Iāll just post my initial comment in the entirety since what happens is entirely predicted by my first comment.
The topic was trans athletes and, like with any hot button political issues, there are rigidly defined āsidesā that come with a list of things that you must profess.
These things are simply declared as not being open to discussion and if you challenge that declaration, ye power trippinā bastards rear their ugly head. This dogma is unhealthy in any community and the people who enforce it through social pressure, cyber bullying and mod powers are actively harmful.
As to demonstrate my point I continued with the conversation, responding in good faith to the people who attempted a conversation, right up until I was mass banned (which only took a few hours).
The first comment is here if you want to see the entire conversation or think Iām hiding some secret transphobic rants in my comment history: https://lemmy.world/comment/15496985
The Initial Comment
This is an issue that exposes some of the more dogmatic people in the movement.
It is as if there is a list of positions that youāre required to believe and if you disagree with any one of them youāre labeled a heretic (transphobic, in this case).
Sports and the fairness of competition is a complex issue even when youāre just talking about cisgender competitors:
Can a person use performance enhancing drugs to train and then get clean enough to test positive for a competition? It seems unfair, to me, for the other competitors if this is the case.
It isnāt an unfair statement to say that the physical performance of cisgender men is higher than that of cisgender women. This is why we have separate competitions for men and women.
The issue isnāt as simple as a choice between āTransgender people should be free, without question, to compete in any competitionā or āTransgender people should not be allowed to compete as their genderā
Framing it in such a black and white manner is harmful behavior, no matter which position you take.
We need to understand how peopleās bodies are affected and what advantages of disadvantages are obtained and then base the rule changes on objective data and not appeals to emotion or ideological bullying.
Fabricated Pretexts
The last thing I said on the topic (bold added), as there were already commenters insinuating that Iām secretly a transphobe rather than engaging in discussion, was:
Obviously the people arguing that trans people should never compete are ignorant, Iām not supporting that position. From the point of view of fairness in competition there has to be an objective answer thatās backed by objective tests.
Simply declaring that trans people are beyond reproach and that any attempts to quantify biological advantage are unfairly discriminatory and anyone asking these questions is a bigot isnāt helpful.
I include this because included in the reasons for the bans is: āTransphobia attempting to make excuses for trans exclusion from sports.ā This is completely misrepresenting what I said and what I believe in order to create a pretext for a ban.
And the power trippinā bastards come in with the sweeping community bans ([email protected], really?): https://lemmy.world/modlog?page=2&actionType=ModBanFromCommunity&userId=12926811
Conclusion
This kind of thinking is harmful to any community.
Labeling disagreement as bigotry is nonsense. Refusing to engage on a topic and using filters and bans to hide from people who donāt perfectly align with your ideas is not how you make allies or educate people.
The people that do this are responsible for creating the impression that your communities are hostile and made up of extremists. Attacking allies because they donāt fall in line without question is a blunder.
People with moderator powers should be held to a higher standard of responsibility and fabricating reasons for bans and mislabeling people as bigots is the ultimate abdication of that responsibility. These people are not interested in helping a community thrive, they simply want to be the ones with the power to strike out at people that they want to hurt regardless of the damage that it causes.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk (except you, [email protected], I pray you never learn how to exit vim)
The down votes are because its been pretty clearly explained to you that you engaged in what is considered āsea lioningā which is very hard to differentiate from someone who is actually ignorant. You blew past people pointing this out to continue banging the drum of the debunked junk science youāre championing, and got all pissy because people wouldnāt play your stupid game and āeducateā you.
People on Lemmy in these communities are not your personal AI, they have no obligation to educate you on things you could easily research yourself. If you truly cared about not being ignorant, youād take this as a moment of self reflection/self crit to educate yourself on a topic you clearly are ignorant about.
Instead youāve come here to pitch a fit that people didnāt spoonfeed you the decades of research on this exact topic and treated you the same as every other bad faith actor spouting the same tired talking point that just want to stir shit rather than engage in any meaningful discussion. People are tired of this shit, itās so played out an old.
It has been pretty clearly explained, by me, that Iām was not engaging in sea lioning, which is the done intentionally in bad faith. I was engaging in the conversation in good faith.
As I understand social media, it exists primary to facilitate conversations between people.
I was having a discussion about an issue that I see as a problem: the kneejerk intolerance of people and their tendency to treat people, who donāt know and/or agree with everything that theyāre āsupposed toā, with outright hostility and bullying.
Kind of like how you, assuming that I was sea lioning and engaging in bad faith discussion, are taking this hostile and condescending tone. Do you ever consider that you may be wrong about a person and are actually just acting like an asshole because of your misconceptions?
Youāre free to think Iām ignorant and to know the facts which could answer my questions. Youāre right that you have no obligation to share you knowledge or do anything, for anybody.
But, if you confuse your knowledge for someone elseās ignorance and also think that this difference in knowledge makes you above them. Then youāre immature.
If you use this feeling of superiority as an excuse to behave in a rude and condescending manner to a stranger that you donāt know. Then youāre an asshole.
If youāre also the moderator of a bunch of communities (or you create some for this purpose) and use those moderator powers to spam the strangerās modlog with libelous āreasonsā. Then youāre abusing your moderation powers.
I have no obligation to educate you on things that you could easily research yourself, but I do it anyway because thatās how conversations work. If you truly care about not appearing ignorant, youād take this as a moment of self reflection.
Lol youāre continuing to be obtuse and intentionally miss the point because you have an axe to grind.
Plenty of people have engaged with you here in an attempt to meet you at your level and help you understand why you got banned, and youāve lashed out at all of them and dug in deeper ignoring their points to continue raging about your personal grievances.
Take a hint and do some self reflection. The problem is you and you are your own problem.
Iāll stop wasting my time with you now.