Heretic TOC

Not the dominant narrative

The world dances to Trump’s tune

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The world has been turned upside down and shaken around with such brutal force and dizzying pace in the few weeks since the start of this year it is hard to know how to start writing about any aspect of public life without the beginning being out of date by the time one has penned the end. Not that this writer uses a pen, but the blogger who favours the longform essay does sometimes feel like a time-traveller from the quill pen age when all the “thinking” and change is being driven by the ultra shortform communicators of X and Truth […]

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Clearing up the conceptual confusion

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INTRODUCTION Part 1 of this two-part blog looked at how woke identity politics, especially on trans issues, may have cost Kamala Harris the US presidential election. Protestations to the contrary have since appeared in the comments, notably along the lines “It was the economy, stupid” (albeit phrased far more politely!). However, even if these claims were true (which is debatable), my main point – that trans extremists have been their own worst enemies – appears to have won broad acceptance here, based on a range of evidence. From this starting point, Part 2 will examine the conceptual muddle that enabled so

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Time to get real: woke is broke

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Whatever we may think of Trump and the MAGA fans, the voters of America gave a startling wake-up call against woke politics earlier this month. It wasn’t just the economy or immigration that won it for “the Donald”. There is clear evidence that what tipped the balance of an election forecast to be finely balanced was the identity politics with which Kamala Harris was so strongly associated. In the first of two related blogs, today I will examine the implications for future MAP strategy, not that I will be saying much about that today. Instead, I will focus on how the

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Deconstructing the lion and the lamb

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I am pleased to introduce a new young guest blogger. “Max Woolf” is an independent researcher, anarchist, and BL (AoA roughly 12-17) whose work has been used by individuals and organisations. He aims eventually to archive his developing thoughts on MAP issues, political philosophy, literary criticism, etc., in a forthcoming personal blog on which he is “busily procrastinating” (!). Today, Max deconstructs the concepts of “paedophile” and “victim”, and maintains that the increasing visibility of MAPs will expose CSA dogma for what it is. Like the biblical prophesy of the lion and lamb who will lie down together in peace, he

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Old fuckers, daft twats – and horny kids

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When some of my good friends would meet me, they would sometimes say, “How are ya, ya old fucker!” One night when my dad came home from work, I ran and greeted him by saying, “How are you, Dad, you old fucker!” This occasion marked the beginning of my sex education! Half a century ago, when this anecdote about a preteen boy’s hilarious (or potentially disastrous) social blunder appeared in a pioneering book on the sex life of children, everyone knew you just didn’t talk to your father that way. But if you didn’t even know WTF the word “fuck” meant,

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A young MAP discovers practical self-care

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Today’s guest blog is by “Finlay”, who gives us a personal view of mental health from the perspective of a young “exclusive” MAP. Those of us (including me) whose level of sexual attraction to adults is none at all, or as close to zero as makes no difference when it comes to sustaining a legal relationship, have a particularly tough time trying to stay sane and stable in a hostile society, especially in the early years of coming to terms with our situation. So Finlay’s perspective, in which he presents many directly relevant good ideas based on his own experience, is

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Towards an alliance of the invalidated

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 Jim Burton, Strategic Lead for Newgon, guest blogs again today following his debut here last year.  This time he makes “a positive, pragmatic argument for an alliance of the invalidated”, using fraternity between MAPs and Zoophiles as an example. MAPs, Zoophiles, and Transids Validity discourse and the Alliance In my previous essay for HTOC, I discussed how associations between different socially marginalised communities can sometimes spell harm for the groups concerned. I conceded that to most, it’s obvious individual Nazis can exist in any community without invoking the idea that every member of said community is themselves one. Within a western

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Ignore this tale of sound and fury?

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Comedian Alan Davies is a lovable presence on British TV, especially in his long-running contribution as a panellist on the nerdy quiz show QI, where he comes across as an overgrown schoolboy, ever eager to impress teacher with a correct answer but constantly chastised for getting it wrong. This is monstrously unfair. He is clearly bright. He nearly gets it right, only to be mocked time after time by the know-all quizmaster, who invariably reveals the impossibly esoteric correct answer in a smugly superior tone. It is this cruel injustice that brings out our sympathy and affection. It’s a great act,

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How to rewild Generation Doomscroll

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Almost half of British teenagers say they feel addicted to social media, according to a recent report. And those who deny it are probably, well, in denial. Or so it might be supposed, going by the latest feverish outbreak of alarm over teen and pre-teen smartphone use. Have you noticed the sheer scale of it? It’s been everywhere in the last few months. The  on-going Millennium Cohort Study was an early frontrunner, foregrounding the self-assessed addiction crisis noted above. Since then there has been a steady drumbeat of demands for a ban on mobile phone use in schools, and even for

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Getting to grips with love handles

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Craziest move yet by the “age gap” antis must surely be the trashing a few weeks ago of 16-year-old (now just turned 17) darts prodigy Luke Littler’s relationship with his 21-year-old girlfriend, Eloise Milburn. There have been “vile comments” and accusations, according to a London Evening Standard report. The trolls are idiots, but it would be wrong to say there is nothing scandalous in what has happened to Luke. Not that romance is the problem. No, the culprit isn’t love, it’s “love handles”. Have you seen the geezer’s girth?  Humourist and restaurant critic Giles Coren, hit the bullseye in his regular

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