Last week, Dave Chappelle released his newest comedy special on Netflix. The comedian has inexplicably been subject to attacks from trans activists on account of saying nothing offensive about transgenderism. In the past, Chappelle managed to anger trans activists by pointing out that men who prefer women’s clothing have not been subject to decades of discrimination and oppression in the same way black people in America have, for example. These are not exactly his words, they are mine — Chappelle is much more generous in his criticisms than I, which is partly what makes the attacks on him so ridiculous. In general, Chappelle doesn’t have much to say about transgenderism and even goes so far as to say “transwomen are women” (though he appears to not really mean it, hinting at the fact that a “vagina” on a transwoman is not really the same as female genitalia…)
For me, Chappelle’s commentary on transgenderism has been pretty milquetoast. He seems to understand that the notion a man can become a woman is silly, but leans towards the live and let live approach, which is one I might be willing to take were trans activists not trying to create legislation that mindfucks the world into lying about material reality and that harms women and girls. This is fine. It is not Chappelle’s job to articulate a cohesive critique of gender identity ideology; it is his job to make jokes. He is a genius in that regard. But, apparently, he is allowed to joke about everything and everyone except trans people.
This is evidenced by the response to Chappelle’s recent special, “The Closer,” which has been widely denounced by cowardly shills to the woke — that is to say, all liberal/mainstream media outlets — as “transphobic.” It’s odd because Chappelle’s primary approach is a compassionate one: he thinks it’s “mean” to make a person use the washroom that correlates to their sex if they do not identify with that sex and talks about an individual transwoman he knew, pointing out that it is important to respect people’s personal struggles as human beings (while also pointing out that it should be ok to joke about people and situations). And, I mean, this is obvious: of course we should be compassionate towards people’s personal struggles. But it is more important to tell the truth, which I do as much as possible, and which is why I am considered to be “mean” by people who prefer to be lied to so they can continue on their brain dead way. It is also, in my opinion, important not to allow men to access women’s changerooms, prisons, shelters, and, yes, washrooms. It’s not a matter of “nice,” it’s a matter of rational and of not unnecessarily exposing women and girls to dangerous situations.
I think we can be compassionate up to the point where we are talking about legislation and policy changes that are irrational, unjust, harmful, and rooted in lies. At that point, we need to be truthful and rational. It isn’t really “compassionate” to lie to people, in any case. The lie that men can become women and vice versa is what got us into this mess in the first place, as far too many people have been convinced they might die if anyone challenges their identification as the opposite sex, and take the truth about biological sex as a personal attack. We now have a whole crop of girls being transitioned, hormonally and surgically, into “men,” only to discover they are not in fact “men,” but that they have instead been butchered and rendered infertile. It is the lie that hurts, not the truth.
What really angered the trans activists, though, was Chappelle’s defense of JK Rowling, who trans activists have worked very hard to cancel, and who continue to foam at the mouth over the fact they cannot. He says:
“They canceled J.K. Rowling — my God. Effectually, she said gender was a fact, the trans community got mad as s—, they started calling her a TERF,” adding, “I’m team TERF… Gender is a fact.”
It is of course very irritating to me that so many people who believe they are defending material reality don’t understand the difference between gender and sex, as these words have been intentionally conflated by trans activists in order to ensure we cannot have coherent conversations about these matters. Rowling did not say gender is a fact, she criticized the erasure of women as a means to placate a minority of people who would like to believe they are so special they have transcended nature. She then committed the crime of defending Maya Forstater, who was fired for essentially saying that men cannot become women. Her final blaspheme was to say that sex was real and immutable.
I get what Chappelle meant, of course, but it is my job to be clear on these matters, so I am clarifying: “gender” refers to the social roles and stereotypes applied to and assumed of people based on their sex; “sex” refers to the biological fact of being either male or female.
But, today, it is unacceptable for anyone to defend women who tell the truth about sex and gender, even while adding a caveat that, “OK sure, transwomen are women.” This is how trans activists operate: it’s all or nothing — you blindly accept their gospel (and hatred, and vilification, and threats) as sacred truth, or you are evil and dangerous. That Chappelle says he understands why women might be mad about men claiming they are women, explaining this might be akin to how black people view blackface, is similarly unacceptable as, again, the trans activist community has worked very hard to paint such women as violent bigots and will accept nothing less.
The funniest part about the whole debacle, though, beyond the special itself, which is very good, I should add, was the response from a writer and co-showrunner on Netflix’s “Dear White People.” “Jaclyn Moore” — a thin-lipped white man with a tattoo on his arm depicting an autogynephilic man ejaculating — writes for a show about woke race politics that is critical of blackface, yet refuses to see the parallels between white people painting their faces to appear “black” and men painting their faces in an attempt to appear as very unattractive women. Moore felt “offended” that Chappelle apparently doesn’t see him as a real woman, which of course no one does.
Moore resigned from his job at Netflix in protest, explaining on Instagram, “I won’t work for @netflix again as long as they keep promoting and profiting from dangerous transphobic content.”
In an interview with Variety, Moore explains he’s never been a fan of Chappelle’s (which is unsurprising because in order to be a fan of Chappelle’s you need a sense of humour, and an interest in things beyond faux-fawning and constant validation), but that this time was different because this was about him (how thrilling!). Moore says:
“I’m really tired of my existence being a matter of debate, that this is something that we all just get to have an opinion about. We all get to have an opinion whether or not I am what I say I am.”
Of course, no one is debating Moore’s existence. No one is actually particularly interested in Moore’s existence, except Moore himself, who can say whatever he likes, but is frustrated that he doesn’t have the power to alter reality and control the world around him to suit his fetish.
Moore goes on to say, “Look, I have no desire to cancel Dave Chappelle,” but feels his special should not have appeared on Netflix. To be clear, Moore adds:
“I do believe in freedom of speech. I really do. But I have the freedom of speech to say that somebody’s speech bothers me, and I don’t want to work with a company that promotes that speech. It’s dangerous. It’s dangerous language. I can’t say it any clearer.”
Clear, indeed! Free speech is free speech! People can say what they like, and other people are free to disagree or dislike what they say. And, to be clear, Moore doesn’t want Netflix to pull Chappelle’s specials, but “something needs to be done.” What kind of “something”? Just, you know, cutting out the parts Moore doesn’t like.
That’s right, Moore doesn’t believe in censoring Chappelle, he just wants Chappelle to be censored in the specific way he would like. Moore explains, “Whether that’s removing part of this special, whether that’s amending the special in some way, I don’t know.”
Oh, but you do know. You just explained exactly what you would like, which doesn’t mean you don’t support free speech or that you’re trying to censor anyone, it just means that you don’t support free speech and that you would like to censor Dave Chappelle.
As the the comedian himself says, “trans people make up words to win arguments.” Well, actually and to be clear, they just alter the meaning of words in order to win arguments, because the world only exists for them, and should only exist in exactly the way they like. And if the word “woman,” for example, doesn’t suit their desires, they can simply change that word. “Free speech” now means, “free speech for me,” and “censorship” just means, “whatever I say goes.”
Now everyone stop being mean to Jaclyn, who is just trying to survive in the real world, which simply won’t comply.