Attack on Invisibility

My brain usually races ahead of me.  When I get an idea for a novel, for example, it doesn’t take very long before I’m focused on what happens in the fifth book in the series, despite not even having started writing book number one.  (Either that or planning which characters will be in the action figure line.)  Things like that

My brain runs ahead on planning this blog, too.  Right now, I know what my next ten blog topics are.  And there are about ten more topics that are pinned to specific dates up through the end of the year. 

There’s also a fairly lengthy list of topics that I know I’m going to write about, but haven’t yet added into the dated schedule.  One of those is about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which is what has classified me as being chronically ill and legally disabled since 1988.  I’m not sure exactly when I’ll get around to writing and posting that, but I suspect now that it will happen sooner rather than later.  

Anyway, today’s post was supposed to be about Reddit.  But I’ve had to shuffle things around to make room for what I’m actually posting today.  (The Reddit post is now on the schedule for October 5^th, just a couple of days after I return from the 2022 BrickCon LEGO convention in Seattle.) 

First, An Apology

The Mike that usually writes these posts is for the most part a relatively calm guy.  A guy who sits down, puts his fingers on the keyboard, and tries to do things like inform and entertain.  Injecting things he really hopes will come across as humor and creativity into this work.  That’s the guy you’re used to. 

But I’ve done far too much physical activity over the past few days, and I’m completely exhausted.  (Which is a longer story than I can tell here.)  I’m also getting far too late of a start on writing this post than I’m comfortable with.  And most importantly, the topic of today’s post is something that fucking pisses me off to no end.  So, today, instead of the writings of your usual blogger, you get the rantings of Angry Mike. 

At this point, you might very well be asking yourself, “Hmm, what is he upset about.”  And I wouldn’t blame you.  It’s not like it’s simple to narrow it down from the lengthy list of things currently going on to be pissed off about. 

The antics of the Supreme Court, including overturning Roe vs. Wade.  The efforts of lawmakers to straight up outlaw being transgender.  The accusations against Patreon that they are hosting child exploitation if not outright child pornography.  The general Republican playbook for the upcoming midterm elections.  The fact that nothing is being done about gun violence.  The simple existence of the MAGA movement.  And LEGO raising their prices. 

Not to mention the fact that Trump was in possession of classified documents pertaining to nuclear secrets and is still walking around free. 

And yet, none of those things has enraged me enough to dedicate a blog post to them.  So just what is the piece of straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back? 

Read on. 

 

J. K. Rowling Is Just a Horrible, Horrible Person

J. K. Rowling wrote an incredible series of books.  Which then became movies, and video games, and fed a merchandise engine that still won’t quit.  The Harry Potter franchise is a legitimate worldwide phenomenon. 

In the aftermath of that, J. K. Rowling was a beloved celebrity.  (I personally admired her not necessarily for her writing skills, but for her ability to tell a story that resonated so much with so many people,)  And oh, how I wish that she would have just quit while she was ahead. 

She’s written other stuff since then.  A couple more things in the Harry Potter universe, and a couple of stand-alone children’s books under her own name.  But most of what she’s written since then has been under the pen name Robert Galbraith. 

But her new books are not what she is currently most know for.  No, sadly, the current activity that she is most famous for now is going on the internet and attacking the transgender community. 

[There’s an obvious joke to make here whose punchline is about the fact that J. K. Rowling is a cisgender woman who identifies as a male mystery writer, but I don’t have the mental oomph right now to make it really funny.]

She has made the claim that she has great love for the LGBTQ community, but then spews these vile rants against the transgendered.  She doesn’t have a lot to say about trans men, but the trans women?  Yowza! 

She is apparently of the opinion that if you allow a trans woman into a woman’s bathroom or locker room, she will inevitably and automatically attack and/or rape all of the “real” women therein. 

She also seems to be of the opinion that if you accept trans women as “real” women, all you are doing is devaluing the concept of female.  Erasing the very concept of woman from both society and sexuality. 

And she’s also opposed to providing proper medical treatment for transgender children and teenagers.  She classifies it as child abuse.  As if forcing someone to grow up into a body they can’t stand because it doesn’t represent their inner self isn’t child abuse?  It’s apparently better to help drive your child to suicide than it is to have a trans child, I guess. 

She also makes a point of standing with other vocal transphobes, along with opposing trans activists. 

And because of her spouting these beliefs on the very public forum that is the internet, she’s gotten some backlash.  People are mean to her on Twitter.  She gets threats.  (Bodily harm, sexual assault, etc.)  She got really mad when trans activists posted pictures of themselves standing in front of her residence with the address numbers showing.  (Although since the castle she lives in is a local tourist attraction, I’m not sure why that really mattered.) 

The Ink Black Heart

Two weeks ago, J. K. Rowling’s new novel “The Ink Black Heart” by Robert Galbraith was released. 

I’m going to talk about this novel now, and I want to be perfectly up front about this:  I am talking about a book that I have not read.  And probably will not read. 

Why?  First of all, it’s book #6 in a series, and my OCD wouldn’t let me start a series on book #6.  I’d have to first read #1 – 5.  Second, even if I was able to just jump into the new book, I don’t have time to read the 1024 page book, certainly not before having to write this post, and definitely not with my current sleep deprivation induced illiteracy.  And third, knowing what I’ve heard about this book, I don’t think that my doctor has me on enough blood pressure medication for me to safely read this. 

The premise of this new book, juxtaposed with the recent public life of its author, is just absurd enough to pass as hilarious.  Because the victim in this murder mystery is a woman who created a popular entertainment product aimed at children who got into fights with several communities on the internet.  And was then murdered by one of them. 

Not counting the part about getting murdered, does that story ring a bell to you?  It seems obvious to me (and everyone else) that this poor sad victim is based on J. K. Rowling herself. 

Although Rowling says that simply isn’t the case.  No, she claims that she has had this story in mind since before everything that happened to her that parallels the murdered character actually happened.  (Okay.  Sure.  Whatever you say.) 

But while the (very Rowling-like) murder victim in the book was indeed accused of being a transphobe on the internet, they apparently aren’t the villains that did her in.  No, this time instead of the trans community, the targets of J. K. Rowling’s ire are… the disabled. 

If you’ve followed J. K. Rowling for any length of time, this might confuse you.  Because she’s often spoken out for disability rights.  But in what sadly seems like typical Rowling fashion, she’s not lashing out at the ‘real’ disabled people.  Just the people with the invisible disabilities. 

And I’m told that in the book, she calls out Chronic Fatigue Syndrome specifically as one of those non-‘real’ disabilities. 

(Sorry that it took me over a thousand words to finally get to the point.  I know, I’m longwinded.) 

First, she came for the transgendered, and I did nothing, for I was not transgendered.  Then she came for me. 

Quick Definition, Just in Case

Taking a moment here in editing to add this in.  Just in case you’re wondering exactly what an invisible disability is.  An invisible disability is just what it sounds like.  A disability that has no outward signs.  A person suffering from one isn’t immediately identifiable as a disabled person. 

One of the things that a person with an invisible disability typically hears most often is a phrase like, “But you don’t look disabled.”

All right.  Back to the post. 

A Target on the Backs of Me and All My People

If this was just another case of Rowling being Rowling, I would probably have just ignored it.  (And right now I’d be writing a post about Reddit.)  But the publication of “The Ink Black Heart” was just a snowball.  The actual snowball effect has happened over the course of the two weeks since. 

Ever since the publication of that book, there have been a large number of posts online decrying people who suffer from an invisible illness or disability.  These posts characterize the invisibly disabled in ways that make me sick to my stomach. 

In the opinion (and I stress the word opinion here) of these posters, the invisibly disabled are people (usually women) who have disabilities or illnesses that they cannot be proven or disproven to actually have.  Diseases that these people typically lie to doctors about to get the diagnosis that they want.  These people compete with each other to see who is sicker than who.  Many of these people are teenage girls who are addicted to sickness and sadness. 

Among the misinformation being spread here is the notion that invisible disabilities are simply the current trend, like eating Tide pods or doing the ice water challenge.  And that the invisibly disabled would rather simply be sick than have to go to work every day.  It’s like a weird distortion of Spider-Man’s mantra:  With a great diagnosis, comes NO responsibility. 

This is the absolute bullshit that I’ve been seeing online since the publication of Rowling’s new book. 

Okay, I accept that we live in a horrible shitsack world, and that in a horrible shitsack world there are going to be horrible shitsack people.  So it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that there are some illness charlatans out there who perform the actions outlined in the posts I’m talking about.  Living on a monthly disability check, getting Instagram likes for pictures of themselves laying in a hospital bed or taking a handful of pills. 

But those are con artists.  Those are not disabled people.  Invisible disabilities are real. 

And now people who are hearing about invisible disability for the first time are hearing about it through the cockeyed filter of these assholes spreading their misinformation like bullshit on a field. 

It’s difficult enough to be taken seriously with an invisible disability in the first place, but set against the backdrop of accusations like these?  It’s going to be practically impossible. 

The first time I brought up the fact that I’d been diagnosed with CFS to my previous doctor, I was told, “Yeah, that’s not a thing.  That’s not an actual disease.”  (Thank God he moved his practice and my insurance company made me get a new doctor.) 

We are legitimately sick.  Speaking solely as a CFS patient, I am far sicker than I usually let on.  I talk in here about going places, like to LEGO conventions.  I don’t talk about the physical toll that takes, and what it takes to recover from it.  I don’t talk about how close I’ve come to committing suicide because of this disease.  There’s a lot of stuff I just don’t talk about.  Partly because you don’t want to hear it.  And partly because I don’t want to have to justify it all to people who aren’t completely convinced that there’s really anything wrong with me. 

So, yeah.  I am indeed pissed off right now.  At Rowling.  At these members of the internet hate squad determined to spread misinformation and lies about the invisibly disabled.  At this reminder of what I and others like me have to go through to gain any credibility.  And, of course, at the invisible disability I suffer from.  I’d much rather be healthy and not have any skin in this game. 

Rant over now.  Next post should be happier. 

Okay… Deep Calming Breath

One last piece of very important business before I let you all go. 

I am very excited to announce that yesterday (September 13^th, 2022), Gail Simone followed me (https://twitter.com/ZeitgeistClown) on Twitter!

 

Yes, THAT Gail Simone.  One of the premiere comic book writers of our time.  The undisputed Queen of Twitter.  The tongue-in-cheek fountain of misinformation herself.  The supposedly human woman who is secretly a bear.  Followed ME.  And I don’t even think that it’s a precursor to starting up one of her infamous blood feuds with me! 

Wanted to end today’s post on an upbeat note, and getting followed by Gail Simone definitely qualifies.  I feel like I should get some sort of celebratory cake to mark this occasion.