Like. Look. Listen. I have taught introductory quantum physics at a university level, and I need you all to incorporate this into your trans advocacy: There are situations where you need to make a decision to prioritize being comprehensible to your target audience above being The Most Unassailably Correct.
You can try to teach a toddler about germ theory or you can get them to wash their hands because "yucky"
Teaching a toddler to wash hands because yucky when the Ethics Understander crashes through the roof. "STOP RIGHT THERE," the Ethics Understander shouts at me. "The disgust response is not a legitimate substitute for a considered value judgment, and in fact, weaponizing disgust instead of grounding those judgments in a more rigorous framework is fundamental to reactionary rhetoric!"
The toddler looks at me. "You are a fascist, auntie. I have seen the light and will now go eat chewing gum from the pavement, unless you can educate me on a rigorous framework on the microbiology of pavement chewing gum this very instant."
But I’m not a toddler, and I would never want someone to tell me the “for toddlers” version of their beliefs. If I found out they weren’t telling me their actual beliefs, I’d get mad and stop trusting them. So I don’t want to treat other adults like they’re toddlers.
Nothing in this post says "treat someone who isn't a toddler like they are one", in fact the original post specifically says "to your target audience", implying that it's got to be evaluated case-by-case.
i get paid to tell ppl (companies) what they should do and a lot of times it’s something they don’t wanna hear.
sometimes we’re just there to work but a lot of times we find out we’re the neutral party meant to tell someone their baby is ugly.
As experts, u cant pussyfoot around it. You gotta get in there and say the thing so u can quickly get to what to do about it.
but also u gotta work with these ppl now. The relationship IS the project and there’s no way to know someone’s familiarity, comfort, or resistance off the rip. We try but still. Like Hi your bosses bosses boss is paying us beaucoup bucks to tell you the project you’ve pushed uphill for a year is yikes and we’re taking over i like your shirt do u wanna hang out later heres a picture of my dog.
or maybe they hate the baby too, idk.
so personally i get a lot of mileage outta folksy analogies. it softens the room and explains mechanics and relationships without triggering as many reactions. and bc u gotta connect the dots it does make u feel a bit more invited into the convo. like, the info isnt what persuades. the messenger is.
u would probably accept a package from the mailman but you might not for a greasy rando trying to shove your door open
