TERF Crowd: The Terrifying Transphobia of Graham Linehan

[Ron Maels Moustache]

he's been perfectly clear on why he turned down £200,000 from hat-trick to walk away from Father Ted the musical...

Spoiler alert

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah like the reason I'll just very quickly say something the reason I turned down to 200 000 pounds from hat-trick to uh uh to walk away from the Father Ted musical even though it wouldn't help me uh and would still help me if I had that money um was because I heard Leah a teammate of wood of Leah Thomas's competitors uh sorry excuse me the mother of one of Leah Thomas's human in tears because she couldn't she had to explain to her you know however old the kid is 18 17 18 years old whatever it is uh that she had every right in the world to insist that Leah Thomas doesn't share her changing rooms and she was in tears talking about this because she she couldn't believe she had to say this to her her grown daughter you know so yeah so I actually think that's her I didn't know that I think that's outrageous and I think that that's true we should we should really press on you know it's um and it's interesting it's in the on the last page is the final item in the last page I think they thought you know that it would just get hidden it's just it's it's just their bit of a concession but yeah um so so so on the one hand they've given and it's so funny because remember Hannah bouncy I'm pretty sure it was Hannah Monty the the rugby player who wanted to play and then they conceded that he could play on the women's team and then he demanded access to the changing rooms and then they said okay he can use the women's changing rooms but he needs a partition and even that wasn't enough and he huffed and puffed and he made a fit it's really the changing rooms I think is what it's all about I think Leah Thomas wants access to the changing room I think these rugby players the changing rooms are the stars are actually the main event I genuinely think that yeah so true so it's not just a concession it's the thing they want it all along well you know it's everything though isn't it I mean it's everything it's it's it is literally everything it's not you know it's not good enough yeah to have most of the things because you know haven't we been trying to say this for maybe the last decade that you know exactly as JK Rowling says you know dresser wherever you please call yourself whatever you want there are just a few a few small spaces services and sports that should be set aside for women because our bodies are vulnerable with respect to male bodies in you know and and in these circumstances it matters but that's never been good enough you know it's first of all it was oh well trans women will get beaten up in female toilets and you're like well what about the third space no they you know they'd be outed and then you say okay well this third space can be just completely neutral anyone can use it and then it's no because they're women so there is no you know there was it was it was never going to be about sort of compromise and let's all live together it's it's Total Domination yeah yeah that's it exactly and and you know what you we have to recognize that that is a part of their uh success this this movement is basically like a weed it's just a very Hardy uh persistent growth that wraps itself around everything it can you know and when it and when it fails it just tries again it just tries together they are tireless because what this is what this movement is is a a very wide Network of connected busy buddies bullies perverts um men's rights activists uh it's true yeah like like failed me failed comedians you know like well it attracts it attracts I think it it attracts it attracts sort of agitators doesn't it it attracts people who want to who want to sort of agitate make a bit of a fussy you know there's a lot of sort of you know students like wanting to be able to find the next protest wanting to be part of something wanting to change yes and I wouldn't and it wouldn't quite be so it wouldn't be as as destructive it wasn't if it wasn't for the fact that it also attracts the kind of people who and I've said this before you know the only reason they're not serial killers is because of CCTV there there's a very uh there's a there's always going to be a group of people within Society there you might call them the bully class or the sadist class you know and they will do whatever their times allow them to do you know in the seven he's in the 70s serial killers could have their victims return to their house you know these days gosh it kind of could have cut up a body without everybody knowing about it you know I can foreign you know whenever there's there's a kind of sadistic part of a lot of human beings and a creepy part of a lot of human beings and and now we have this kind of panopticon where we've all got our eyes on each other we can all see each other and we can all kind of report each other if it if it comes to it that's that's what we've all become we've all become kind of policemen so all these kind of sadistic impulses in this panopticon are going to go into other areas and and look at all the misery that women have been put through over the last five or six years the the cases the [ __ ] you know yeah in jail for a day well yeah definitely punishing the punishment the joy of seeing like the punishment of of well especially women is very clear you know even even today I you know I I see people like I I I sort of tweeted out about the British

[close]

Ever since I read this I've been visualising Our Graham delivering a never-ending ranting monologue in some of blasted Beckettian landscape.

I feel like it's something that actually needs to be actuated in some form, but I probably don't have the creative wherewithal to do so.

I think an updated adaptation of Krapp's Last Tape would be a good vehicle for him, especially given how prominently bananas feature. Could call it Glinn's Last Tweet.

[Beloved of Jo]

[Juan K Perros]

Not sure if this one's been posted before as I'd rather not watch him, but Aidan (and most of the comments) are focusing on BC's apologising for Laurence Fox. If you watch to the end, he *might* - although highly unlikely - be on the verge on an epiphany

https://twitter.com/AidanCTweets/status/1726919252803035588

[JaDanketies]

https://twitter.com/AidanCTweets/status/1726919252803035588

In his mind he's supporting Lawrence Fox's comments on the shaggability of his opponents because he reckons doing so benefits his daughter. There's even a thread of logic he's holding on to that means it all makes sense, and leads back to him being a good dad.

[Ferris]

Fucking hell, this is bleak. Similar to Linehan being unable to enjoy his (ex-)wife's birthday or join his family having a laugh in the next room. For some reason, because the self-destructive obsessive behaviour is based around twitter instead of a more traditional vice like gambling or booze it flies under the radar.

Example - replace twitter with "my vodka" in these sentences:

"It got to the point where I couldn't enjoy my wife's birthday because I couldn't get to twitter"
"I have lost longstanding friendships over the way I behave when using twitter"
"Even when I'm doing a crossword, I can't concentrate because I'm thinking about twitter"
"If I hear my family laughing, I stay upstairs with twitter and avoid them because I know the sight of me ruins the mood"

I'm paraphrasing, but these are all things that the pair of them have said and are public record. They become a lot more bleak (and frankly, a lot more relatable) when you insert a more societally "acceptable" addiction. Just very sad when you think about it through that lens.

[Juan K Perros]

In his mind he's supporting Lawrence Fox's comments on the shaggability of his opponents because he reckons doing so benefits his daughter. There's even a thread of logic he's holding on to that means it all makes sense, and leads back to him being a good dad.

I meant more the bit at the end where he says 'and now he can't get hired to do anything else' - that's essentially 'now he can't get hired'. I know there's a school of thought that BC is cogniscent that he's unemployable, but I wondered if that was a little realisation that 'when this is all over' is never going to happen.

[jobotic]

yeah Novar, but their numbers only went up because they went and joined the EDL march over the road.

[greencalx]

Just went to search for him in Twitter to find out when he last posted, and he doesn't come up in the 'hit lists' either searching on his name or his handle. A whole host of parody accounts do show though.

Is this normal since the muskification of Twitter, or perhaps the consequences of some sort of ban?

[extraordinary walnuts]

The Glinvisible Man

[Jumblegraws]

Just went to search for him in Twitter to find out when he last posted, and he doesn't come up in the 'hit lists' either searching on his name or his handle. A whole host of parody accounts do show though.

Is this normal since the muskification of Twitter, or perhaps the consequences of some sort of ban?

You need to change the search settings of your Twitter account so that it doesn't filter out potentially offensive garbage like Linehan. I'm pretty sure you can't change this setting from the mobile app, you have to log on on a browser.

[buttgammon]

I can't find him on Nitter either - would that be a similar issue? I remember having to click through from another account that replied to him to find him on there before.

[Mr Banlon]

Jonesin' for a moansin'

[Mx Wrongs]

"Graham! Signal if you need our help, click 'like'"

[Kankurette]

I note the BBC has two articles about trans women today: trans women being banned from cricket by the ICC and a trans footballer quitting her team because other teams refused to play against the one she was on.

The latter quotes Fair Play for Women, natch.

Lol is it? I won't be stopping using it. And tbh I hardly think it's some kind of dog whistle to accuse someone of sophistry.

Maybe 'always' was the wrong word. Not from you. From these people? Definitely.

[wrec]

I mean he may had a family tragedy or something.

Along with the long-expected "grim discovery" scenario, I think this can be discounted.
His tribute to his dad ("he taught me to hate TRAs" - paraphrasing but that was the gist) came a day or two after the funeral IIRC, thus revealing that what looked like normal days of constant tweeting were in fact days of constant tweeting around his father's funeral. I think the only prior indication that there was something different was that he was ranting about stories in the Irish media.

[Kankurette]

Was 'dog-whistle' what Kanks was getting at? I've def noticed its overuse by reactionaries (and transphobes in particular) as a convenient way of dismissing anyone who actually takes the time to set out a progressive position. It's a way of signalling one's an intransigent bigot, in other words.

Nothing wrong with using it for something more than bare dismissal, of course.

You've nailed it.

[chrispmartha]

He had a run in with KJK a while ago, otherwise he's been careful to avoid the subject on his show.

Video clip from a pretty unpleasant channel.

I know he's not particularly well thought of on here but thought he handled her perfectly there, she came across like the mad woman she is

[BritishHobo]

Not sure if this one's been posted before as I'd rather not watch him, but Aidan (and most of the comments) are focusing on BC's apologising for Laurence Fox. If you watch to the end, he *might* - although highly unlikely - be on the verge on an epiphany

https://twitter.com/AidanCTweets/status/1726919252803035588

Wow! That's teetering amazingly close to rancid "boys will be boys" shit. He's just a harmless handsome young lad who can't help himself indulging in a bit of banter (at 45 years of age on a supposed news channel discussing a journalist)!!!

I wonder if his comment at the end is meant as a dig of like "this is what you push us to". If you refuse to hire us, the rich, entitled celebrities, then we will have no option except to turn to the laziest, most haphazard bigotry, and obsessively blare it out everywhere at all times of day. It's such a telling thing, "it's all he can do, 'cos no-one will hire him to do anything else'. It makes you think, well what have either of them actually tried?

[jamiefairlie]

I note the BBC has two articles about trans women today: trans women being banned from cricket by the ICC and a trans footballer quitting her team because other teams refused to play against the one she was on.

The latter quotes Fair Play for Women, natch.Maybe 'always' was the wrong word. Not from you. From these people? Definitely.

Perilously close to 'it's bad when they do it but not when our people do' territory.

[greencalx]

You need to change the search settings of your Twitter account so that it doesn't filter out potentially offensive garbage like Linehan. I'm pretty sure you can't change this setting from the mobile app, you have to log on on a browser.

I was in the browser, but if my settings are such that it stops people like BC showing up, so much the better.

[Moj]

The family tragedy angle can be discounted immediately, because he famously no longer has a family.

Maybe the TRAs have come for his other bollock?

[kalowski]

@Ron Maels Moustache mentioned Krapp's Last Tape but for those who don't know it here's a bit of the opening direction:

Krapp remains a moment motionless, heaves a great sigh, looks at his watch, fumbles in his pockets, takes out an evelope, puts it back, fumbles, takes out a small bunch of keys, raises it to his eyes, chooses a key, gets up and moves to front of table. He stoops, unlocks first drawer, peers into it, feels about inside it, takes out a reel of tape, peers at it, puts it back, locks drawer, unlocks second drawer peers into it, feels about inside it, takes out a large banana, peers at it, locks drawer, puts keys back in his pocket. He turns, advances to edge of stage, halts, strokes banana, peels it, drops skin at his feet, puts end of banana in his mouth and remains motionless, staring vacuously before him. Finally he bites off the end, turns aside and begins pacing to and fro at edge of stage, in the light, i.e. not more than four or five paces either way, meditatively eating banana. He treads on skin, slips, nearly falls, recovers himself, stoops and peers at skin and finally pushes it, still stooping, with his foot over the edge of the stage into pit.

[Kelvin]

After many months of largely avoiding the subject, my TERF friend has gone nuclear tonight and told me our friendship has been jeopardised by my absolute refusal to discuss the topic any further. I'm tempted to post the highlights of the ensuing discussion to show the way they try to win the hearts and minds of family and friends, but here's one post: 

"I spoke to XXXXXXX about you. Apparently this approach is common amongst gay men because before being gay they're male, and being male means not being able to empathise with women."

An argument ouroboros.

[Barry Admin]

What sort of friend forces you to discuss an issue you don't want to discuss? Particularly when you're avoiding it for the good of the friendship.

[Kelvin]

What sort of friend forces you to discuss an issue you don't want to discuss? Particularly when you're avoiding it for the good of the friendship.

She's so SO deep into it now, its frightening. She simply cannot accept I wont agree and its clear she been talking to other TERFS about how to turn me round, only for me to flat out tell her I support trans rights and won't be changing that position at all. Which only frustrates her more.

It's brought out a very bad side of her, and I told her tonight I wouldn't let her emotionally manipulate me, which is basically her entire tactic now.   

[Kelvin]

I'm gonna post a few of the messages, so people can see how bad it is, and the talking points she uses. I'm removing all the names and anything personal, and just posting the 'debate' sections. It's a bit shitty of me, tbh, but I think the friendship is dead anyway and I think it's a good insight into how badly it's warped her mind. A few years ago I remember her saying she didn't know anything about trans issues, then she got into Jordan Peterson self-help videos on youtube, and within 12 months she was a full-blown TERF.

TW: lots of very transphobic stuff in the messages. Extremely transphobic.

Spoiler alert

HER: ...I feel our friendship has suffered since you realised I was a terf. (REMOVED SOME STUFF THAT IS UNRELATED) I'm struggling with you since you announced your 'no debate' stance because it does seem like you're wedded to an ideology that priorities men's fetishes over women's safety. I would like to have an open discussion with you as I would anyone else but I fear you're wedded to an ideology that has no room for facts. I hope I'm wrong. It's very difficult to maintain a friendship with a man that is actively working towards the erasure of women rights, especially in respect to dignity and safety. I very much doubt your mum wouldn't be a Terf if she knew that gender ideology meant that male police officers could self identify into her knickers (<I THINK THIS SENTENCE IS MISSING A BIT).

ME:  (CUT OUT  A BIT HERE) In any case, I'm sorry to say I'm not interested in any discussion on the issue. I am 100% in support of trans rights, and I will not be persuaded by any arguments you can make. Same as I wouldn't be persuaded by any argument a racist or homophobe made to me. I support trans right and believe that the best way forward for us as friends is to simply avoid the topic as its clearly a very emotional and divisive issue for us.

SOME OTHER STUFF REMOVED.

HER: Of course you don't feel that way because these issues don't have real life consequences for you, because you're male. Meanwhile I'm living in the real world, being a woman, which means I'm no longer safe in changing rooms, I can't join the only gym I can afford because they are pandering to men with fetishes rather than prioritising safeguarding for the sex that need it, which is women.

SOME OTHER STUFF REMOVED.

HER: I also doubt, no I'm going further to say I know you don't acknowledge that the trans cult is founded on male sexual entitlement, in particular autogynephillia. If you were that confident in your position you would be interested in learning about the view point of your opposition, but you're not. You are contributing to a deeply homophobic misogynistic cult where gay kids with mental health issues are mutilated and left infertile and without sexual function. I do t understand how you can actively support such a homophobic movement. I even wondered if you might be on the autism spectrum because those are the people who are more likely to fall prey to this indoctrination. It's very sad that you're too scared to have a debate. If you were interested in truth and the health of gay kids you would be open to discussion.

SOME OTHER STUFF REMOVED.

ME: I'm not scared of debate, I just believe it is pointless. I will not move my position, you won't move yours. You need to accept that we don't agree about the issue and that's not going to change. I don't believe any of that stuff you've written above. I don't believe it affects barely anyone. I don't believe gay kids are being mutilated. I don't believe its a fetish. I don't believe it a risk to people. I simply do not accept any of those fear-mongering arguments. You have to accept we disagree on this issue. If you can't I don't know what to suggest

SOME OTHER STUFF REMOVED.

ME: I do look at the facts, I've followed this issue quite closely. I see a lot of similarities to the way gay people like me were demonised in the past, especially in the 80s as they began to get a lot more rights

SOME OTHER STUFF REMOVED.

HER: You're conflating gay rights with sexual fetishists, not the same thing!

ME: Gay people were accused of being exactly that in that past. They were accused of being paedophiles and told they shouldn't be allowed in schools. Or that they'd be predatory and shouldn't be allowed in the army.
that is the exact same type of lie that is now being said about trans people. Its the same kind of hateful lie designed to scare people into withholding their rights

HER: Being gay is a sexuality. Being a transvestite male still means you're a man with a fetish, grow up, it's not the same thing.

[close]

It continued from here, but I think you get the gist of it.

The obvious question will be, why are you still friends with her? The short answer is, we have decades of very close friendship behind us and this is the first issue that has proven such a sticking point (and brought out a very different side of her). I'm pretty much convinced we can't get past this issue though.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

I can't join the only gym I can afford because they are pandering to men with fetishes

Yes, ex-friend of Kelvin, that's the problem with going to the gym while female - there might be a trans in the changing room. Not douchebag gymbros giving you unsolicited advice, or meatheads glaring you off the machines, or creeps trying to stare down your vag, or suddenly being extremely aware of how much your boobs are wobbling even in your sports bra and oh fuck are men looking at you. You were never near a gym in your life. You were never going to join a gym, you lazy, transphobic piece of shit.

[Kankurette]

Perilously close to 'it's bad when they do it but not when our people do' territory.

That's not what I meant. And it's context. It's like, if I talk about women's rights, I mean things like FGM or abortion or the gender pay gap. If a TERF says it, she means 'shitting on trans people'.
[

After many months of largely avoiding the subject, my TERF friend has gone nuclear tonight and told me our friendship has been jeopardised by my absolute refusal to discuss the topic any further. I'm tempted to post the highlights of the ensuing discussion to show the way they try to win the hearts and minds of family and friends, but here's one post: 

An argument ouroboros.

Some friend. "How dare you not want to listen to me boring on and on about trans people and how much I hate them. I demand that you only talk about this one topic."

[Kankurette]

Can't she use a cubicle? And she does realise the seeing the opposition's viewpoint thing works both ways?

What sort of friend forces you to discuss an issue you don't want to discuss? Particularly when you're avoiding it for the good of the friendship.

I have exactly the same problem as Kelvin. I've got a male friend who's not only GC, but actually contacted Linehan to apologise for doubting him. He's tried to get me to debate with him even though he knows I hate debate, which is a huge personal failure but there you have it. I'm scared to message him because I worry he'll just try to drag me into an argument. He defriended a long-time friend because they were into 'gender woo'. This is someone he was mates with for years.

I should have seen it coming when he complained about someone from She-Ra being non-binary. They want converts. That's why they're so into debate. They want converts.

[Elfking]

Honestly, as difficult as it is, once someone becomes entrenched in the transphobic ideology you're better off dropping them. We already know it's a gateway for people to drift into the far-right, it's why the right have been so keen to jump on it. From "legitimate questions" about trans people you quickly end up talking about "woke madness" and then from there you're basically agreeing with the right on culture issues.

You have to remember that by the time they bring up "trans issues" with friends and relatives they've likely been into it for a little bit. They'll be ready to argue and know all the talking points. Whilst being unlikely to understand why you won't argue with them because by that stage they'll be seeing it as the biggest issue of our time.