Excellent piece. I would hasten to add another very effective strategy in this war to take back our classrooms - Woke-proof your kids! My kids have developed a keen radar for woke nonsense, not that it's hard to detect.
When a transgender activist (a man posing as a woman athlete) was invited to speak my kids' high school, my daughter told her teacher that she was not allowed to attend - and referred the teacher to me if he had questions. And to my surprise and delight, the teacher (an assistant boys football coach) sent me an e-mail explaining, "Mr. Campbell, trust me, I completely understand." He added that he would ensure that my daughter (and as it turned out, other kids, who also objected) had productive time to study and catch up on assignments during the assembly.
The angry rejection of woke radicalism in classrooms is widespread. It includes parents, teachers, non-white minorities and yes, our own kids. My youngest daughter has a strong conservative political (and Christian) worldview and she has strong support among her school friends. They find a certain belonging within their group.
It's also important to remember that this is NOT a "white people vs the world" scenario. One boy in my daughter's little conservative friend clique is from an Indian family - They're Hindu. He tells my daughter that his parents are extremely traditional and have no use for bizarre and dogmatic claims about gender identity and sexual morality. And my own wife, who is Latina, is livid over the word, "Latinx." She has already informed me that if, (her words) "some chicken-lipped, woke white chick says 'Latinx' to me, you better get some bail money together because I am going to beat her unrecognizable."
The left is big on making you an "anti-racist" ally. Well, we have more natural allies than they do. And we need to fully engage our own children and the families of their friends in this fight. Woke-proof your kids.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about Substack is how it has unleashed thoughtful writers left, right, and center to write intelligent, well-argued, long form pieces dissenting against wokism and other aspects of corporate media monoculture. (Quillette too.) During the Trump years I took uneasy shelter on team Maga. Now these thoughtful dissenters have made me feel like I have finally found my team again.
“Transgender people aren’t a threat to America,” but the transgender craze threatens to destroy our daughters by seducing them and doing irreversible damage? I think I need some clarification of terms.
How are the increasing numbers of biological males invading every conceivable women’s private space (by right of law) not a threat to (American) women? And how is the widespread catechesis of “Zir, Zee” nonsensical jabberwock in schools not a threat to our (American) children? How are the direct threats to parental rights by the state to remove a minor child from the supposedly harmful home environment and then administering hormone therapy and mastectomies over parental objections not a threat to our (American) children.
Do I believe transgenders are in cahoots with the Iranians and the North Koreans to undermine our national security? No. But there are many ways to threaten America.
Saw you on Tucker several times about the trans madness and can’t thank you and Rufo enough for all you do!
I’m a single parent of 9 and 16 year old daughters who’s trapped deep behind enemy lines in blue-blooded elitist Nor-Cal replete with phony ‘woke’ charlatan neighbors of all stripes, spewing their verbal fuckery on the daily!
Fear not though, there ARE many of us clear-thinking, yet heretofore silent red-pilled patriots lurking amongst these virtue signaling frauds!
There’s power in numbers and as long as we band together to emphatically say “NO!” at a grass roots level in the schools we can excise this coming cancer before it metastasizes any further!
We’ve got your back 100%, keep up the righteous fight!
Transgenderism, not transgenders is a very distinct threat to this nation for the simplest of reasons: When reality itself can simply be self-declared--I say I'm a woman and therefore I am--AND that assertion is backed by government coercion, then two plus two CAN equal five and be backed by the same coercion.
Cogent argument. I always enjoy The Truth Fairy and Shrier’s willingness to take on the tough current cultural issues. And while I agree that conservatives many times shoot themselves in the foot when taking on the left I also think moderates are the cowards in this battle. They are perfectly content to sit on the sidelines and spectate the war between right and left and then they fall in behind the winner, whomever it may be, because they have no real convictions of their own. You are correct, the right needs to smarten up, but moderates need to grow a backbone.
Well done. Nobody likes the ignorant and bellicose conservative anymore then they like their intellectual equal on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum. However, the most frustrating conservatives have always been those you labeled “Aw shucks.” Those conservatives were coined RINOs as result of their constant attempts to play fair with an adversary that was not an honest broker. They are also the reason why Trump was elected. As crazy and in your face as he was, it was exactly the “go and fight for us, for Christ sake!!” feeling that had been bubbling under the surface since the incredibly flaccid presidential loses of Romney and McCain. Those two fools would take public beatings in debates and all but thank their opener for it. It was horrifying to watch. Trump arrives on scene and stands in between Ben Carson and Jen Bush. Conservatives are like, “Well, we’re screwed again…” Then Trump basically starts punching everyone in the face. EVERYONE. Up to that point conservatives were like those sponges that were dry an water thin, that had suddenly been duped in water. It was glorious. It was also fascinating. You just knew it couldn’t last, that Trump would be his own assassin. Sure enough… I think that we’re seeing a growth in the fact based and cogent conservative population. We’ve been here for some time, most of us grew up cutting our teeth on the climate change issue. But because COVID effected all of us, our ranks grew rather large as we battled everything that just didn’t sound right. We studied, looked up the facts, and argued from an informed position. I think you’re going to continue to see the growth of voters that have suddenly realized that the government, media and politicians are truly deceitful and have been feeding us a load of crap for a very long time. Of course it helps when the left attempts to jump the shark, which is a stunt they seem to love. As soon as we realize that there really isn’t going to be a political way that makes black lives better, or white lives less guilt free (or whatever it is that’s driving all these educated white peoples to the cliffs like lemmings), the sooner we vote in more pragmatic ways, instead of religiously sticking to a party for “the party’s” sake. And I’ll go as far as to say this very clearly - if you’re voting for a democrat, you’re f@cking up. That party is toxic right now. Conservatives may be dopey and aw shucks, but at this very moment in time they’re not trying to wreck the constitutional order. And if you think that your democrat won’t be a part of that, it would be wise for you to look up just how monolithic the House democrats have been. They vote together, tightly, on almost every topic. Much more so then Republicans. So no, your (fake) moderate dem candidate is going to vote to federalize elections, and applaud when dudes are offered positions on the female Olympic team.
Chris Ruffo is an important voice in American right now but so are you, Abigail. I wondered how I would respond in the event someone referred to me as a birthing person - now I know!
"Abortion is an important moral and political question—but not every other serious issue we face bears upon it or derives from it. And neither same-sex marriage nor Caitlyn Jenner poses any threat to children."
You decry conservatives being polite and naive, then you make this statement. Let's start with the latter statement here. What is a marriage and why do we have them? Marriage is the establishment of a stable, lifelong union between a man and a woman for the creation of children and raising of children by those creators.
Through the explosion of divorce, the promiscuity culture of the 1960s, and yes, gay marriage, this institution has been pretty much stabbed to death. Same-sex marriage was the final nail in the coffin for the institution of marriage. Children, suffering from enormous divorce rates among their parents and with many of them never having had their parents marry at all, end up neglected by parents who pay them little heed or mind and frequently regard them as anything from novelty items to inconveniences.
This then ties in to the abortion issue, which is the ultimate expression of contempt for children, literally snuffing out their lives for the sake of mommy's convenience. Children are not people, they are disposable objects, as easily discarded as plastic shrink wrap. If you can murder the most helpless and innocent and deprive them of the most basic right -- the right to life, required for all other rights to exist, while posturing with indignation, you can violate the rights of anybody for anything. That's what makes the abortion issue so fundamental.
As for Bruce Jenner, the dude's a nut. Him declaring that he's a woman no more makes him one than it makes me a hippo-house hybrid simply because I insist I'm one. It just makes him delusional. However, by mainstreaming this it enables predatory attitudes towards women and children, and we have no obligation to treat mental illness as a protected class. Boys can self-identify as girls to use their locker rooms and creep in on them. A week or so ago, there was an article about a man with a full beard who walked into a hot tub of a couple of naked women and a naked 6-year old girl, plopped himself down, and declared himself to be "the woman with a penis."
Don't be polite and naive. It's time to acknowledge the threat for what it is.
And leaves this unanswered question. What it will take to replace enough Republican senators and congressmen to have at least a fighting chance? and how long will it take?
Great article Abigail. You have overtaken Bari Weiss as my hero (along with Chris Rufo).
I am fed up with the David French's of this world and their "holier than thow" proselytizing about true Conservatism. They all think they are William F. Buckley reincarnate, but in truth they are narcissistic intellectual light weights.
The trans thing is an easy one too... because the entirety of the left preaches that biological sex and psychological gender are distinctly different things... and it drives me insane that nobody on the national stage says: "Great! Since women's sports were created specifically to keep biological women from having to compete against biological men, and you all agree that psychological gender is not the equivalent of biological sex, then it is obvious that psychological gender can't be used as a qualifier to play women's sports, since the designated qualified (again, the reason women's sports exist in the first place) is that you have to be a biological woman."
Excellent piece. I would hasten to add another very effective strategy in this war to take back our classrooms - Woke-proof your kids! My kids have developed a keen radar for woke nonsense, not that it's hard to detect.
When a transgender activist (a man posing as a woman athlete) was invited to speak my kids' high school, my daughter told her teacher that she was not allowed to attend - and referred the teacher to me if he had questions. And to my surprise and delight, the teacher (an assistant boys football coach) sent me an e-mail explaining, "Mr. Campbell, trust me, I completely understand." He added that he would ensure that my daughter (and as it turned out, other kids, who also objected) had productive time to study and catch up on assignments during the assembly.
The angry rejection of woke radicalism in classrooms is widespread. It includes parents, teachers, non-white minorities and yes, our own kids. My youngest daughter has a strong conservative political (and Christian) worldview and she has strong support among her school friends. They find a certain belonging within their group.
It's also important to remember that this is NOT a "white people vs the world" scenario. One boy in my daughter's little conservative friend clique is from an Indian family - They're Hindu. He tells my daughter that his parents are extremely traditional and have no use for bizarre and dogmatic claims about gender identity and sexual morality. And my own wife, who is Latina, is livid over the word, "Latinx." She has already informed me that if, (her words) "some chicken-lipped, woke white chick says 'Latinx' to me, you better get some bail money together because I am going to beat her unrecognizable."
The left is big on making you an "anti-racist" ally. Well, we have more natural allies than they do. And we need to fully engage our own children and the families of their friends in this fight. Woke-proof your kids.
Perhaps the most exciting thing about Substack is how it has unleashed thoughtful writers left, right, and center to write intelligent, well-argued, long form pieces dissenting against wokism and other aspects of corporate media monoculture. (Quillette too.) During the Trump years I took uneasy shelter on team Maga. Now these thoughtful dissenters have made me feel like I have finally found my team again.
“Transgender people aren’t a threat to America,” but the transgender craze threatens to destroy our daughters by seducing them and doing irreversible damage? I think I need some clarification of terms.
How are the increasing numbers of biological males invading every conceivable women’s private space (by right of law) not a threat to (American) women? And how is the widespread catechesis of “Zir, Zee” nonsensical jabberwock in schools not a threat to our (American) children? How are the direct threats to parental rights by the state to remove a minor child from the supposedly harmful home environment and then administering hormone therapy and mastectomies over parental objections not a threat to our (American) children.
Do I believe transgenders are in cahoots with the Iranians and the North Koreans to undermine our national security? No. But there are many ways to threaten America.
YES, Abigail !!!!!
Saw you on Tucker several times about the trans madness and can’t thank you and Rufo enough for all you do!
I’m a single parent of 9 and 16 year old daughters who’s trapped deep behind enemy lines in blue-blooded elitist Nor-Cal replete with phony ‘woke’ charlatan neighbors of all stripes, spewing their verbal fuckery on the daily!
Fear not though, there ARE many of us clear-thinking, yet heretofore silent red-pilled patriots lurking amongst these virtue signaling frauds!
There’s power in numbers and as long as we band together to emphatically say “NO!” at a grass roots level in the schools we can excise this coming cancer before it metastasizes any further!
We’ve got your back 100%, keep up the righteous fight!
OH MY GOD YES!!! What a magnificent piece, and it needed to be said. The Republican Party is not worthy of its voters.
Transgenderism, not transgenders is a very distinct threat to this nation for the simplest of reasons: When reality itself can simply be self-declared--I say I'm a woman and therefore I am--AND that assertion is backed by government coercion, then two plus two CAN equal five and be backed by the same coercion.
That is the essence of totalitarianism.
Cogent argument. I always enjoy The Truth Fairy and Shrier’s willingness to take on the tough current cultural issues. And while I agree that conservatives many times shoot themselves in the foot when taking on the left I also think moderates are the cowards in this battle. They are perfectly content to sit on the sidelines and spectate the war between right and left and then they fall in behind the winner, whomever it may be, because they have no real convictions of their own. You are correct, the right needs to smarten up, but moderates need to grow a backbone.
Well done. Nobody likes the ignorant and bellicose conservative anymore then they like their intellectual equal on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum. However, the most frustrating conservatives have always been those you labeled “Aw shucks.” Those conservatives were coined RINOs as result of their constant attempts to play fair with an adversary that was not an honest broker. They are also the reason why Trump was elected. As crazy and in your face as he was, it was exactly the “go and fight for us, for Christ sake!!” feeling that had been bubbling under the surface since the incredibly flaccid presidential loses of Romney and McCain. Those two fools would take public beatings in debates and all but thank their opener for it. It was horrifying to watch. Trump arrives on scene and stands in between Ben Carson and Jen Bush. Conservatives are like, “Well, we’re screwed again…” Then Trump basically starts punching everyone in the face. EVERYONE. Up to that point conservatives were like those sponges that were dry an water thin, that had suddenly been duped in water. It was glorious. It was also fascinating. You just knew it couldn’t last, that Trump would be his own assassin. Sure enough… I think that we’re seeing a growth in the fact based and cogent conservative population. We’ve been here for some time, most of us grew up cutting our teeth on the climate change issue. But because COVID effected all of us, our ranks grew rather large as we battled everything that just didn’t sound right. We studied, looked up the facts, and argued from an informed position. I think you’re going to continue to see the growth of voters that have suddenly realized that the government, media and politicians are truly deceitful and have been feeding us a load of crap for a very long time. Of course it helps when the left attempts to jump the shark, which is a stunt they seem to love. As soon as we realize that there really isn’t going to be a political way that makes black lives better, or white lives less guilt free (or whatever it is that’s driving all these educated white peoples to the cliffs like lemmings), the sooner we vote in more pragmatic ways, instead of religiously sticking to a party for “the party’s” sake. And I’ll go as far as to say this very clearly - if you’re voting for a democrat, you’re f@cking up. That party is toxic right now. Conservatives may be dopey and aw shucks, but at this very moment in time they’re not trying to wreck the constitutional order. And if you think that your democrat won’t be a part of that, it would be wise for you to look up just how monolithic the House democrats have been. They vote together, tightly, on almost every topic. Much more so then Republicans. So no, your (fake) moderate dem candidate is going to vote to federalize elections, and applaud when dudes are offered positions on the female Olympic team.
Chris Ruffo is an important voice in American right now but so are you, Abigail. I wondered how I would respond in the event someone referred to me as a birthing person - now I know!
"Abortion is an important moral and political question—but not every other serious issue we face bears upon it or derives from it. And neither same-sex marriage nor Caitlyn Jenner poses any threat to children."
You decry conservatives being polite and naive, then you make this statement. Let's start with the latter statement here. What is a marriage and why do we have them? Marriage is the establishment of a stable, lifelong union between a man and a woman for the creation of children and raising of children by those creators.
Through the explosion of divorce, the promiscuity culture of the 1960s, and yes, gay marriage, this institution has been pretty much stabbed to death. Same-sex marriage was the final nail in the coffin for the institution of marriage. Children, suffering from enormous divorce rates among their parents and with many of them never having had their parents marry at all, end up neglected by parents who pay them little heed or mind and frequently regard them as anything from novelty items to inconveniences.
This then ties in to the abortion issue, which is the ultimate expression of contempt for children, literally snuffing out their lives for the sake of mommy's convenience. Children are not people, they are disposable objects, as easily discarded as plastic shrink wrap. If you can murder the most helpless and innocent and deprive them of the most basic right -- the right to life, required for all other rights to exist, while posturing with indignation, you can violate the rights of anybody for anything. That's what makes the abortion issue so fundamental.
As for Bruce Jenner, the dude's a nut. Him declaring that he's a woman no more makes him one than it makes me a hippo-house hybrid simply because I insist I'm one. It just makes him delusional. However, by mainstreaming this it enables predatory attitudes towards women and children, and we have no obligation to treat mental illness as a protected class. Boys can self-identify as girls to use their locker rooms and creep in on them. A week or so ago, there was an article about a man with a full beard who walked into a hot tub of a couple of naked women and a naked 6-year old girl, plopped himself down, and declared himself to be "the woman with a penis."
Don't be polite and naive. It's time to acknowledge the threat for what it is.
“You don’t object on the basis of victimhood—because American women, for the most part, are no one’s victims. You object on the basis of dignity.”
Thank you Ms Shrier for a wonderful article, and especially for these two closing sentences. Profound. Powerful.
Powerful words and excellent advice for all in this fight.
This pretty much summarizes my sentiments.
And leaves this unanswered question. What it will take to replace enough Republican senators and congressmen to have at least a fighting chance? and how long will it take?
Great article Abigail. You have overtaken Bari Weiss as my hero (along with Chris Rufo).
I am fed up with the David French's of this world and their "holier than thow" proselytizing about true Conservatism. They all think they are William F. Buckley reincarnate, but in truth they are narcissistic intellectual light weights.
The trans thing is an easy one too... because the entirety of the left preaches that biological sex and psychological gender are distinctly different things... and it drives me insane that nobody on the national stage says: "Great! Since women's sports were created specifically to keep biological women from having to compete against biological men, and you all agree that psychological gender is not the equivalent of biological sex, then it is obvious that psychological gender can't be used as a qualifier to play women's sports, since the designated qualified (again, the reason women's sports exist in the first place) is that you have to be a biological woman."
Well put!