When Two Liberals Clash (and a few thoughts on the Rowling-Oliver clash)...

[Webster]

My own thoughts as an individual here are interspersed btwn. the quotes below....

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J.K. Rowling Calls Out HBO Host John Oliver’s ‘Bullsh*t’ on Trans Athletes in Women's Sports

Author J.K. Rowling publicly called out HBO host John Oliver for arguing that transgenders participating in women's sports pose no threat.

www.breitbart.com

In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s stunning victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, in which he secured the popular vote on top of an Electoral College landslide, Democrats have been hosting tough conversations about the future of the party in its relations to transgender issues, specifically transgenders operating in women’s spaces, including bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletics. While Democrats like Bill Maher, Ben Dreyfuss, and others have called for Democrats to move away from transgender advocacy, others like John Oliver have argued they should move even further left.

“The Harris campaign failed to formulate a response, especially when it’s pretty easy to do,” Oliver said in a recent segment on his show. “There are vanishingly few trans girls competing in high schools anywhere, even if there were more, trans kids like all kids vary in terms of athletic ability, and there is no evidence they pose any threat to safety or fairness.”

As the American College of Sports Medicine (no conservative group by any standard) points out, there are biological differences between males and females w/regards to athletics, even after taking into account the issue of trans athletes competing in sports competition...and unfortunately, this was one of the issues Trump used to beat Kamala Harris; as I said to someone over on Reddit, "Was this an issue that cost Democrats votes? Yes, one of many."
"Was this the issue? No."

Continuing on....

Author J.K. Rowling (writer of the Harry Potter series) publicly called the comedian’s arguments “bullshit” and cited a plethora of anecdotes to support her case. She also made clear that her criticism of John Oliver stemmed from nothing personal. “Nothing about this feels good, because John Oliver generously gave his time for my charity Lumos and I liked him very much when I met him, but God knows, if you ever need an example of motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, this video’s for you. An undoubtedly intelligent person spouts absolute bullshit to support something he wants to be true, but isn’t,” she said in a post on X.

“According to the UN, female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to trans-identified men competing against them in women’s sporting categories. Girls have been ousted from teams to make way for boys. Women have suffered serious injury playing against trans-identified men,” she added.

They're both politically liberal, so imagine Oliver's thoughts on this.

As I've long said, Rowling has the right to her opinion/views and I will always defend her right to speak. Doesn't mean I have to like or support what she says (or that she gets to escape the consequences of what she says), but she has as much right to speak as you or I or anyone else.

She concluded her bromide agst. Oliver with this...

“To prove to their progressive credentials – and (coincidentally, I’m sure) indemnify themselves against repercussions from cultural elites in the media, academia and publishing who’ve showed themselves more than ready to kick people to the kerb for failing to mouth the approved mantras – people with a lot to lose are currently prepared to make idiots of themselves,” she continued. “They’ll stare unabashedly into a camera and insist that their audiences’ eyeballs are incapable of seeing what’s plain as day, and that there’s something wrong with the great unwashed for believing that girls are being robbed of opportunities and put at physical risk.”

Rowling concluded her post by calling on those like John Oliver to at least be intellectually honest by admitting that women will be hurt through the initiative of transgender inclusion. “If you want to tell the world you’re happy to watch females suffer injury, humiliation and the loss of sporting opportunities to bolster an elitist post-modern ideology embraced by a minute fraction of the world’s population, fair enough; you’re allowed your opinion,” she concluded. “But if you’ve just told girls they don’t deserve fair sport, maybe rethink using all too real and common sexual predation against young women as a punchline for your ‘edgy’ closing joke.”

Anyone who thinks conservatives live in a bubble should go see a Democratic Party meeting in most parts of America (or for that matter, any meeting w/liberals and/or progressives present); good luck raising and/or finding contrarian points/perspectives. And if you espouse anything religious in nature while there? Be lucky if you emerge w/all your limbs still attached to you.

That said, we're all made in the image/likeness of God with all the foibles that make us human and we should all be treated with the respect and dignity that we are due as human beings, irrespective of whether one is straight, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc. We are all human with our own views and perspectives and thoughts and whether or not we agree or not with someone, we should all strive to treat others as we would expect to be treated. As the saying goes, "Respect begets respect."