Why are institutions bowing to Trump's illegal anti-trans orders?
Why are institutions bowing to Trump's illegal anti-trans orders?
From the NCAA to hospitals and universities, “preemptive obedience” is the new norm.
Some are cowards even if they do care.
Some have always secretly agreed but were afraid to act on it.
Some are just apathetic as long as it doesn't directly affect them.
But the bigesst reason? Money.
Well, they just cut every research university in the country’s money by limiting facilities and administration funding on science grants to 15% (with a few exceptions possible, if approved, presumably by Elon Musk).
Basically, a $1,000,000 grant to a research scientist comes with a corresponding payment to the university to build whatever is needed and run the lab. It’s usually close to 50% because research labs aren’t cheap. And with few exceptions, private companies don’t really fund basic research labs like they used to. (There is, obviously, a lot of private sector R&D but nothing like back in the day when Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, etc. were doing revolutionary work.)
Some are
... poor spellers.
But also some people just can't be arsed to stick their neck out when they're barely keeping their own shit together amidst things that fucking DO also affect them, Tiffany, but they're silently trying to keep food on tables and kids in whatever half-assed school curricula still exists in the hope that when the heroes with the heroic ability to not only barely cope but also strive and also rebel are done, that their grown kids will be as free of generational trauma and smart enough to survive in the world they all hope will emerge.
It's not enough to be at every protest personally - gold star, you - but you take normal people whose personal covid tragedies still resonate on those long stretches of days when they're again not going to hit their goal of only one falling-down collapse in a parking lot as coping escapes them in the heat of the moment triggered by a full cart of bargain food, a wailing child and a lost set of car keys, and then you berate them for not being good enough like you?
Is their own trauma - which you may know nothing about - automatically not good enough that they're not doing enough for you? What kind of human rights crusader has no empathy?
You do realize the article is about "institutions" and not individual people? And that I was talking about institutions and not individual people?
Fear. But people need to realize that capitulation only makes this political terrorism stronger. The only solution is solidarity. United we are much stronger than this administration.
Fear of what though? What the root cause? I'm willing to bet it's not fear of being put in jail for having DEI practices in place. I'm willing to bet a case of craft beer it's the fear of losing money that's driving it. They didn't give a shit about the people unless you're a majority shareholder.
Money is important though. People may lose their jobs if they don’t obey. Programs or even entire orgs will shut down.
I am not saying they should capitulate but also sometimes you need to pick your battles also. I have heard some nonprofits are purging certain words but planning to keep doing the same work. Is that the right choice? I don’t know but if it allows services to keep going to the vulnerable then maybe.
Because our entire professional class in the USA has little backbone. People in my life with higher incomes still seem to think this will blow over.
I don't know why people think there is this upper crust of super smart or ultra hard working people. Intelligence really doesn't scale with pay or job type. Our own president is the ultimate proof of that.
It's kind of like when you become an adult and realize the adults never actually new what was going on and have just been winging it the entire time.
Because they are craven removed?
Because people haven't learned not to play Trump's games by Trump's rules. Appeasement not only makes him come back for more, he makes him believe that it's his by birthright.
Because Trump wields an inordinate amount of power and can have his decrees backed up by use of retaliatory executive action such as firings or pulling funding, retaliatory legislative action, or use of force.
Because Trump wields sizeable support in this country, up to and including militia groups that Trump has already pardoned once and lone-wolf actors willing to commit violence on his behalf, and they do not have support of equal measure willing to defend them.
Because they still have faith in what is left of our legislative and justice system and are still holding on to the hope that everybody will come to their senses and all of this can still be solved legislatively without having to resort to any kind of resistance or violence, no matter how increasingly fleeting that hope is.
Because the people that run these institutions are all just regular people with regular jobs and regular families who just want to go home at the end of the day, and have absolutely no desire to become the John Connor of the resistance movement.
Because he's letting them do what they've always wanted.
Money. Real lives are affected by defunding and losing your job in this economy.
Over 50% voted for this. Because news and social media are controlled by the oligarchs. And the smartest sociopaths for hire are crafting the propaganda strategy. So you're not even going to get a majority to back you up. Sanity and morality is now in the minority.
Please stop saying over 50% voted for this. A third of the electorate didn't vote. Yeah, fuck them, they could have stopped this, but it makes it sound like more than half of my country wants him to be president. More likely it's 30-40%
More likely it's 30-40%
The same hitler got
What’s the difference between voting for Trump and not voting at all?
The way I see it if you didn’t vote at all then not only do you not care about the outcome but you’re accepting Trump as the result.
If you didn’t vote then you are the problem. You’re the same problem as the people who voted for him.
So ya if you didn’t vote then you wanted this no different then those who voted. Over 50% of the country either voted for him or accepted him as the winner.
If you didn’t want him as president then you should have voted. You are just as much to blame for this happening. Stop trying to act like you’re innocent.
It was also less than 50% of voters
That's true, but in the liberal mindset, the majority gives you the moral mandate (liberal as in capitalist democracy, not derogatory). That the news and social media is owned and controlled by the oligarchs doesn't matter to the liberal mindset. Even cheating like gerrymandering didn't trigger riots and hanging of the culprits. It doesn't matter that they promised one thing but lied, that has been accepted for decades also.
So within this mindset the majority spoke and has the mandate for this crap. Practically morality is determined by who has the most money / power. We accepted that greed is good. So it doesn't matter that the election was cheated, elections in the US have always been a farce, a spectacle. But it is effective to get those institutions in line.
So I agree with you and think all the US elections in the last 50 years were illegitimate. But those institutions don't, they simply follow this liberal mindset.
If they didn't vote then they are likely just apathetic towards it surely? Apathy doesn't start resistance movememts.
Pretending that you lost because everyone else is too stupid to understand is counterproductive and will result in future losses. If your position is best for the majority of voters then you should be able to effectively convey that message to the masses. If you are unable to do that then obviously you are not as knowledgeable as you believe.
That's like saying the best argument "ought to win" and money doesn't matter (or media manipulation, the economy or voter roll purging). That is what I mean with the liberal mindset though.
Or another thing: If you divide the population in a smarter and a less smart half - it's always easier to manipulate the less smart half. This fundamental problem gets worse with the quality of news and social media.
And lies travel fast while debunking them is hard and boring. And people have been trained to accept lies by their politicians, including the democrats.
Because we're terrified that society is crumbling, so we try to follow rules to feel some kind of order.
Cowardice.
im' guessing it has a lot to do with old white dudes being in charge of those institutions. trump just gave them an excuse to do the shitty things they were otherwise embarrassed to say out loud.
plus corporations gave up on any and all ethics years ago. the concept of "right and wrong" does not exist for them.
Some of them couldn’t wait to lick his boots.
Money.
Why are we bowing to any of this? Where are our leaders?
The non-maga population and the left don't have any leadership. They have representatives in federal and state offices but they are really not leaders. The media may call them leaders but are they though? Does anyone really look to Chuck Schumer or Peolsi and say "Yes, these people are motivating me to step out of my comfort zone and do whats best for the country." NOPE.
There are some people in power that are being vocal and I think that is great, but honestly they haven't moved the needle to amping up the base to go out and protest, to support a general strike or any other disruption that will make an impression on the powers that be. The non-trumpers and left need, desperately, strong vocal leadership that goes to the people, draws on the fear and anger and uses the energy that comes from that to build a solid resistance.
Where are our leaders?
Tag, you're it!
Because we're probably the least liked minority groups.
If you want an actual answer: the answer is because it's still a pretty controversial topic in the US. If you leave the echo chamber here, you'll find the vast majority of people, even those who support the trans movement, are pretty universally against trans women competing in sports. The fact the movemen tried to force it down everyone's throat and shame anyone who disagreed moved a lot of people from neutral to negative.
When I was growing up, there was no girls wrestling, but "boys" sports in high school aren't "boys" they're "open". We had girls on the wrestling team, girls on the football team. Now as they got older and the boys got bigger and stronger, something like football is a generally a non-starter.
All of that is to say: corporations aren't going to die on this hill when there isn't a clear majority of Americans supporting it.
Sports weren't even the first thing Trump went after.
I guess it's a good thing the question wasn't: what was the first thing Trump went after.
The question was: why aren't corporations pushing back. If you read what I said, instead of apparently assuming I don't understand the order of events of Trumps idiocy, you'd see that I'm telling you that SPORTS has driven folks who would normally be neutral or supporting of transgender rights in the opposite direction. You can say that's stupid, you can say you don't like it, but that's reality. And the INSISTENCE on the trans community of pushing the sports thing gave Trump and company an in to make it the central focus of the discussion.
Why on earth would ANY business get in the middle of that when, again, the majority of Americans do not support it? A topic like this leaves no room for nuance, either a company supports transgender rights and everything that goes with it (like the hotbutton sports topic) or they don't. It is safer for their sales to not.
There is a very vocal minority locally who opposes all women being allowed to participate in women's sports.
Most people, locally, don't care. And same in Rochester. And Syracuse.
The podunk towns in the middle? Probably a bigger minority, but still a minority.
Because he won the popular vote, and they see that the people as whole don't like it, or at least are divided.
Because he's a mobster that threatens people that don't do what he tells them.
Folks as a whole, really aren't that concerned with trans people. The anti-trans attack ads that Trump ran didn't really move the needle much.
The folks that you think are people in general, are just loud fucking bigots who want to see me dead.
Hospitals are fearful that if they don't comply with Trump's orders they will face Trump's aggression. That's why they are rolling over. They are fawning, it's a fear response.