In the face of ‘eradication’, one trans activist is preparing to fight – and she’s sick of silence and neglect from her supposed allies. Raquel Willis tells Io Dodds why Republican bathroom bans are everybody’s problem
In the face of ‘eradication’, one trans activist is preparing to fight – and she’s sick of silence and neglect from her supposed allies. Raquel Willis tells Io Dodds why Republican bathroom bans are everybody’s problem
Winning at the cost of our most fundamental values and freedoms is no true victory. As long as the Democrats continue to betray their progressive base for corporate donors they deserve all the criticism they receive. If your reason for voting is to keep the greater evil out of power then criticizing the lesser evil isn’t going to change your mind. Only low-information voters might change their minds in response to hearing criticism of the Democrats, but no amount of finger-wagging is going to shield the Democrats from the consequences of their own actions.
So when it comes to trans rights you don’t feel there is any difference between the GOP being in power vs Democrats.
Of course there is a difference. The Democrats are a lesser evil by a pretty large margin, I don’t dispute that. The point I’m making is that your constant chastisement of anyone who criticizes the Democrats from the left is counter-productive and betrays a deep insecurity in the merits of the party. When a party is unable to withstand criticism from its own base that’s a problem with the party, not the base. You can blame voters all you want for the Democrats’ loss, but it won’t fix the problems the party has that led to this outcome. Criticism - and more importantly an adequate response to that criticism from the party itself - is necessary if the party is ever to recover.
FUD exists as a strategy because it works. All you have to do is criticize to sow apathy and reduce voter turnout.
Yes, the thing about FUD is you can’t stop it, and by fighting it you only make it worse, especially when there are legitimate reasons to doubt. The best response to FUD is to make the criticism look stupid by proving it wrong with action. Trying to shut down criticism makes you look weak, and makes the criticism seem more valid, even when it isn’t.
That doesn’t work in this scenario because democrats need more than the trans community to win elections. So they have to also win over voters that are anti trans.
And there it is. Let me ask you, how exactly do you think the Democrats should appeal to “anti-trans voters” without losing the trans and trans ally vote?
There’s no easy answer to that but until the trans community and their allies have a voting majority, it is a requirement that democrats appeal to both.
You’re right that the answer isn’t easy, but there is one and the Democrats have known it for some time, they’re just not willing to do it. First, look at the driving force of anti-trans sentiment. It’s economics. Trump and the like redirect the righteous anger people feel about their economic situation towards minorities by creating a narrative that is easy to understand and plays into pre-existing prejudices. The Democrats could do the same thing but direct the anger towards the wealthy instead of minorities. People have pre-existing prejudices towards “elites,” and the narrative that the wealthy are the cause of your suffering has the advantage of being true. If the Democrats did this it wouldn’t matter if they also go to bat for the trans community, because the average “anti-trans voter” doesn’t actually care that much about trans issues, but are rather using the trans community as a stand-in to recieve their anger in the absence of a more compelling narrative.