I have come to the conclusion that to be accepted into the 'establishment' in Ireland it is a requirement to run with the latest fashionable ideology. There are trends in purchasable items (decking, smashed avocados on sourdough, airfryers) and are there are trends in ideas. Gender identity ideology is on trend.
Last year, for International Women's Day, veteran feminist Mary Kenny was cancelled from a talk at the University of Limerick and, just before it was scheduled to be broadcast, a long-form pre-recorded interview with me was cancelled from Dublin City fm. Believing that biology matters is apparently sufficient these days to warrant cancellation.
This International Women's Day, the momentum is stepping up a gear: Irish people get to vote to cancel women from Article 41.2 of the Irish Constitution and to cancel the word 'mothers' from the Irish Constitution entirely.
If the Referendum passes, bizarrely, there will be people celebrating the erasure of the constitutional acknowledgement of mothers on Mothers’ Day which is just two days after the referendums. The timing is fascinating. Clever maybe.
In his novel 1984, George Orwell wrote about Newspeak, the official language of the fictional totalitarian state of Oceania, the main slogans of which were:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
To this, we can add, in 2024, SEX IS A SPECTRUM, SEX IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT, MAN IS WOMAN and WOMAN IS MAN.
Children have wisdom. The mess will be resolved. Those willing to run with the lies can surf the wave of the trend. But waves crash, lose their energy. The garden decking of yesterday is the limestone-slabbing of today.
Today, the 2nd March 2024, as International Women’s Day approaches, The Irish Times and the Irish Examiner show their willingness to partake in modern Newspeak by including males in the category of women.
The Irish Times includes a male as one of their ‘10 Inspirational Irish Women’ whilst the Irish Examiner lists a male in their 100 Irish Women of 2024 being celebrated (of course) ‘ahead of International Women’s Day’.
Both newspapers signal their willingness to glide on popular thermals, to fly the flag, to signal adherence to the idea that woman is an identity, to show that they are willing to partake in the illusion that it is possible to change sex, to promote the idea that gender identity should be prioritised above biology.
Perhaps the Irish Examiner and The Irish Times were trying to outdo the Irish Independent which, a few weeks ago, published an article about a sadistic man who murdered another man and live-streamed himself killing a cat by putting it into a blender, and referred to the killer throughout as a woman. (Paddy O’Gorman wrote a fabulous piece about this in Gript).
In George Orwell’s dystopian city of Oceania, there were four Ministries - the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love and the Ministry of Plenty. Orwell writes ‘The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one’. There are ministerial equivalents in the Ireland of today.
In a famous essay 'On Stupidity', Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes: 'Against stupidity we are defenseless.’
Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis in 1945, went on to say that when it comes to dealing with stupidity: 'Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed.’
Gender identity ideology is a form of political religion. It is a belief system that is founded on faith in a scientifically unfalsifiable internal sense of self. Its adherents work to change legislation and policies. There are ritual days of remembrance and celebration for community bonding. There is a creed.
Those of us speaking up and openly acknowledging that biology and bodies matter understand that we are to be treated as the heretics of our time. We face cancellations, ostracisation, demonisation. Friends publicly disown us. This is the nature of belief systems and popular trends.
I lecture in world religions. I understand that individual beliefs are important for the people who hold them. I respect and acknowledge that many people do have a gender identity and that it is very important for them. However, I cannot be forced to believe that biology is irrelevant, that women aren’t important, that ‘mothers’ should be erased completely from the Irish constitution. I believe that sex is binary and immutable. Irish newspapers engaging in contemporary Newspeak cannot convince me otherwise.
Referencing the old saying regarding "horses" one might say - ("You can lead a woke person to facts - but you can't make them - "think.")
Excellent as always. Well done Colette!