elon musk, mark zuckerberg, J.K rowling! Are the names that come to mind.
3 from different background: a African immigrant benefiting from government spending, an American smart young engineer, and a female English successful writer.
They are no politicians, and cant be accuse of trying to gather some vote. Multi-billions amongst them.
I get they lean to the right to protect their cash, with less tax and regulation. I get they are racist because they fear some poor people will take their cash.
But why the hatred for trans people ? It’s 1% of the population, they cant do anything, dont threaten anyone. There is no rational or psychological reason
*EDIT: I read all the comments. A lot of interesting explanation: smokescreen/scapegoat, maintaining the male/female power structure, new face of anti-gay , projection / self-hatred , just louder voice …
I realize, may be, I didn’t post a good question. May be it is less about the ultra-rich but more about why that rhetoric work on the general population (else it would not have taken hold as it does). For that I have a 2 cent theory: The raise of the cult of Nature we have since the global warming. The idea, that everything natural is better. The ugly version is only natural male and female are worthy*
Most people agree with the ultrarich on this issue (at least initially, before social media insanity), but only the ultrarich can afford making arbitrary people hate them without any good reason. That’s why it looks like only the billionaires are doing it.
Then they go to Twitter with these opinions and go insane and the whole thing enters a neverending tailspin.
Elon is slightly different insofar that one of his own kids is trans. So that’s not entirely due to Twitter, but there’s also some lived experience at the bottom of it all (I assume here that he spent time with said child).
“Most people agree with the ultrarich on this issue (at least initially, before social media insanity)”
Are you saying most people are anti-trans? And that people who aren’t anti-trans are somehow not of sane mind?
No, I think it’s more nuanced than just black-or-white allies and anti-trans people. The level of pro- or anti-transness within individuals falls on a spectrum that’s shaped like a bell curve, and the majority in the middle are usually amenable to trans rights if they bump into the issue in a way that resonates with them. Like for instance in their personal life with friends or family.
But less amenable if they mostly face the issue on TV, social media or via angry activists. You might then recognize these people as anti-trans, especially if the issue is deeply personal to you.
No, that’s not what I was trying to say. In fact, I’d say that genuinely anti-trans people (the other end of the bell curve) are the insane ones. Socio- and/or psychopathic. My claim (possibly a bit extraordinary claim in this day and age) is that most people are not at that end.
I agree with what you’ve said for the most part but I find no correlation between it and what your initial comment said. Maybe I’m just tired.
I don’t want to pretend that this (this being how and why people think the way they think about trans rights et al) is a simple issue, which is why what I say on two different comments might be slightly incongruent. I think I was mostly answering your specific question in my second comment without so much trying to address or bolster my first comment.