Ask A Genius 1160: On Kamala Harris
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/11/11
*Interview conducted October/November, 2024.*
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What about her highness, Kamala Harris? What are your thoughts on Harris? Same question about her.
Rick Rosner: Harris, in the past, has been seen as maybe not good because of the roundabout answers she gives. And some of it is the media looking for ways to make her look bad when there’s nothing there. For instance, she was at a meeting and introduced herself in a weird way that the media wanted you to think was weird. “I am Kamala Harris. I’m so and so. I’m wearing a blue blouse,” or something like that.
And the media wanted you to think, “What’s her deal there?” The deal was that there was somebody blind at the meeting, and she was trying to describe herself for someone who couldn’t see her. In her latest incarnation, since she’s been running for president, she hasn’t had any serious gaffes. She’s been lucky, but she’s only been running for president for, what, 3 months? Which has limited her chances of saying something the media could use against her.
She hasn’t had anything, at least lately. If you look at attack ads, when she was attorney general, she stood up for a murderer in prison, I guess, for life, to get gender-affirming care. A trans person who had been a murderer and needed medical support for their transness, which is a long-standing policy within U.S. prisons. This is something that started in the ’70s, where people started coming out as trans in prisons and fighting to get medical support for their transness. People have been arguing about it since then, but the right wing was trying to hang it on her—she was being a political activist, saying this murderer should get special treatment for being trans, even though they killed people.
Though I’d have to look it up to see if it was the Boston Strangler, but some notorious serial killer of women became trans and tried to live as a woman on death row somewhere in the ’80s, maybe. There were pictures of her with her fake boobs and her prison boyfriend. This person was allowed to live as trans on death row or wherever this person was, and the people who got appalled by this were appalled. And yes, the pictures were appalling. But the idea that this is a new thing—it’s been going on for 50 years. Trying to hang it on Harris, as if she’s been an activist in this area, reeks of bullshit.
The problem with trans issues, one of the issues, is that it’s only fairly recently, within the last 10 or 15 years, that trans people have been coming out as a social presence—demanding to be seen as individuals and as a group in society. Before the 21st century, you had people who chose to be trans—some famous people who got trans surgery. But the movement for trans rights and recognition has really taken off within the last 12 years.
Is that reasonable?
Jacobsen: Probably accurate.
Rosner: Although it might be a little more difficult to look at the precise data, but I’m sure. The problem is that with trans people, who are maybe 1% of the population—which isn’t a huge percentage in a big country like the U.S., but still a lot of people—there are millions of trans people in the U.S., along with millions more gender-fluid people. With millions of people involved, the U.S. has to come up with policies: What to do about trans people in sports, what to do about bathrooms. Republicans try to say that this is the Democrats radicalizing society, making society all gay and trans. Which is bullshit because it’s trans people demanding to be recognized as people in society. It’s not the Democrats trying to make everybody trans. It’s people who are trans wanting to live their lives, and the government having to figure out policies regarding trans people. So the Republicans want to make it look like the Democrats are on this campaign.
It’s Democrats recognizing transness as a civil rights issue, not some agenda. The whole thing puts Democrats in a position where Republicans can bullshit people about it. Rotten tomatoes.
Jacobsen: Question. Do Americans have a bigger issue with lesbians or with gay men?
Rosner: Well, you could argue that most of the population doesn’t have an issue with either group. When you poll people, the vast majority of Americans now are in favor of gay marriage. When you look at our TV shows, Americans and the world will accept gay characters living their lives, being portrayed doing the stuff that any normal gay person would do—being married or having a same-sex partner, or just being gay out in the world. Where, 20 years ago, that would have been seen as “ick” by a huge percentage of Americans. But now, most people are fine with it. So, I disagree with the question that it’s a bigger issue with gay men or lesbians. Most Americans don’t have a problem with it, or at least, most Americans strive not to be assholes about it. It’s some people who are gay, lesbian, or whatever.
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