This astounding paper reminds me of Hannah Arendt’s The Banality of Evil: ‘The net effect of this language system was not to keep these people ignorant of what they were doing, but to prevent them from equating it with their old, ‘normal’ knowledge.’

[Link: https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-024-01143-8]

We’re all used to the obfuscatory language gender activist medics and their cheerleader, insist upon. ‘Gender affirming care/treatment’ is so much nicer sounding than ‘sterilisation, surgical mutilation and provision of toxic drugs to troubled minors’.

But this paper breaks new ground. It acknowledges that by the usual medical standards (‘old normal knowledge’) transitioning minors has not been found to be the unqualified success many have claimed. The proposed solution? Jettison the old knowledge. Redefine success.

‘Yes, some young people given irreversible surgeries and hormone regimes regret it. Yes, some have complex problems that transition doesn’t fix and may worsen. But hey, they wanted it and were given it. That should be the new metric of success!’

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a better example of what Arendt described when analysing those determined not to break ranks, yet who felt the need to justify their participation in atrocities: ‘self-deception, concealing a ruthless desire for conformity at any price.’

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