-deception, IMO. TIPs, with their fixation on transphobia, can’t afford to spin social trends as going in their favor. Allies are invested in being on the winning (popular) side, so they willfully spin trends to fit that narrative.
2. Allies have faith in the medical system on the level of magical/religious thinking. They claim guardrails are in place to prevent misdiagnosis, even though informed consent as touted by TRAs actively fights guardrails and this is obvious in their rhetoric. They claim no minors are being medically transitioned except in extreme cases even though that is patently untrue (“extreme cases” should mean very few of ppl would have firsthand knowledge of a teen taking HRT, but this isn’t the case). They claim no doctor would conduct SRS surgery on a patient without it being medically necessary, even though we know doctors perform and profit from medically unnecessary cosmetic surgery everyday.
TIPs are delusional about themselves, but as a group they are capable of admitting to the existence of unethical doctors who care more about money than their patients. Allies, in contrast, cannot cede this ground; blind faith in the entire system is necessary to maintain their support for what might otherwise look like barbarism for profit.
3. Allies can only view TIPs as a one-dimensional stereotype. Notice how their generalizations about TIPs are always positive and sympathetic. These are meek, vulnerable, sweet, and gentle people who are just trying to exist in this world. If allies are justifying why TIPs need to use restrooms and locker rooms of their choosing, suddenly they all look like Blaire White or Buck Angel. But if allies want to make them out to be tragic figures in need of help, suddenly TIPs are anomalous looking and pitiful and targeted for hate crimes and random acts of cruelty.
TIPs tend to admit to the existence of problematic personalities in their community. They might not see themselves as problematic but many can at least see that the “IT’S MA’AM” guys are bringing down their image. Allies, in contrast, refuse to accept that the “IT’S MA’AM” guys even exist. They cling to the most positive cardboard cutout of TIPs they can construct. Because, just as with the other delusions, if they let themselves peer around this cutout and see all the aggression and misogyny behind it, they can’t maintain their support.
So in conclusion, it’s the allies who are the most deluded of agents in this whole affair. To win this war, we have to understand what they are clinging to and why. Because it can give us insight into where their vulnerabilities lie.