Amanda Marcotte got an annoying, misinformed letter from a bigot. Here’s what it said:
Dear Ms. Marcotte:
No one is born “gay” or “transgender.”
These conditions arise as a result of faulty bonding and identification with the same-sex parent, starting in early life. They indicate deep-seated gender self-alienation (TG’s cross-identify with an opposite-sex figure), and are preventable and treatable.
The writings of well-known figures like Chastity Bono, James Morris, and Richard Raskind confirm this pattern.
Psychiatrist Richard Fitzgibbons’s articles “Gender Identity Disorder in Children” and “The Desire for a Sex Change” are instructive.
The Left has been lying to the public for decades, with false science and false argument. “Gays” are a manufactured “minority” used for political purposes.
The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality has the real information (http://www.narth.com).
More and more Americans are learning the truth. GayScam, this fraud, will be ended. The laws will be adjusted accordingly.
–Sharon Kass Washington, D.C.
Oh, they think they’re so smart. They quote known quacks, but they somehow think they’re the ones with the correct information, and that the rest of us and the mainstream scientific community are collaborating against them, just to make them look stupid, when in reality, they don’t need our help to make themselves look stupid. Anyway, Amanda’s response is pitch-perfect:
Well, you weren’t born an asshole, either, but I still think it’s wrong to take your computer away.
She, of course, elaborated on that response in a second reply, in case the wingnut didn’t get the joke, and you should read her piece in its entirety, but sometimes I think the above answer more than suffices.
Well I do not think that an acidic joke is the best way to go about it, although I found it poignant and amusing, I don’t think that kind of response should be used in an actual discussion.
We’re not going to get anywhere if we insult our attackers, that’s just going to rile them up more.
I disagree Paul. Bullies don’t back down when you try and accommodate or appease them. They need articulate smack downs, not for their sake, but for the sake of everyone around them who might not have seen through the bully’s grandiosity and be tempted to buy into it. Appeasement doesn’t work. Ask Neville Chamberlain.
Who cares about riling our attackers? These people are not open to discussion, anyway. Using bogus science should tell you all you need to know about where they stand and where they will stand until the end of the world.
Her response (which was brilliant by the way) skipped what would have been e-mail after e-mail – Amanda providing fact after fact, and the wingnut responding ‘Nope’ and ‘You’re wrong just because’ and ‘I don’t need facts, I have ideology!’