A series of exchanges on X, where charges of transphobia are being leveled at critics of queer theory, have moved me to extend the thesis of this morning’s essay, Noam Chomsky on the Pretentious Character of Queer and Other So Called Theories. Since science contradicts the claim that gender is mutable, of course natural history is by definition transphobic from the standpoint of queer theory. The fallacy of the mutability of gender is a central tenet of queer theory because of its functional utility in advancing the anarchist project of transgressing normative social relations that safeguard children and women and efficacious social relations more generally. So here is yet another essay expounding on the problem of postmodernism.
The rejection of science and universal normative systems is true of postmodernist notions generally. Postmodernism contends that science is one of many discourses constituted by power and thus are either programs of liberation or oppression. That this is a paradox for a philosophy that assumes the poststructuralist stance of no binaries is also functional to the project, since, as with all religious and religious-like systems, unresolved contradiction continuously produces liminal states and situations. These leave the populace more amenable to control and suggestion (the Nazis understood this well).
As a consequence, any scientific claim that contradicts gender ideology is the expression of oppressive power must be a form of bigotry. This approach means to inoculate queer theory from criticism, as any criticism of the theory is confirmation of the theory. The same is true with critical race theory (CRT). From the CRT standpoint, individualism is an expression of white supremacy, and thus the Western justice system, rooted in individualism, is racist. The alternative to Western-style justice is the atavistic notion of collective and intergeneration guilt and responsibility; the goal is inverting an imagined hierarchy, the validity of which is claimed to rest on subjected status, an assumption achieved through control of major societal institutions. Criticism of CRT is thus also portrayed as bigotry.
From the postmodernist standpoint, the world is divided between allies and enemies (another binary). No argument, no claim, no sensibility is not ideological or political. It is either the argument or claim or sensibility of the ally or of the enemy. Postmodernism is thus nothing more than modern dress on tribalism, a perfect praxis for perpetuating the hegemony of corporate statism. It’s a form of identity politics able to manufacture an infinite number of identities that hypostatize personal truths (i.e., delusions) in order to disrupt normality and assert power over others.
Queer theory, critical race theory, postcolonial studies, and all the other permutations of postmodernist thinking rest on a praxis rooted in anarchism and nihilism with the express goal of delegitimizing the Enlightenment, overthrowing Western civilization, and resurrecting the primitive—without the regular normative structure. These notions are anti-science and anti-reason. They are backwards and destructive.
This is the praxis that underpins diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming. We find DEI across the corporate and state systems. To be sure, DEI appears to be on the run, but this is a temporary fallback to regroup. Once you recognize why disrupting the norms of Western civilization is advantageous to corporate state ambitions and arrangements, you will understand why queer theory, critical race theory, etc., are portrayed as legitimate ways of (dis/re)ordering the world. They will try to return in another form. Indeed, they will never fully leave on their own. Be determined and vigilant.
freedom and reason 