Kulturkampf

[Alpacx]

[killamajig]

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/theatre-dance/article/john-lithgow-interview-dumbledore-jk-rowling-roald-dahl-mgdcdbx0s

After playing Roald Dahl at his most antisemitic in the phenomenal play Giant, which has transferred from the Royal Court theatre to the West End, John Lithgow thought he knew everything about being a vilified author. Then it was announced that he will play Dumbledore in HBO’s forthcoming ten-season Harry Potter series.

“I hadn’t intended to show you this. I’m not even sure I should,” Lithgow, 79, says, adjusting his black-rimmed spectacles as he scrolls through his phone. He shows me a text from a friend, a link to an article titled An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away from Harry Potter. The article claims that JK Rowling is “anti-trans” and “attacked trans kids directly, saying ‘There are no trans kids. No child “is born in the wrong body”.’” Meanwhile, over on Lithgow’s normally cheerful Instagram account, there are endless comments from people telling him the same thing — that to act in something connected to Rowling is analogous to donning a Ku Klux Klan hood.

Lithgow has played trans and gay characters in the past, but his eyes widen with bemusement at the rage Rowling inspires. “I thought, why is this a factor at all? I wonder how JK Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point I’ll meet her and I’m curious to talk to her.” So the criticism didn’t put him off? “Oh, heavens no.”

Meanwhile, Lithgow is still puzzling on something. “No one complained when I agreed to play Dahl, but I’ve received so many messages about JK Rowling. Isn’t that odd?”

[Potato]

This should be an interesting story to watch.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/28/new-independent-press-to-focus-on-male-writers

A writer and critic has launched a new independent press that will focus on publishing books by male writers.

Conduit Books, founded by Jude Cook, will publish literary fiction and memoir, “focusing initially on male authors”.

Cook said the publishing landscape has changed “dramatically” over the past 15 years as a reaction to the “prevailing toxic male-dominated literary scene of the 80s, 90s and noughties”. Now, “excitement and energy around new and adventurous fiction is around female authors – and this is only right as a timely corrective”.

---

“This new breed of young female authors, spearheaded by Sally Rooney et al, ushered in a renaissance for literary fiction by women, giving rise to a situation where stories by new male authors are often overlooked, with a perception that the male voice is problematic,” he said.

These “overlooked narratives” might address fatherhood, masculinity, working class male experiences, sex, relationships, and “negotiating the 21st century as a man” – “precisely the narratives” that Conduit hopes to publish.

---

Men have not suddenly stopped reading and writing literary fiction, said Cook – rather, they are simply “not being commissioned”. He pointed to 2020 data suggesting that 78% of those in editorial roles in the publishing industry are women.

“Whenever I send out a novel to editors, the list [of names] is nearly all female,” a male agent told Johanna Thomas-Corr for an Observer piece in 2021. “But it’s not the gender makeup that bothers him, he insists, it’s the prevailing groupthink – the lack of interest in male novelists and the widespread idea that the male voice is problematic,” wrote Thomas-Corr.

[Uncle]

isn't it just bad business sense to limit yourself from an entire untapped market like that? what happened in the past decade to make businesses who should be all about turning a profit into whatever the hell they are now? to where they have to look around and be like...oh yeah, we used to sell everyone's content, now we only sell female-driven content, and also our sales are stagnant, weird

[Potato]

[Nintex]

negotiating the 21st century as a man

 you don't have the cardsI

(this works actually, telling folks to their face: look this is only 1% revenue for me but the future of your company for you. You don't have any leverage to negotiate and these are great terms. Take it or leave it.)

[Alpacx]

Reddit moment:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/3yvQAcCsHy
r/soccer
Scotland bans Transgender footballers in women's game.

[BIONIC]

I wonder what’s the percentage of internet jannies who are trans compared to the rest of the population?

[Ethan]

My view IS correct. There is no debate to be had. There is no “both sides”. I’m not a biological man. Trans women are not men in any sense of the word. It’s not a “debate” it’s bigotry and explicitly against the rules of the subreddit.

Well if you say so transtifa.

transtifa
Behave yourselves and it won’t get locked
-835


From the same janitor:

Being trans is so much more than dysphoria and surgery to me. I don’t want to minimise those things because yeah obviously I struggle and suffer with that stuff. Obviously it’s hard sometimes to love myself or even like myself. But if I was cis, I would never have experienced the euphoria of being treated like a woman. I would never have experienced the true joy of womanhood, something I’m so happy and grateful for every day.

So many cisgender women view womanhood like a prison, something that traps and limits them in their lives and it can be that, again, I don’t want to minimise struggles against misogyny. But to me, because of my experience as a trans woman, it can be so much more, something beautiful and joyful. And I get to wake up and feel that every single day.

If I was cis I would never have met the people I know, I wouldn’t like the things I like, I wouldn’t have discovered the things I’ve discovered about myself. I would never be the person I am. I look back on the boy I thought I was as a teenager and I say to her “you’re gonna get to grow up to be a woman and you’re going to love it” and the feeling is incredible.

I understand this is just my personal feelings. And maybe it comes from a place of privilege as a trans woman who is on HRT and accepted by the people around her. It makes me so sad that others don’t get to experience what I do because of the horrific standards of medical care in this country and the wider world or because they’re in terrible living situations. I know being trans can feel so alienating and feel like something wrong with you that needs to be corrected. But it isn’t wrong and I refuse to let myself get mired in the horrible parts of who I am instead of appreciating the beautiful ones. I wouldn’t change who I am for anything.

"I wouldn't change who I am for anything"

[Alpacx]

Reddit Moment Part II:
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/00fxM8QjmV

Statement: thread on the Scottish FA ban of transgender footballers, and subsequent brigading.
Announcement

We would like to issue the following statement, to clarify an incident earlier today in the subreddit.

A article regarding the news that the Scottish FA have banned transgender footballers was posted to r/soccer earlier today.

Threads on trans issues have increasingly become volatile in this community and others, and well recognised as breeding grounds for hate and abuse, in contravenence of our community rules.

Furthermore, these threads are frequently the subject of brigading from outside sources - which violates the sitewide rules.

When possible we strive to keep these threads unlocked, as we welcome discussion that is in good faith and within our rules. If threads degenerate to the point where this is not realistic, they are locked. In general, we would prefer to trust our community in the first instance.

This policy was applied to this thread.

In response to a succession of comments purporting a rhetoric that is well recognised as a dog whistle of transphobia, a moderator of this subreddit stickied a comment to clarify how these comments would be moderated.

Then, this comment was linked to a subreddit that is known to actively stoke hateful brigades, in persecution of individuals with protected characteristics.

Subsequently this occurred. As such, we have removed the thread in its entirety and reported this action to the admins.

The moderator in question has since been subjected to repeated discriminatory abuse that not only violates the community and website rules, but also any metric of moral decency that our humanity is defined by.

We would like to reiterate our support of the moderator in question, and of the LGBTQ+ community in r/soccer, football, and society at large.

This subreddit has a zero tolerance approach to hate - and that will remain the case.

Now is not the time to bow down, to defer, and to allow these malevolent forces to cast blame on those they wish to persecute.

r/soccer stands with our trans friends

[Potato]

The biggest problem with Reddit is the retard mods who use their power for their own political agenda. Most of them don't even have an interest in the subject matter. 

Sounds familiar...

[Uncle]

Reddit moment:

https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/s/3yvQAcCsHy
r/soccer
Scotland bans Transgender footballers in women's game.

so, you know, again...this is what it does to communication:

"a women's football league has banned women from participating, in order to protect women who felt that the women had an unfair advantage, and also the women were just uncomfortable at sharing a locker room with the women"

"a number of women say that women should be able to play in a women's league, but many women disagree with that and want it to be for women only"

[Uncle]

The biggest problem with Reddit is the retard mods who use their power for their own political agenda. Most of them don't even have an interest in the subject matter. 

Sounds familiar...

can't find the link now but makes me remember a while back, I posted it on old bore...I think it was r/abortion? a powermod banned all the other mods and took over the subreddit because they didn't feel like they were being respected or something, and the only reason this person had that power was because they "saved the sub" years ago from being squatted by bad actors, they just wanted admin status for the sake of having power

they were a furry who moderated like 40 subs including gross fetish shit, they had barely ever posted in r/abortion, every other mod there was a doctor or caregiver who wanted to help give advice to people dealing with a tough situation, and they all kept doing it even after being removed as mods because they cared about it that much

someone either contacted the admins or convinced the furry that they were being an incredible fuckwad and everything was eventually set right

[HaughtyFrank]

Anyone keeping up with that Irish group Kneecap thing?

Started off with them proudly shouting "Up Hama, Up Hezbollah" + holding up a hezbollah flag at a concert. They also talked about how people should "kill their local MPs".

Then the police started to pay attention and suddenly they're singing a different tune

Also claim they never expressed support for Hamas (which just seems blatantly untrue) which funny enough got people angry too

Anyway, it's weird to me what kind of stuff gets people instantly a visit from the police in the UK while those guys did this months ago

[Rendle]

My view IS correct. There is no debate to be had. There is no “both sides”. I’m not a biological man. Trans women are not men in any sense of the word. It’s not a “debate” it’s bigotry and explicitly against the rules of the subreddit.

Do they think they're biologically female or just that biology doesn't exist?

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

My view IS correct. There is no debate to be had. There is no “both sides”. I’m not a biological man. Trans women are not men in any sense of the word. It’s not a “debate” it’s bigotry and explicitly against the rules of the subreddit.

Do they think they're biologically female or just that biology doesn't exist?

There has been so much misinformation and lies over the past several years it's hard to tell the liars from the fools.

[benji]

From the same janitor:

But if I was cis, I would never have experienced the euphoria of being treated like a woman. I would never have experienced the true joy of womanhood, something I’m so happy and grateful for every day.

Tell us more about this.

[HeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth]

[Besticus Maximus]

Anyone keeping up with that Irish group Kneecap thing?

Started off with them proudly shouting "Up Hama, Up Hezbollah" + holding up a hezbollah flag at a concert. They also talked about how people should "kill their local MPs".

Then the police started to pay attention and suddenly they're singing a different tune

Also claim they never expressed support for Hamas (which just seems blatantly untrue) which funny enough got people angry too

Anyway, it's weird to me what kind of stuff gets people instantly a visit from the police in the UK while those guys did this months ago

We have the history with men in balaclavas making threats

[HaughtyFrank]

[Potato]

Today on Twitter...being black makes you do obnoxious things and it's all the fault of the yts.

[killamajig]

Not to break the stereotype but white people can be obnoxious by not using headphones too. I don't really understand why you'd want your culture to claim an antisocial behavior.

[DavidCroquet]

I think someone on Ree nailed it when they said they blame it all on the death of the headphone jack.

Did I see people--of all nations, colors, and creeds--being annoying with their phones before the headphone jack died? Yeah.

Did the number I see increase by like 5000% after headphone jacks died? also yes.

What I'm saying is blame capitalism.

[Alpacx]

The opposite of Kulturkumpf but on a Kulturkumpf topic:

[HaughtyFrank]

Same article also features a former head of Stonewall saying that the "no debate policy" was a mistake 

Sadly, a significant contribution to the prevention of sensible, two-way discussion of this sensitive issue was Stonewall’s 2015 decision to adopt an approach of “no debate” – online, on public platforms and in the broadcast media. This has now had huge reputational and financial consequences for the charity, where dozens of staff have since faced redundancy.

A core message for charities and all advocates for social justice from this regrettable situation might be that campaigning by diktat rather than persuasion is very rarely successful. Winning folk over to your position while recognising and addressing their anxieties, while very hard work, is usually a better way of securing legislative and social progress that can be embedded and lasts. If you decline even to enter a debate, you rarely win it.

He left the charity a year before the policy was implemented.