By Calvin Freiburger
Article Source
Twitter has begun suspending accounts for using the pejorative “groomer,” deeming the label “hateful conduct” after appeals from left-wing voices to the social media giant.
“We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice, or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized,” Twitter health product communications lead Lauren Alexander told the Daily Dot, which advocated for the change. “For this reason, we prohibit behavior that targets individuals or groups with abuse based on their perceived membership in a protected category.”
“Use of this term is prohibited under our Hateful Conduct policy when it is used as a descriptor, in context of discussion of gender identity,” she added. “We recognize we have more work to do to ensure this content is addressed in a timely and consistent manner and we continue to invest in our automated tools and people teams to identify and address gaps in our enforcement.”
The policy change has already been used to temporarily suspend James Lindsay, a mathematician and Twitter personality who tweeted “OK groomer” at Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director at the far-left Media Matters:
Twitmo made me confess to another crime I don't actually recognize. Lmao. I recommend following me somewhere else too. Also follow @NewDiscourses. pic.twitter.com/SEbMaHfaxJ
— James Lindsay, America's top Christian nationalist (@ConceptualJames) July 27, 2022
Despite the framing of Twitter and its left-wing allies, however, “groomer’s” current usage is not about sexual orientation. The term traditionally refers to pedophiles’ manipulation of children in order to molest them. Over the past year, conservatives have adopted it to identify far-left activists who push sexually-charged topics on prepubescent children, from gender fluidity to same-sex attraction to sexual promiscuity.
Some have objected to this use of the label on the grounds that rhetorically tying one’s political opponents to pedophilia is tremendously severe, and these activists are generally not directly molesting children. However, while they may not be grooming children into committing sex acts with adults, the activists are grooming children to be sex-minded ideological radicals, to doubt and resist their biological reality at the cost of major medical and mental woes, and to sexually experiment alone or with other children.
Lindsay stands by using “groomer” to denote both sexual predators and those who indoctrinate children into “queer Marxist ideology.”
“I call people who engage in either of these grooming behaviors ‘groomers’ because it’s wrong to do and because that’s what they’re doing: grooming,” he told the Daily Caller.