From Badlands NewsBrief for April 1, 2024 — and NO, this is NOT an April Fools joke.
The “culture wars” have reached Easter.
President Joe Biden on Friday issued a proclamation recognizing March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility, just as he has commemorated the day every year since he has been in office.
As Easter Sunday falls on March 31 this year, conservatives responded furiously, accusing the president, who is Catholic, of attempting to stifle Christian values by highlighting the event during an important religious holiday.
The controversy, which has galvanized conservatives and which transgender advocates say is manufactured, is the latest in a series of social conflicts that has enveloped the political process and current electoral cycle.
House leadership voiced their outrage, as did the Trump campaign, demanding an apology from the White House. The White House pushed back, saying that “as a Christian who celebrates Easter with family, President Biden stands for bringing people together and upholding the dignity and freedoms of every American.”
The Transgender Day of Visibility, observed on March 31 each year, was started by advocates 15 years ago as a way to celebrate transgender people and raise awareness of the discrimination they face.
Easter falls on a different date each year that is determined by a calculation related to lunar phases — the overlap between the two this year is coincidental. It is common for there to be multiple proclamations for the same date: Easter Sunday will also be Cesar Chavez day. — Politico
Our Take: “I’ve been watching the outrage this proclamation prompted from Christian influencers and mainstream conservative media.
The main talking point is that making the declaration of trans day of visibility on Easter Sunday is blasphemous and offensive to Christians.
To me, this is a really great opportunity to understand the online outrage machine and how it is used for emotional manipulation that serves our enemy in numerous ways.
Firstly, it entices conservatives into intentionally divisive eddies of social media. Here, they are meant to reinforce within each other the feeling of being attacked. The goal is right wing reactionary behaviour and fear of the erasure of the Christian identity.
Secondly, it provides fodder for the propaganda that is then fed to the left wing population.
This Politico headline couldn’t have more transparently identified the intention of operations like this.
Finally, this reads as an operation to me because Trans Day of Visibility was established in 2009 by Rachel Crandall, the head of Transgender Michigan, a Michigan-based transgender advocacy organization. It was initially held on March 31st, 2009, and has been observed on that date ever since.
Which means that these two ‘days’ won’t overlap again for another 11 years. Biden’s proclamation was intended to inflame and fuel the culture war.
What we need to be mindful of is how much the online outrage machine avails conservative cognition to the enemy. More specifically, how much will we allow operations like this to consume emotional energy within the digital domain that is better spent either in the physical domain or in using the digital domain to focus on building a parallel society?
We need to remember that curated outrage, especially when we are morally and objectively right about the nature of an attack, is one if the enemy’s go-to advantages.” — Simon Esler
From Politico: “In ALL-CAPS Easter message, Trump rips into his foes
The message revived old grudges against his legal nemeses.”
Trump has been indicted on 91 charges in various cases, though he has yet to be convicted on any of them.
The post was not unusual for a holiday greeting from the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. His posts last year on Christmas Eve and Christmas covered similar terrain with one ending “IT’S CALLED ELECTION INTERFERENCE. MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Another message concluded: “MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
Trump’s jam-packed TruthSocial feed Sunday also included derogatory material about Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who is set to retire from the House in April, as well as Judge Arthur F. Engoron and Judge Juan Merchan — and Merchan’s daughter. There were also polling stories and a photo of him receiving a golf trophy from Jack Nicklaus, winner of 18 major championships and perhaps the most accomplished golfer of all time. Trump boasted last week that he had won championships at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
In contrast, Biden posted Sunday: “Jill and I send our warmest wishes to Christians around the world celebrating Easter Sunday. Easter reminds us of the power of hope and the promise of Christ’s Resurrection.”
Biden’s message ended: “From our family to yours, happy Easter and may God bless you.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misidentified Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
What is missed is how it was messaged and timing and sequence of messages. Biden first made a big deal of the transgender proclamation which was done on purpose with specific Internet. He simply gave the traditional Easter Day acknowledgement. Then never even mentioned the Caesar Chavez Day. Which is how the Transgender Day should have been handled.
All “sides” are trying their damnedest to elicit responses…you have to be strong in what you believe in and do your own due diligence.