Sam Harris is an American writer, podcaster, and anti-transgender activist. Harris is a key figure in the intellectual dark web (IDW), described as a gateway to the far right. In 2020, Harris disavowed the IDW, and in 2021 Harris symbolically returned the “imaginary membership card to this imaginary organization.”
Background
Samuel Benjamin Harris was born on April 9, 1967 in Los Angeles, California to parents who were both in entertainment. Harris left Stanford after an experience with MDMA and spent about a decade learning spiritual practices in India and Nepal. Harris returned and completed a bachelor’s degree in 2000. Harris earned a doctorate from UCLA in 2009.
Harris published the book The End of Faith in 2004. harris has gone on to be a critic of religion, especially Islam. Harris has debated many people on religion, including Rick Warren, Deepak Chopra, Jean Houston, William Lane Craig, and Reza Aslan. Harris has also appeared in debated on religion with anti-trans extremists Andrew Sullivan, Jordan Peterson, and Michael Shermer.
Harris and spouse Annaka Gorton have two children.
Podcast
Harris began the podcast Waking Up in 2013, later renamed Making Sense.
References
Young, Sam (Oct 26, 2022). Sam Harris, J.K. Rowling, and the Cesspool of Anti-Trans Activism. An Injustice! https://aninjusticemag.com/sam-harris-j-k-rowling-and-the-cesspool-of-anti-trans-activism-3e2753e5b6da
Peter Clarke is an American writer and anti-transgender activist.
Clarke has shown support for several anti-trans extremists, including Michael Shellenberger, Amy Hamm and Jesse Singal.
Background
Peter M. Clarke was born in August 1985 in Port Angeles, Washington. Clarke earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Washington University in 2007 and a law degree from University of the Pacific in 2010.
Clarke wrote for Reputation.com, LegalMatch, FindLaw, Indiegogo, and Judicial Council of California. Clarke wrote the books Politicians Are Superheroes and The Singularity Survival Guide. Clarke has also written for Areo Magazine, The Humanist, The American Spectator, Quillette, and Free Inquiry Magazine. Clarke founded Jokes Literary Review.
Clarke is based in Sacramento, California.
Anti-trans activism
Clarke wrote a sympathetic profile of anti-trans extremist Michael Shellenberger, part of a sustained effort by a faction of anti-trans activists critical of progressivism.
Clarke wrote a sympathetic profile of anti-trans extremist Jesse Singal after a panel featuring Destiny, Vaush, and Emma Vigeland discussed Singal’s extensive anti-transgender activism:
To be clear, if Singal did have horribly offensive views about trans people or gender dysphoria, then, of course, the Seder-Vigeland position would be correctâor, at least, defensible. Some people are, unfortunately, transphobic in the genuine sense of the term. But Singal is not. It is certainly possible to disagree with Singalâs position. But it is not possible to find an ounce of bigotry in his writing. He is, in this respect, a âgood liberal.â
Clarke (2023)
Clarke’s view on gender:
- Gender is cultural and is great to play with if you want
- Technology is going to radically change our biology but canât do much yet
- People should hold their identities lightly rather than pretending like theyâre sacred
Clarke’s view on sex:
If someone is biologically male, they canât change to biologically female. The medical interventions are crude, often harmful, and not incredibly successful right now. The culture war on this topic, in my view, would be more civil if identity was less important to people.
References
Clarke, Peter (October 17, 2023). How Jesse Singal Became the Symbol of Polarization on the Left. Merion West https://merionwest.com/2023/10/17/how-jesse-singal-became-the-symbol-of-polarization-on-the-left/
Clarke, Peter (May 13, 2022). Can California Change?âAn Interview with Michael Shellenberger. Quillette https://quillette.com/2022/05/13/can-california-change/
Resources
Peter M. Clarke (petermclarke.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
Substack (substack.com)
Wrongspeak was a podcast produced by Quillette and hosted by anti-trans activists Debra Soh and Jonathan Kay.
The show featured a number of other anti-transgender activists and people associated with the so-called intellectual dark web, a loose alliance described as a âgateway to the far right.â
Episode
- #17 â The Family Business with Barbara Kay
- #16 â Our Lines are Open: Confessions of a Talk Radio Host with Matt Gurney
- #15 â Khalistan in Canada with Balraj Deol and Niru Kumar
- #14 â Such a Shanda with Naftuli Moster
- #13 â Comedy Without Hashtags with Craig Lauzon
- #12 â Transparency Evangelism with Minds CEO Bill Ottman
- #11 â 35 Years of Wasted Time with Edward Hertrich
- #10 â Thatâs Not Funny with Mike Ward and Jamie Kilstein
- #9 â TERF v. Trans with Meghan Murphy and Julie Rei Goldstein
- #8 â Gender Dysphoria 101 with Dr. Susan Bradley
- #7 â Short Cut: Assaulting pro-lifers with Marie-Claire Bissonnette
- #6 â Academic Mobbing with Jonathan Haidt, Bret Weinstein & Rebecca Tuvel
- #5 â David Frum on Discourse in Trumpâs America
- #4 â Wrongspeak Review Vol. 1 with Ed the Sock and Adrienne Batra
- #3 â Too Young to Transition? (featuring Susan Bradley)
- #2 â The Shepherd Effect with Lindsay Shepherd
- #1 â James Damoreâs Inconvenient Brain
Uncomfortable Truths: The Reality of Gender Identity Ideology is an anti-transgender propaganda series by Travis D. Brown.
Announced participants from 2023 include conservative and anti-trans extremists:
The series includes anti-trans extremists sharing their views on specific trans issues, as well as Peter Boghossian asking random people on the street leading questions about trans issues.
The project had a preview at the November 2023 Genspect anti-trans conference.
Resources
The Signal Productions (thesignalproductions.com)
Twitter (twitter.com)
Locals (locals.com)
Chandler Ellis Burr (born 1963) is an American journalist and perfume curator. Burr is known for his hereditarian views on sexual orientation and sex differences, and he claims that his critics “hate science.”
Burr was on the roster of the Human Biodiversity Institute (HBI), a hereditarian organization created by conservative businessman Steve Sailer.
Background
Burr was born in Chicago and graduated from Christian Science school Principia College. He then worked in the Southeast Asia bureau of The Christian Science Monitor. Burr later wrote for The Atlantic and US News & World Report. He identifies as gay and atheist and has written extensively about the perfume industry.
Views on sexual orientation
Following a 1993 Atlantic cover story on “homosexuality and biology,” Burr expanded that work into the 1996 book A Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation. That book also briefly covers the search of causes of gender identity and expression.
Views on bisexuality
As with many other HBI members, Burr has defended controversial psychologist J. Michael Bailey, in particular Bailey’s claims that men are “straight, gay, or lying,” a pernicious belief among some biased gay men and sexologists that male bisexuality doesn’t exist.
Burr wrote the following after New York Times journalist Benedict Carey presented an uncritical look at Bailey’s claims the bisexual men are “lying.”
The passage in bold perfectly summarizes why people like Burr can’t see their bias. Burr believes that because both “the right” and “the left” take issue with his spurious views, that Burr must be correct. This is a classic “argument to moderation” fallacy.
July 12, 2005
To the Editor:
Some gay and bisexual advocates are condemning “Straight, Gay or Lying?” regarding a study suggesting that bisexuality may not exist among human males – something those of us familiar with the scientific literature have known since, basically, forever.
Compare this hysterical – and anti-science – reaction to the conservative Christians’ anti-science reaction to studies showing that homosexuality is an inborn orientation like left-handedness. They’re identical.
The right hates science because the data contradict (in the case of homosexuality) Leviticus; the left because the data contradict the liberal lie that we’re environment-created, not hard-wired in any way.
These particular scientific facts are making these advocates scream like members of the extreme right, though it’s they who always tells the right to let go of concepts that are contradicted by science.
Chandler Burr
New York
The writer is the author of “A Separate Creation: The Search for the Biological Origins of Sexual Orientation.”
Resources
Chandler Burr (chandlerburr.com)
ProCon (procon.org)
Media Matters for America (MMFA) is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
Resources
Media Matters for America (mediamatters.org)
SourceWatch is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
Resources
SourceWatch (sourcewatch.org)
Media Bias/Fact Check (MB/FC) is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
Owner Dave Van Zandt divides organizations based on non-scientific criteria into five political categories:
- Left
- Left-Center
- Least Biased
- Right-Center
- Right
Other categories include:
- Pro-Science
- Conspiracy-Pseudoscience
- Questionable Sources
- Satire
- Retired/Offline
He also rates organizations based on six Factual/Sourcing scores:
- Very High
- High
- Mostly Factual
- Mixed
- Low
- Very low
Resources
Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
On the Media is an American media watchdog audio program that monitors and reports on media issues.
Their coverage of transgender topics in the media has been minimal.
Resources
On the Media (wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm)