Letters to the Editor: While eulogizing Charlie Kirk, don’t dehumanize trans people in the process
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- A Santa Barbara reader responds to Josh Hammer’s Charlie Kirk op-ed, criticizing the use of anti-trans rhetoric and false claims about transgender violence.
- The letter argues that terms like “transgenderism” are dehumanizing, while data show trans people are more likely to be victims than perpetrators.
- The response highlights the irony of a Jewish writer using dehumanizing tactics historically employed against marginalized communities, including Jewish people.
To the editor: I was stunned to read contributing writer Josh Hammer’s recent op-ed (“A fringe on the right is twisting Charlie Kirk’s memory,” Sept. 19). I appreciate and want to read alternative views. But perpetuating false information about and dehumanization of a highly vulnerable and persecuted group warrants a thoughtful, fact-based response. Here is my attempt:
Hammer uses the term “transgenderism,” a word widely viewed by advocates as dehumanizing and dismissive, commonly used as anti-trans rhetoric rather than fact-based discussion. His implication that transgender people are uniquely prone to commit violence is contradicted by the actual data.
Trans individuals are statistically far more likely to be victims of violence, while most mass shootings continue to be carried out by cisgender men. Claims of a so-called epidemic of violence by trans people typically arise from misinformation and biased political discourse following high-profile incidents.
While I am not Jewish or an expert in Jewish history, I understand how devastating dehumanization through false facts has been for this community over time. That’s what makes Hammer’s article, in which he states numerous times that he is Jewish, particularly disappointing. It’s painful to see tactics historically used to marginalize one group now directed at another, especially when we know how damaging and dangerous this pattern can be.
Dean Carter, Santa Barbara
