Clarification: Action & Morality

 I can see that my 'Class Hatred' essay has been receiving some attention. I am heartened by the largely positive response to my work on xitter, and I feel encouraged to keep writing. I write mostly for myself; as I have stated previously, I am passively suicidal. Death hangs over me at all times, and I sometimes wonder if I will be strong enough to keep on living. Leaving my work up on here (and on physical paper) strengthens my sense of embodiment, which is something that male puberty has largely deprived me of. Writing makes my existence feel less ephemeral. Even if I don't make it, I know that I won't be forgotten.

Seeing the reactions on xitter, I wanted to clarify specifically what I think people ought to take away from my essay. I went to great lengths to make my writing airtight, addressing every possible counter-argument to make uncharitable rebuttals difficult. The fact that I have not received any criticism founded on close reading (i.e. direct quotation of my words followed by criticism of those words) indicates to me that I have been largely successful in that endeavour.

I am, however, a little worried that my call to action may not have been quite so clear, so please allow me to make it more clear.

I do not want trans women who are struggling to access life-saving healthcare to seek out hostile engagement with more fortunate trans women on social media. In fact, I am unsure if anything good comes from interaction between these groups at all. Instead, we should work to foster community between ourselves. If hostility is sought against you, use the block button. Spend less time on xitter, and more time on discord, or your favourite game, or even (shocker) Outside. Get into an MMO with your oomfs. Go for walks at night, take pictures of interesting things you see. Draw, write, make webcomics, study, make music, spray-paint a dick on the pavement. Occupy your time in the ways which are available to you, and do so alongside people who are similar to you.

I feel a little silly talking so seriously about this stuff, because ultimately the 'action' I am trying to dictate here is just text on a screen. However, the atomisation of the 21st Century, and the severe alienation of non-passing trans people, has made the cyber into the real. The steak you are eating may very well just be a combination of electricity shot through your brain and liquefied corpses ejaculated down your throat, but that does not make the steak unreal -- especially if you have been socially barred from ever touching a real steak. We can't presently unplug ourselves from the Matrix, so instead we ought to make the Matrix a little comfier.

The actions of various trans winners are so often very appalling. Reacting to their cruelty in kind, however, will not make these people go away, and it will not reshape your body into the one you have been so patiently waiting for. In the case of so-called 'content creators' (tiktokers, youtubers, pornographers, etc.), acting with hostility is (in a sense) performing labour for them; you are generating more 'content' for them to react to and profit from. You can stop them from doing that by ignoring the stupid shit they say, and blocking them.

 My analysis of the class position of the trans winner is not a moral prescription. As I said in footnote #4, morality arises to justify the world around us. Unemployed people are immoral; employed people are more moral; entrepreneurs are most moral. We might not like these facts, but how we make use of that dislike is the important thing here. The proletariat and its sympathisers must not focus their efforts to create a 'better' morality, as leftists often seem to think (errm just be a fweaking good person chuddie). Rather, we act in spite of morality. We change the world, and morality changes with it of its own accord. Sitting around philosophising about the best way to be a 'good person' has never, will never generate kinder people. Only a kinder world can do that.

How do we create that kinder world? Well, as chronically online trans people, there is nothing we can do. Make no mistake, me (or you) writing on the internet about Marxism is not going to make employed ahh bluds go on an international general strike and seize the economy. Activism doesn't do anything. I'm a pretentious pseud who's doing this for fun. I enjoy intellectual stimulation, but couldn't hack it as a student, so this is all I have now.

The best thing you and I can do is try to make our own bubbles kinder. Cultivate nice bubbles with people that make you smile. Avoid social spaces that make you upset -- if you absolutely have to use xitter and 4chan, you can use filters, blocking, and muting to curate your experience into something that won't remind you of the unfairness of your present situation. If progress in your physical transition is currently out of your reach, try transitioning virtually. Voice train, talk with your fem (or masc) voice to people online, play games where you control a customisable avatar. If you really have a lot of time on your hands, why not try drawing a fursona or getting one of those 3D avatar rigs? (this is something I have been thinking of trying)

If you can, help others to improve their circumstances. Employment, funding, researching surgery, moving away from hostile families and hostile countries -- these are all things that we can often help others to do. I know for a fact that if I won the lottery I would be bankrolling as many sad trans women as possible.

Finally, if you do manage to 'make it' one day (or if you already have 'made it'), please do not forget where you came from. Please treat the people who are left behind with patience (even if they are being rude), and help them wherever you can.

The world will change eventually, though it will likely get a lot scarier before it gets better. My hope is that things will improve for us in the coming decades, and that the time we have lost will be made up for with advances in medicine. All we can really do right now is hope and cope. 

I think that's all I have left to say, for now. I have something in the works that should be out soon. See you then!