Is it possible to speak obvious truths without being chastised?
It depends entirely on whether that truth supports The Narrative™ or challenges it.
The most powerful tool to enforce compliance with the dominant Elite ideology is the requirement that the language we use be chosen and defined by that Elite.
Legally and common sensically everybody knows that men do not belong in women’s sports and women’s spaces. So for those who want to make that happen the answer is to redefine the word “women” to include everyone who wants to be one. Hollow out words and pour in whatever meaning you want and you can create any reality you want.
This is happening everywhere, but one good example was provided by the BBC recently, which chastised one of its presenters for explaining a controversial issue by defining the word “trans woman” as “male.”
BBC upholds complaint against Today’s Justin Webb for saying “trans women are male”
This is absolutely nuts.
The very first step in being able to understand this issue is to work out “trans woman” and “trans man” mean.
“trans women” are malehttps://t.co/DXqSVHfTNz
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) February 29, 2024
Scientifically speaking, trans women are male. That is an indisputable fact, as “male” is not a mushy term with a malleable meaning. It describes biological sex. It just is what it is.
And if you want to get your viewers up to speed on a controversy, you have to spell out what that controversy is: some males are participating in women’s sports by claiming to be transgender. That is the controversy: should “trans” women be considered women for the purpose of including them in female competitions and female spaces?
The BBC has decided that explaining the controversy is wrong. Simply use the terms the Left wants to use, as they get to define the meaning of everything.
The BBC has upheld a complaint against Today presenter Justin Webb after he said “trans women, in other words males”.
Webb made the comment during a discussion about new International Chess Federation (FIDE) guidelines on 22 August last year regarding whether being biologically male can give players an advantage in the game.
A listener complained that the comment amounted to Webb giving his personal view on a controversial matter in breach of the BBC’s requirements on impartiality.
The BBC‘s executive complaints unit said, in a ruling published on Thursday, that it was not in a position to determine Webb’s personal opinion on the issue but that it was not necessary to do so in order to judge whether he had breached impartiality rules.
It said: “The ECU understood Mr Webb’s intention in using the phrase ‘trans women, in other words males’ was to underline the question arising from the FIDE guidelines but noted a press line issued at the time included an acknowledgement that his phrasing did not convey an entirely accurate impression.
Ironically, the problem was not that his “phrasing did not convey and entirely accurate impression.” The problem was the opposite: he stated things accurately, and when one does that, the controversy evaporates.
Everybody knows men don’t belong in women’s sports. It is a settled issue both in public opinion and in the law.
That’s not the answer that the people in power want, so they change the plain meaning of the words. It is Calvinball–the rules are simply made up and have no meaning.
This is the key strategy of “critical theory,” which is little more than a Marxist strategy to redefine language to remake society. The words “women” and “men” are inconveniently defined? Change the meaning!
“Woman” means what I say it does and nothing else. And if you disagree, you will be punished.
What Justin Webb said was not controversial in any reasonable meaning of the term; it was a statement of fact, in the same way as saying that human beings are a carbon-based life form, or that diamonds are made of carbon, or that water’s chemical formula is H2O.
It is just. The controversy is about whether certain males can compete in female sports. The audience can’t understand the controversy without knowing that fact. Hence, Webb was not only stating a truth, but one necessary to understanding the story itself.
This sort of manipulation happens every day. We are not being told the whole story. When people try, they are punished. The truth is dying before our eyes.