19 Comments
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stoicjedi's avatar

Every time she tweets on X I'm astounded at how clearly she can articulate things. Love her presence in this fight. The strong voices are so powerful, especially from those who were in this. Thank you Maia!

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Maia Poet's avatar

Thank you! I’m so glad you like my tweets

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Lisa's avatar

What an absolutely brilliant and articulate young woman. Thank you, Maia, for sharing your profound path to desistance.

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michaella's avatar

Couldn’t agree more! Just brilliant and wonderfully articulate. Maia you are a joy to listen to speak — all that reading in your early years has certainly cultivated your ability to communicate with clarity, depth and engagement. Your command of language is hopefully something you realize is one of your great assets.

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Maia Poet's avatar

Thanks for your kind comment

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Madeleine Love's avatar

The girl knows linguistics... wow! She knows propaganda, she knows language change. wow.

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Madeleine Love's avatar

Sorry, I should've said Maia, I was entranced by the story - didn't read the blurb.

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Maia Poet's avatar

What can I say- I enjoy studying 😂

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Madeleine Love's avatar

I'm very happy for you to know it at such a young age. I didn't come across rhetorical strategies until I was nearly 50 (63 now), and it took me a long time to know how to deal with it. It was when I was an activist against the fiercely promoted genetically engineered food crops. I was ringing academics at universities asking "What are the promoters doing? What are they doing?"

One of the tactics of the principal propagandists was to continually change the language, such that the 'expert' being interviewed would speak with the new language, immediately disabling the capacity of their interviewer to discuss the subject.

Previous public use terms were annexed and used in different ways - deliberate attempts to confuse and manipulate the public.

They also used hypnotic scripts, calling in all the senses to deliberately disable the critical mind before introducing the material they wanted the reader/listener to accept: "the warm sun is beating down on my bare skin, with a light wind brushing against my arms, I hear the heron call, smell the pungent grasses, and feel the cool wet mud move between my bare toes, and biting into a tomato the sweetness bursts into my mouth". It was a really creepy feeling to be manipulated in that way.

I see exactly the same set of strategies being used in gender. The same PR advice seems to have come into the field.

My daughter is studying linguistics now - I've said that this is one of the places where the power is.

Sorry - that was my rant - it's so nice to be able to share on the subject with someone who understands it.

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Maia Poet's avatar

It’s helpful to read what you’ve just written because it showcases how trans mind games are just classic propagandistic tools from eras past

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Madeleine Love's avatar

They are. A lot of it took off in the 1920s with Bernays, socially engineering to promote smoking in women, as an example.

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Madeleine Love's avatar

What a gorgeous character, a gorgeous girl.

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Aneladgam Varelse's avatar

What helped me with desisting: abandoning identity of a Rammstein fan after Till Lindemann was revealed to allegedly be serial rapist. When I was 13-15 (very not age appropriate) Rammstein was my total obsession and I was deeply deeply obsessive about this band, then obsession let me free, but for 14 years more I kept this identity. Sometimes I performed this identity of a fan introducing myself to others as big fan, sometimes I turned back to Rammstein to relive emotions with something familiar, often familiar routine and/or evoke my true self - because Rammstein obsession was very strong and happened to me young. Sure I was uncomfortable with many things Rammstein does, but it’s art, it’s performance, it’s so clever and subversive. And then I suddenly lost all interest and felt deep disgust. Since 2023, when the news hit, I’ve never listened to them once.

This experience opened my mind to many things. That I’m different person then I was at 13 and things most important to me back then don’t have to define me today. That I can let go things I used to enjoy but turned not very good/not very adaptive. How the feeling of disgust actually feels - which made me much better at connecting with my gut feelings. That things which look awful and gross actually can be awful and gross, conservatives were right about Rammstein and Marylin Manson and no need to pretend orherwise. That happened that I liked something very… ugh, rotten, and I’m able to continue my life, because my life is more than this one very extensive commitment to a mistake.

I desisted almost year later and it was a big one. When I learned about Cass review my first instinct tbh was “oh no more transphobia”, but I remembered Rammstein and entertained possibility what if the opposite is the truth.

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Aneladgam Varelse's avatar

@Maia did you feel similar overwhelming disgust when learning that American woke students won’t support terrorists?

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Maia Poet's avatar

Yes! Absolutely

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desisted's avatar

Your voices have reached so many people in such circumstances

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Maia Poet's avatar

I really hope so

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Blank's avatar

I found her insights in the bonus content re: access to transgender content in English and faith amazing. Imagine how lost the parents are without much content in their native tongues to hold the line against transgenderism.

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Maia Poet's avatar

Immigrant parents may have an extra weapon in this fight

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