This video is based on the articles The Postmodern Right Anti-Trans Movement Just Keeps Getting Worse and The Postliberal Right is Coming for Your Most Fundamental Freedoms by TaraElla.
In replying to a recent article by Christopher Rufo, I pointed out the philosophical differences between classical liberals and the culture warrior right, and why an anti-woke coalition between the two simply won't be happening.
To put it simply, the postliberal right will destroy existing safeguards against state actions that curtail people's fundamental freedoms, and in the process harm people's lives. As classical liberals, we believe in building a good order in society based on freedom, and we will not accept a bad or unjust order that is imposed by authoritarian means.
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In saying that the postliberal right is anti-trans, I'm not talking about individuals who might have concerns about the demands of some trans activists. I have long defended the free speech of these individuals, and I have also argued that their voices should be heard and considered in good faith. In a world where the anti-trans movement has been thoroughly defeated, there will still be plenty of room for those who want to raise concerns about trans activist demands. True liberals like myself will make sure of that, as part of our defense of free speech and respectful debate. However, what I'm talking about here is the existence of a movement whose purpose is to demonize a whole community, defined by their immutable characteristics, which is by definition anti-liberal. The existence of such a movement can't be denied anymore, especially after Michael Knowles infamously called for eradicating 'transgenderism' in his CPAC speech.
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Furthermore, this movement is postmodern, in that it is propped up by severely biased reporting on trans people and trans issues. It is postmodern because speech is in the service of power here, not in the service of finding the objective truth. The most outrageous excesses of trans activists and the most negative examples of trans individuals are highlighted, and the reasonable trans voices are ignored. There is no concern for objectivity and balance at all. It is all about building a narrative to whip up anti-trans sentiment.
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Importantly from a liberal point of view, the anti-trans movement serves to normalize the postliberal right's approach to politics. As previously described, it normalizes the postmodern approach to news reporting, which treats speech and discourse as a means to wield power, rather than to seek the objective truth. However, this is just the beginning. By whipping up anti-trans sentiment, the anti-trans movement also seeks to turn such sentiment into illiberal policy, which would destroy fundamental pillars of the long-standing liberal consensus. If you look at history, creating moral panics has always been a favorite tactic of authoritarians, to justify taking away people's liberty down the road. Hence, the anti-trans movement needs to be seen in the bigger picture: as a tool of the postmodern-postliberal right, who are using it to destroy fundamental liberties.
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The silver lining here is that, in fighting the anti-trans movement, both the postmodern biased reporting part, as well as the attempts to legislate to take away fundamental liberties, we can make a stand for classical liberal values, and demonstrate why we still need these values in the 21st century. In recent years, as a result of the rise of 'woke' postmodernism and its associated ideologies on the far-left, liberal values have been seen as outdated or even bad for social justice by many of the younger generation. By highlighting that the fight against the anti-trans movement is basically a fight for liberal values against post-truth authoritarianism, we can make classical liberal values like free speech and objectivity credible and popular again.
