Abigial Shrier discovers it takes courage to tell a truth the left doesn’t want to hear
The question I get most often—the thing that most interviewers want to know, even when they’re pretending to care about more high-minded things—is: What’s it like to be so hated? I can only assume that’s what some of you rubberneckers want to know as well: What’s it like to be on a GLAAD black list? What’s it like to have top ACLU lawyers come out in favor of banning your book? What’s it like to have prestigious institutions disavow you as an alum? What’s it like to lose the favor of the fancy people who once claimed you as their own?…
All of which is to say: I’m not a provocateur. I don’t get a rush from making people angry. You don’t have to be a troll to find yourself in the center of controversy. You need only be two things: effective, and unwilling to back down.
Why am I unwilling to back down? Why wouldn’t I prostrate myself before the petulant mobs who insist that my standard journalistic investigation into a medical mystery—specifically, why so many teen girls were suddenly identifying as transgender and clamoring to alter their bodies—makes me a hater? Why on earth would I have chosen to write this book in the first place and am I glad that I wrote it?
I’ve written a previous post about Shrier’s book Irreversible Damage. I’ve also listened to several lengthy interviews with her, some as long as one and a half hours, because the topic interests me. I find her very impressive and I was well aware of the problem she describes and was alarmed by it even before she wrote the book. I haven’t actually read the book, but I think I’ve gotten the gist of it and would highly recommend that you read the book if you have the time and the inclination.
That essay of Shrier’s at Substack is the text of a talk she gave to Princeton students recently, and it includes a call to courage:
I know why students keep their heads down. They are hoping for that Goldman or New York Times internship, which they don’t want to put in jeopardy. Well, any institution that takes our brightest, most capable young people—Princeton graduates!—and tells you can only work here if you think like we tell you to and keep your mouth shut, that isn’t really Goldman Sachs and it isn’t the paper of record. It’s the husk of a once-great institution, and it’s not worth grasping for. Talk to alums at these institutions: they sound like those living under communist regimes. That’s the America that awaits you if you will not speak up…
I didn’t write Irreversible Damage to be provocative…I wrote it simply because it was true.
Much more at the link.
I can identify with Shrier. My work has not attracted the same sort of attention, of course, but it’s attracted some, as well as some hatred. I’ve certainly dealt with the problems in my social life and family life, as I’ve written about many times.
But what I’ve actually done is not something I regret. I regret the upheavals and the isolation, and I certainly regret that the US has become a place where a book such as Shrier’s is considered blasphemous. But I write what I write because I’m striving for the truth as best I can, and that’s that.
“Everyone knows it’s the wrong thing to do” Teamates of Trans U Penns Swimmer Unhappy with Record Smashing
The student also blasted those who say that women should stand up against this transgender agenda. She told Outkick that if anyone tries to voice dissent, their lives will be ruined by the left-wing attack machine.
It’s easy to remain silent and very risky to voice dissent. But sooner or later somebody has to take the risk. If not it could mean the end of female collegiate sports.
Neo, keep writing. Thank you.
I guess it’s also a matter of whether the cancellers have a lever by which to ruin your life….except for losing mush head liberal friends which is actually a bonus. Thinking about jobs and so forth.
Stopped too soon.
The swimmers who fear the left wing machine…. Figure this, there are others like you. As to social life, there’s not much cooler than a female swimmer’s figure and you don’t wan to date 5’7″ pencil neck geeks anyway. Your social life will simply shift to other groups.
So stand up and others will find you and you’ll find others.
There are resources, including, say, wrestlers and football players and laxers who’d be happy to escort you one place or another. It’s a two-fer; your company and the chance to deck a…..5’7″ pencil neck geek with plenty of footage showing it’s entirely self defense.
Might end up being pretty cool to be in the Resistance.
Recall that a couple of Duke laxers settled pretty well with profs who tried to screw them by downgrading their papers.
Abigail Schrier’s Substack article is a masterpiece of writing, and of the moral foundation behind it. Go ye and read of it.
I realize I tend to be the Pollyanna here, but I see signs all around — like Abigail Shrier and Kyle Rittenhouse — that the tide is turning on the left.
I think the left peaked last summer. Normal Americans now see what a threat and disaster Wokeism is and are pushing back.
Which isn’t to say we can relax, but better days are coming and maybe faster than we think.
And a big thank you from me, Neo. I’m grateful for your brave voice, AND for the community of commenters who frequent the site.
Being true to one’s beliefs, regardless of the views and reactions of others, is a liberating experience.
huxley:
I’m starting to agree with you. I’m hoping the Lia Thomas situation will force some people to realize that there are real differences between the sexes and pretending that there is not hurts women. I think other women’s swim teams should refuse to compete in a meet in which Thomas is allowed to swim.
Truth is the first sacrifice demanded of those who would worship at the left’s godless altar.
And I appreciate you so much for your courage and intelligence.
Neo–you are a beacon of truth in a world of craven dishonesty.
Thank you.
And Abigail Shrier as well. But she got there a lot later than you.
Keep up the good work.
“I write because I’m striving for the truth as best I can, and that’s that.” Good for you, and us, Neo. If only we had more people like you on this planet. I am still trying to absorb the recent appointment of Rachel Rollins as US Attorney in Massachusetts. What I have seen so far indicates that she in not suited (I am being polite) for this role, which itself is diminished by her appointment. When not a single member of the opposing party will support a nominee, how can there not be a single member of the so-called majority consider why? Was Ms. Rollins vetted? By anyone? Did they know of her behavior and racialist statements? When the Dems have the baton, they sure do give it to us hard.
I agree with Insufficiently Sensitive- this is a masterpiece and everyone should read the whole thing-
“On that final example of a lie, the one about transwomen in girls’ sports, I want you to think for a moment about a young woman here at Princeton. She’s a magnificent athlete named Ellie Marquardt, an all-American swimmer who set an Ivy League record in the 500-meter freestyle event as a freshman. Just before Thanksgiving, Ellie was defeated in the 500-meter, the event she held the record in, by almost 14 seconds by a 22 year old biological male at Penn who was competing on the men’s team as recently as November of 2019. That male athlete now holds multiple U.S. records in women’s swimming, erasing the hard work of so many of our best female athletes, and making a mockery of the rights women fought for generations to achieve.
Ellie Marquart swam her heart out for Princeton. When will Princeton fight for her? Where are the student protests to say—enough is enough. When a biological male who has enjoyed the full benefits of male puberty—larger cardiovascular system, 40% more upper body muscle mass, more fast-twitch muscle fiber, more oxygenated blood—decides after three seasons on the men’s team to compete as a woman and smashes the records of the top female swimmers in this country, that is not valor—that’s vandalism.
Where is the outrage? Imagine, for a second, what it must be like to be a female swimmer at Princeton, knowing you must pretend that this is fair—that the NCAA competition is anything other than a joke. Imagine being told to bite your tongue as men lecture you that you just need to swim harder. “Be grateful for your silver medals, ladies, and maybe work harder next time,” is the message. Imagine what that level of repression does to warp the soul.”
As I said, read the whole thing. I tend to agree with Huxley, as well, maybe better days are coming. Maybe a line has finally been crossed. Thanks
More-
“Now, imagine, instead, the women’s swimmers had all walked out. Imagine they had stood together and said: We will meet any competitor head on. But we will not grant this travesty the honor of our participation. We did not spend our childhoods setting our alarm clocks for 4am every morning, training for hours before and after school, to lend our good names to this fixed fight.”
Imagine if Bruce Jenner had decided to be Caitlyn 40 years earlier.
These are absurd times.
Warheit macht frei.
You read it here first, Volks.
It was Shrier’s recent interview with the presidents of WPATH and USPATH ( World & US Professional Associations of Transgender Heath ) that has finally compelled an acknowledgement of the true state of child and adolescent ‘gender affirmative care’ in the US, and the reality of ROGD.
And it’s almost certain that they had chosen to speak to her for that purpose. The US has continued with practices, and a model of care, that have been curtailed or banned entirely across Europe and the UK over the past year or so.
But that news hasn’t reached public awareness here due to censorship and a general unwillingness among the press to gainsay Trans activists. This has also allowed erroneous claims and beliefs to maintain which were confronted in the interview.
Shrier is one of very few writers on this subject who can be counted on to present such disclosures with the necessary candor and consideration, despite the onslaught they have provoked.
https://themedicalprogress.com/2021/11/18/transgender-docs-warn-about-gender-affirmative-treatment-for-youth/
It takes courage to talk about flat earth theory here. Your point is that you old humans are somehow different from what you call the left?