The Econmist - USA (2021-11-06)

16 The Economist November 6th 2021
Letters

Acomedy of manners

It was unsurprising to watch

Dave Chappelle prod the

boundaries of American

propriety in his latest special

on Netflix (Lexington, October

16th). Flirting with inflamma­

tory rhetoric is the hallmark of

his work. Thus his special,

“The Closer”, is peppered with

the usual jokes lobbed at

African­Americans, Chinese

and Jews and, mostly these

days, trans people. What was

surprising was his support for

“team terf”, a pejorative term

applying to those who argue

that trans women are funda­

mentally not women. Some

would call this gender realism.

But to many trans people, to be

“trans­exclusionary” is to deny

their right to be themselves,

the very right to exist. 

Declaring oneself to be a

trans­exclusive feminist is

surely just a different type of

the “group politics” that

Lexington describes as “zero­

sum and exclusionary”. And it

was clear who was being ex­

cluded from Mr Chappelle’s

compassion. There was no

punchline. If he was being

sarcastic, the point was lost.

Standing ovations don’t make

it good, or right, or funny.

Once upon a time, yet not

that long ago, a popular posi­

tion on homosexuality was

that same­sex attraction was

biologically deviant, domes­

tically pernicious and

deserved to be derided.

Discrimination against gays

isn’t extinct, but thankfully the

culture has changed. 

jedd horvath

Victoria, Canada

As the parent of a trans young

adult, and seeing first­hand

the challenge and joy of watch­

ing someone I love becoming

more and more truly them­

selves, I watched “The Closer”

with a mixture of understand­

ing and dismay. I applauded

Mr Chappelle’s emotional

story of Daphne Dorman, a

trans woman, and his friend­

ship with her. But Sir Terry

Pratchett, a more thoughtful

and empathetic social observ­

er, got it right when he said,

“Satire is meant to ridicule

power.Ifyouarelaughingat

peoplewhoarehurting,it’snot

satire,it’sbullying.”

sarahmurphy

Hillsborough,California

I appreciatedLexington’stake

onMrChappelle.Asa liberal,

sociallyprogressivegay

person,I havebeenimpressed

byTheEconomist’s clear­head­

edanalysisoftopicsthatare

toohottotouchinmostother

media,suchastransgender

rightsversuswomen’srights

andtheriseofthe“illiberal

left”.MrChappelle’snewshow

didnotreceivegoodreviews,

whichissurprisingbecause,as

thecolumnpointedout,the

wokeleft’stakeontransgender

issuesisa fringeopinion.It

makesonewonderwhythese

reviewersfeltobligedto

pandertothisvocalfringe.

jamesjiang

NewYork

Spain’srightwing

Notonceinyourentirearticle

onIsabelDíazAyuso(“Liberty

lady”,October23rd)didyou

mentionthatshecouldnot

havebecomepresidentofthe

Madridregionwithoutthe

supportofVox,a far­right

partythatisanti­feministand

nostalgicforFranco.MsAyuso

can’tpassa budgetoranyof

herinitiativeswithout

convincingVoxtolendherits

votes.Shehasexpressedher

comfortwithVoxmanytimes

andadopteditsrhetoric.

coltonwalworth

Naperville,Illinois

Kings of the road

I invite anyone on the staff of

The Economistto come to my

company and learn to drive a

heavy­goods vehicle (“Only the

best”, October 9th). We may not

ask for people with lots of

letters after their name or

fancy degrees, but the job of

being an hgvdriver is a life­

long professional learning

experience, requiring practical

skills, strength of character,

emotional intelligence and

years of dedicated service. The

task of piloting a fully laden

44­tonne hgvon Britain’s

roads comes with a huge

responsibilityforpersonaland

publicsafety.A momentary

slipinconcentrationcanhave

fatalconsequences.Driversare

accountableforeveryminute

oftheirworkingdayunderan

overbearingsystemof

regulationandcompliance.

I wonderhowmanyofthe

unquestionablyskilledwriters

atyourpapercouldpassthe

testaseasilyasimpliedby

yourarticle?

charlesdownie

Managingdirector

BactonTransportServices

Woolpit,Suffolk

Votersv greens

Ordinaryconsumerswere

mostlyleftoutofSchumpe­

ter’sanalysisofintroducinga

carbontaxtopayforemissions

(October9th).Lookingatthe

negativereactionamongcon­

sumerstohigherfuelpricesin

EuropeandNorthAmericaI

wonderhowmuchsupport

therewillbeforcarbontaxes

astheymovefroma policy

concepttopocketbookreality.

Consumersarealsovoters.

Howwilltheyreactwhen

carbontaxesmakeit harderto

affordtotravelandenjoymany

otherthingsthatwetakefor

grantedtoday?

Schumpeterbelievescon­

sumerswilladapttheirbehav­

iour.Butgovernmentsare

doingnothingtoeducateand

preparethemforthesefuture

changes.I wouldexpecttosee

a lotofquestioningandchal­

lengestocarbontaxes,whatev­

erthemeritsofsucha policyin

reducingemissions.

roddobson

Oakville,Canada

Tree surgery

“Treedemic” (October 9th)

reported on how the global

trade in trees is spreading tree

diseases in Britain. The atten­

tion in Britain has rightly

focused on the threat that

infected nursery stock poses to

forest biosecurity. In fact, the

treedemic is a global public­

good dilemma. Without

collective action, it will

imperil society’s best efforts to

sequester carbon through

forest conservation and initia­

tives to plant trillions of trees. 

In America alone the

annual biomass loss from

treedemics easily matches

what is lost to fire. Meanwhile,

treedemics are poorly studied

in the developing world, where

more people depend directly

on forest resources for their

livelihoods and survival. Rules

from the World Trade Organi­

sation guard against economic

protectionism but do not help

shield forest ecosystems from

treedemics. As new agree­

ments emerge, scientists must

ensure that they give teeth to

climate action by empowering

partners to protect forest

biosecurity.

geoffrey williams

International sentinel network

co­ordinator

usForest Service

Washington,dc

Your article leaves one feeling

a special kind of grief for lost

trees: “treef”

julian haber

Montreal

Split cover

I noticed that your auction of a

non­fungible token for a

recent cover raised $420,

for charity (“How our nft

auction went”, October 30th).

At considerably less expense, I

have acquired my own nftof

The Economist’s rabbit­hole

cover: a Non­Framed Tear­off.

don sancton

Beaconsfield, Canada

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