this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025
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elon musk, mark zuckerberg, J.K rowling! Are the names that come to mind.

3 from different background: a African immigrant benefiting from government spending, an American smart young engineer, and a female English successful writer.

They are no politicians, and cant be accuse of trying to gather some vote. Multi-billions amongst them.

I get they lean to the right to protect their cash, with less tax and regulation. I get they are racist because they fear some poor people will take their cash.

But why the hatred for trans people ? It's 1% of the population, they cant do anything, dont threaten anyone. There is no rational or psychological reason

*EDIT: I read all the comments. A lot of interesting explanation: smokescreen/scapegoat, maintaining the male/female power structure, new face of anti-gay , projection / self-hatred , just louder voice ...

I realize, may be, I didn't post a good question. May be it is less about the ultra-rich but more about why that rhetoric work on the general population (else it would not have taken hold as it does). For that I have a 2 cent theory: The raise of the cult of Nature we have since the global warming. The idea, that everything natural is better. The ugly version is only natural male and female are worthy*

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[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago
  1. They're a scapegoat
  2. People fear what they don't understand. If they actually went out and talked to trans people they may realize they're normal people just like anyone else.
[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 20 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Its alla diversion.

Find some group that is different, then shit on them and make them look bad publicly while this relatively small group can't so much to talk back publicly.

It'll outrage the public, they'll start looking at the group while trump and Co then go and rob the state blind while no one is looking

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 3 points 6 hours ago

Yep.

To add to that, I've found a lot of people in the working class care a lot about class differentiators and will spend a lot of time trying to profess how they should be viewed at a higher relative ranking since they can't rely on money or heritage to do it for them.

So, if you create an out group for them, a lot of them will latch on to that idea since it raises their relative value in a meaningful way.

[–] purplemeowanon@lemmy.ml 4 points 6 hours ago

A useful distraction to prevent class warfare and protect their wealth with a convenient and reliable scapegoat designed to ensure a divided working class.

[–] tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world 17 points 10 hours ago

Just the latest social group that's still broadly acceptable to shit on.

There's not a ton of global census data out there, but in Canada trans and non-binary people make up 0.33% of the population. Which means there's a lot of people who don't know anyone who is trans or non-binary. Unfortunately there's also a lot of people who are unwilling to emphasize, or even sympathize, for those they feel are different or strange to them. It take time and effort to listen to others' stories and to gain appreciation for their perspective, and it's an effort many people are uncomfortable making if it feels they are deviating too far from society's norm. What you're observing is those in power taking advantage of the same human weakness that's been used forever to discriminate on whoever the current permissible outgroup to hate is.

How many times have you heard, "I don't care about anyone being/doing Y, but...", and then proceed to say some sort of transphobic, homophobic, racist, or sexist shit? When I grew up it was the G in LGBT. When my parents grew up it was African Americans. Women only got the right to vote a century ago, you better believe some of our great granduncles had some shit to say that would make today's uncles look like saints.

[–] HiddenLayer555@lemmy.ml 3 points 7 hours ago

Divide and conquer. A united population is harder to subjugate.

[–] index@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 hours ago

Because it's nothing more than a trick to divide public opinion and control it.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I do wonder what their end game is. History surely will not look on them favourably, so who would want to be the villain on the world stage? Yes history is written by the victors, but only for a short while until the truths come out. I just can't understand why anyone would deliberately want to be on the wrong side of history.

[–] ooli2@lemm.ee 5 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

most real-life villain thinks they are doing good. JK Rowling rhetoric is all about "protecting women". She probably is certain she is some sort of martyr trying to save the world

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 2 points 7 hours ago

I can actually believe that JK thinks she's doing the right thing. She's losing friends, money, reputation for saying what she truly believes, no matter how messed up. She never pretended anything but.

Elon is not like that. Elon knew how to play the progressive part and have a progressive wife, and do/say progressive things to make himself look good when it suited him. The face-mask reveal and the 180 turn as he ditches his old friends (they served their purpose) for new ones, whilst his wealth skyrockets.... this man surely deep down can't believe that he has noble intentions.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 28 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

It's called smokescreen. Turns the attention of the masses away of their wealth and power

[–] ooli2@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I get it. But that smokescreen is achieved with anti-immigrant rhetoric. Throwing Trans in , seems so random

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 1 points 4 hours ago

The rhetoric against immigrants serves as a more general purpose blaming scheme. Economy bad because immigrants. You're unemployed because immigrants. Crime because immigrants. Your bad grades are immigrants.

LGBTQ+ rights have always been a contentious point because it has always worked incredibly well for diverting attention on all sides, especially the media. The right always paints them as these depraved monsters that will convert children into gay communist sex on schools, which is a "threat" that's "up close and personal"

[–] Sl00k@programming.dev 3 points 7 hours ago

This smoke screen around LGBTQ+ and anti immigration has been stoked for nearly 30 years in order to veer away from the actual discussion and laws around wealth inequality, healthcare, etc. It's all a guise against minority groups who can't fight back. Sometimes positive sometimes negative, but at the end of the day billionaires stoke the fear around these minority groups and they get to keep growing their billions without restriction.

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[–] Ram_The_Manparts@hexbear.net 7 points 11 hours ago

Divide and conquer.

[–] golden_zealot@lemmy.ml 24 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

They will pick whatever group they think will suddenly put as many idiots as possible under their control when they say "GROUP A IS BAD".

Most of them don't care they are trans, they only care that they can take advantage of the oppression of a minority group in order to consolidate control over people so that they can oppress more people.

When everyone alive and dead is either oppressed or under your control, you become god. This is the goal, but they don't care about the process to get there.

[–] inv3r5ion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 59 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

All threaten the oldest hierarchy of all: man over woman.

As for musk, he has a trans child he hates and disowned. And he’s a Nazi, straight up. Family left Canada to go to apartheid South Africa because they agreed with apartheid and white racial supremacy. See the hierarchy here?

Zuck is an opportunist who will align with anything that makes him money. But he also has a weird obsession with Roman history that’s a red flag to me about being a closet fascist.

Jk Rowling is a second wave feminist and she’s big mad that people without vaginas can call themselves women and be in women’s spaces.

[–] Alice@beehaw.org 13 points 16 hours ago

All threaten the oldest hierarchy of all: man over woman.

Pretty much this. I remember being a teenager and hearing the most basic watered-down gender theory and being really confused and upset. Even back then I knew it was because, for it to be true, it meant a lot of things I take for granted about society were actually totally irrelevant. Unfortunately some people don't ever have to confront their cognitive dissonance, they just use their money and power to enforce the status quo they're used to.

Jk Rowling is a second wave feminist and she’s big mad that people without vaginas can call themselves women and be in women’s spaces.

Unfortunately you could have the best neo-vagina money could buy and terfs would still find an excuse to exclude you. It's not truly about genitalia, it's about being trans.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (3 children)

As far as I can tell, they didn't. J.K is a straight example, but Elon went looking for an edgy movement to align with, and Zuckerberg just wants to stay rich.

Your everyday regressives want to go after trans people because they don't think they can take gay people on anymore. Some political movements have capitaised on this to gain their support, and have captured rich supporters as well because trans abuse is compatible with the rich continuing to gain more and more power.

How rich are the Wichowski sisters? You bet they're not a fan of any of this.

[–] daggermoon@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Actually it's because Elon thinks the "woke left" took his child away from him. Even though he was an absent father who was never around. He has a trans daughter who he refers to as his son because he's a sack of shit.

[–] ooli2@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago

You might be right: it's a rebranding of anti-gay sentiment.

[–] Mr_Canard@jlai.lu 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)
[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Huh. He wouldn't be the first person to shit on their trans kid, I guess.

[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 41 points 19 hours ago

They are frequently interviewed.

Which means they are frequently asked: “Why’s everything fucked up?”

They can’t give the real answer, which is “ultra-rich people”.

So they give no answer at all (in which case you don’t hear about it) or they cite the Enemy Of The Day.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 13 points 15 hours ago (1 children)
[–] CluckN@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Oh so now we’re blaming the goats

[–] LapGoat@pawb.social 3 points 8 hours ago

what the heck!

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 23 points 18 hours ago

They saw /egg_irl and blame them for why eggs are now expensive.

[–] Robin@lemmy.world 90 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

You can't get ultra-rich while being a compassionate person

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[–] ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com 74 points 22 hours ago

preface: conjecture

musk and zuckerberg benefit from “othering” a group so that the majority of people get caught up in arguing about the rights of that group. While you’re busy being distracted by that they can push for agendas that benefit their companies and personal wealth, which inherently fuck you over.

musk does seem to have a personal vendetta as well given his issues with his trans daughter but I truly think this is ancillary to enriching his wealth and power. He also seems to love getting involved in topics that rile people up because deep down he’s a 14 year old reddit troll

rowling is double down and attention. She has a shit take, posts about it, people call her out. She’s a literal billionaire “beloved author” used to being surrounded by hangers on so being challenged wrecks her shit. Rather than reflect and look at scientific consensus she doubles down on her shit take. Because of people like above this gets her increasing amounts of attention and relevance so her beliefs are reaffirmed and deepened constantly. Now she’s consulted to speak authoritatively on the matter despite having no actual qualification other than being a rich lady who got into twitter arguments about it

Many of these apply to nobodies as well. Your stupid anti trans neighbor benefits from “othering” someone because it gives them someone to deflect blame onto. For most of American history it was black people, or Hispanic people, sometimes Jews, basically any minority. They also will double down when called out on shit takes and will absolutely respond to attention given for shit takes.

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 46 points 21 hours ago

There must always be an "underclass" in capitalism for the upper echelons to threaten the middle echelons. No exceptions. Wether that's the homeless, psychiatric patients, gay or trans people... doesn't matter. There will be some regional differences in what constitutes this underclass but the end result is always the same. Capitalism CANNOT FUNCTION without this implicit threat of excommunication and starvation.

The only real difference with the recent past is that all of this has become much, much more explicit than it ever used to be before. But make no mistake, even with a Biden or Harris at the helm, this would still be the case, just much more muted.

This is a feature of the system, not a flaw, and will never change as long as capitalism in its current form dominates.

[–] DragonsInARoom@lemmy.world 24 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Easy to scapegoat like most minorities that a large part of the population has never interacted with before.

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[–] DinosaurThussy@hexbear.net 17 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

The reasons generally start out personal and become generalized as a political “position”, which really consumes your life after a while.

Rowling has said that she had a queer “phase” and that if she were going through that nowadays, she would likely have ended up considering herself trans (incorrectly, by her assertion). That reads to me as some internalized bigotry that she never worked through. Musk has a daughter who’s a trans woman and disowned him for being a piece of shit. He started posting about “pronouns” soon after. And Zuckerberg seems to have seen the way the winds are blowing with the current administration and jumped on the anti-trans bandwagon because he’s a lizard man with no soul (metaphorically, not in the David Icke antisemitic way). These are all guesses, but not based on nothing.

It ends up being socially unacceptable to say, “trans people remind me of my estranged daughter so I don’t like them,” and rightly so. So you have to retreat and bury the context, taking it up as a matter of principle. And your mind can backfill the justification over and over again, further cementing the ideas as people start to ask you to talk about trans people over and over again. After all, you’re a public figure who doesn’t like trans people. That’s a hot topic. People on Twitter want to talk about it. Reporters want to talk about it. So it snowballs from there. Transphobia can absolutely take over the life of a public figure.

Philosophy Tube has an excellent video on something called phantasms and how people get stuck in irrational worldviews. Would recommend.

[–] ooli2@lemm.ee 2 points 7 hours ago

astute observation. Zuckerberg with all his new 'masculine energy" stuff, could still fit in your approach: he dont accept his woman side

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 26 points 19 hours ago

Poor, trans, minorities, leftists, educated, and even moderate Republicans are all under attack. These billionaires participate so they can be part of the fascist takeover of this country, not through any personal conviction.

[–] whydudothatdrcrane@lemmy.ml 33 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

It is easy for many people to think trans wars is a distraction, scapegoating, or a genuine threat to the authoritarian world view. I ask you to carefully consider that anti-trans hate is genuine.

Nazis had prioritized Jewish genocide and pursued it to an irrational degree, even prioritized the genocide to actually winning the war. Some analysts say that this shows their war was always and primarily against civilian Jews.

We have evidence to think this is the case with trans people now.

The recent "anti-christian bias" order outright frames trans rights as an enemy of their ingroup.

Reed has covered the leaked Christian emails that show them believe trans people are demons and evil incarnation and want to wipe them from the face of the earth.

Rowling has been caught on tape saying she wants to minimize the number of people transitioning so that they have less work to do "special accommodations later" for trans people.

For those aware of the term Sonderbehandlung this leaves no doubt: trans people are their primary enemy, they have poured their millions into the pockets of nutjobs and politicians that will relieve them from having to live side by side with trans people.

Don't be fooled that this is just distraction and/or scapegoating by power-mongers.

They have a trans Holocaust in the making and they have already put the plot in motion. ACT NOW

Edit:

I realize I might have not responded directly to OP's question. See the following for my take.

My analysis linking Bathroom Bans as early signs of completely banning trans people out of public life https://lemmy.ml/post/25037664

I wrote this while still believing that anti-trans hate was an election-winning distraction. It partly responds to where anti-trans hate comes from https://lemmy.ml/post/24711061

In this sense many people are deeply transphobic, but billionaires have the resources to eradicate trans people from public life. The rest can only curse, badmouth, trash, verbally attack, workplace harass, fire, refuse healthcare, sexually or physically attack or mob-lynch trans people. Every transphobe does as much as they can get away with. Billionaire transphobes can get away with genocide so they're doing that.

Additional resources in support of the argument

Summary of early Holocaust course of events and why targeted people were not mobilized https://lemmy.ml/post/25008729/16208799

Erin Reed article on fundamentalist anti-trans lobbyists' leaked emails https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/2600-leaked-anti-trans-lobbyist-emails

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