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I've read several of Karin's books and like many TG authors she puts together arguments as to why we are just ordinary people trying to get on with our lives, however, in this book, she cleverly introduces the fact that we all know something, because everybody does, like the burning of bras by ardent feminists or George W Bush's ranch, no bras were ever burnt, just dumped in a bin - the burning being journalistic embellishment, second, George Bush was never a cowboy or had a ranch, she asserts that he doesn't like horses, may even be afraid of them - probably the only thing he and I have in common.
In her book, the heroine, Taylor or Wendy, becomes deeply attracted to a man who seems urbane and sophisticated and she thinks of losing her virginity to him, when suddenly as she goes to a ladies loo he warns her of a trannie on the ship and that they are all perverts and attack women in loos all over the world. He claims it is an acknowledged fact and god made men and he made women and it's an immutable fact. Taylor is aghast and horrified to discover this monster inside someone she was falling for and walks away from him to mourn a lost relationship, from which she is saved by the bell. It's well written as her books usually are and I'm reading them for the second time and enjoying them again.
The point I'm trying to make, and not as elegantly as Karin is that, urban myths are more numerous than ever particularly on social media and that fact that they are fake or false doesn't seem to reduce their power. Zuckerberg and his ilk are not going to stop this criminal act of spreading lies and disinformation unless he is prosecuted until it hurts, either with fines of billions or a custodial sentence until then minority groups, the main target of such lies, are at risk and we need to act against such people, both the spreaders of hate and lies and the enablers.
So before you don your best dress to go attacking people in rest rooms, think about reducing the power of social media and billionaires which profit from the hate and lies and what we can do about it.
Comments
Governments Are Afraid
To rein in the big social media organizations, because they can press buttons in the public domain that make the rulers look as if they are anti-free speech.
There definitely need to be limits. We have already passed most of those barriers. Hate spews from those organizations and nothing is done to stop it. When a JK Rowling can misgender those whom she does not like and get away with it then something is rotten in the state of Denmark. When Richi Sunak can denigrate immigrants to the UK and propose sending them to Ruanda then something is rotten in the UK. I need say nothing about Trump and his Nazi statements to say that something is rotten in the USA. That all this filth gets an airing on so-called social media is clearly wrong.
Only governments can stop it by imposing penalties on the media moguls.
re: Only governments can stop it by imposing penalties...
That is exactly what Trump/GQP/MAGA/whatever say that the Biden government is doing right now (no evidence) and planning on doing should he be re-elected. That plays right into the 1st amendment fundamentalists.
I fear that if Trumpo gets elected he will inact his promise to build huge internment camps and his rabid followers would have no problem with the rounding up of everyone in the LGBT camp and putting them in prison and on the way, ignoring all the rights that they might have according to the constitution. Women and especially educated women of colour, will be next because Trump hates them all.
Then those who remain will be expected to stay at home and bring up millions of white and blonde haired children. That sadly will be a template for other regimes around the world.
Just my 2c worth.
Samantha
Be careful what you wish for.
The internet and social media allow marginalized groups to find each other. Like skinheads and racists. They discover they aren’t alone. It makes them bold.
But we are also a marginalized group that comes together online. We discover we aren’t alone. For some of us that’s never happened anywhere else. It makes us stronger.
If free speech rules are relaxed, this space is far more likely to be the target than spaces harboring racists or TERFs. MAGA will go after sites like this to “save the children.” The First Amendment is the only protection we have. I hope it stays strong.
Astrid Eriksson
The First Amendment
Only protects against 'Congress' passing prohibitive laws curtailing free speech.
Just take a look at what Ron DeSantis has done in Florida, seems to me like a serious curtailment of free speech. So a State legislature is free to pass such laws? Many states have banned books that they don't like. A former President egged on his supporters to hang his Vice-President. I guess that he would claim that he was exercising his rights under the First Amendment.
Free speech comes with responsibilities. Yelling "Fire" in a crowded theatre is frowned upon, so why not sanctions on hate speech by media organizations?
Legal pedantry
The Supreme Court has determined that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (the most expansive of the post-Civil War Amendments) effectively incorporates most of the provisions of the Bill of Rights, including the freedom of speech clause of the First Amendment. As a result, the First Amendment effectively restricts the power of state governments as well as Congress. States do a bunch of illegal things like that, get sued, and generally lose. DeSantis didn’t care; he got the headlines he wanted. As for Trump, yes, that is one of the defenses he has advanced in his criminal trials in DC and Georgia, so far without success.
Emma
To begin this comment……
First, let me say that both Port of Departure and Port of Arrival are two of my favorite books - my only issue with them is that the series needs a third book to continue with what happens after Wendy (the MC) reunites with her soulmate, and to illustrate what happens to the “villain” (Rebecca) after Wendy reveals how she has outed her in her phone conversations.
But to get to the point of your post, yes, there are many, many “facts” which are “widely known” by the uninformed. One need look no further than the drivel that is regularly spouted by Donald Trump and his supporters. After all, apparently 35% of Americans, or some 70% of Republicans, believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 Presidential election based on recent polls.
Unsurprisingly, the internet has made the dissemination of false information much more prevalent and easy, but the concept isn’t new. Television, before that radio, before that print media, and ultimately word of mouth have always been used to spread lies and conspiracy theories. Look at the so-called Yellow Journalism going back to the 1890’s and reaching it’s peak in the early 1900’s. History shows that Yellow Journalism was instrumental in causing the Spanish-American War. As our methods of communication have advanced, the opportunities to spread sensational lies and theories have increased - think QAnon.
This whole issue is greatly aided by how divided and insular our society has become. I can remember watching a report on television where visitors to Mt. Airy, NC were interviewed. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mr. Airy, it is the town where Andy Griffith was born and grew up. It is also the basis for the fictional town of Mayberry, NC from the Andy Griffith show. Coincidentally, it is also where my mother-in-law was born and grew up - she actually grew up and went to school with Andy Griffith, and made no bones about telling everyone he was an asshole, lol. My parents were both from the area around Charlotte, NC, and although both from the same generation and also conservative, were not quite as insular due to association with a larger group of people.
Mt. Airy revels in it’s connection with Andy Griffith and his TV show, and even has tours of the town based on his show. It is a popular tourist spot for a particular type of people who idolize the lifestyle which the show portrays. Mostly older, white people - or white families from the middle of America; the typical MAGA group. The ones who wish that we could go back to the world depicted in the show, where a certain, specific group pretty much ruled our country.
The interview was conducted on a tour bus filled with white senior citizens as they drove from site to site within Mt. Airy, and was most notable for the fact that out of a bus load of people, only one person believed that Trump lost the election. Every other person on the bus claimed that Trump had won and the election had been stolen - their justification being that they did not know a single person who had voted for Biden, so there was no way he could have won.
This illustrates how insular and divided our society has become. A group of white senior citizens who do not mix with anyone outside of their own group, therefor do not interact with anyone who might have different ideas and political leanings, and believe that since they don’t know anyone who disagrees with them that ergo, the whole of America feels like they do.
What makes it worse, is that instead of getting their news from multiple politically neutral sources, or even multiple sources with opposing slants, they only get their news from sources such as Fox News - which should not even be allowed to use the word news in their name as the majority of their broadcasting is pure political editorial. About as far from a neutral source as you can get.
If you only hear one story, and you hear it often enough, with it being reinforced through discussion with your peers, then it begins to become your truth. And once it is “truth”, any other fact is a lie.
That unfortunately is the state of much of our society at this point in time.
D. Eden
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
ultimate result of mis-information
They were interviewing a Rwandan soldier on NPR who participated in the genocide there thirty years ago. He made it clear that he was not just obeying orders. He had been told by his superiors that the people he helped to kill were gathered in the church there to attack his people. He acted to protect his people and his country. He acknowledged that he now knows this was false. With many of our politicians and religious leaders spreading a similar message about LGBT people, they create an atmosphere where we have the Pulse Nightclub massacre and other atrocities. It isn't hard to imagine a sermon or stump speech calling for the arrest and/or elimination of the degenerates. It's almost as easy to see the orange asshole or a successor to him ordering it done.
I am very sorry, but...
I am very sorry, but I think a lot of the commentators are missing Karin Bishops' allegorical point. She was pointing out a "Lilliputian" type of intellect (Lilliputian--definition & meaning: a very small person who is narrow or petty in outlook). That is why she foreshadowed the transgender issue with the 'burning of the bras' story and George Bush photgraphs of him riding a horse (which didn't happen either--everyone confuses all the photos of Reagan riding on his ranch with "W"). She is pointing out a mindset that was here long before Trump and probably will be here long after he is gone and forgotten.
Humanity seems to have a penchant for looking for people to make into scapegoats to support their own petty prejudices and fears.
We need to live for a better day and be better than that.
charlie.
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/missing-without-a-trace-cha...
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/832524