An image of JD Vance allegedly dressed as a woman and wearing a blonde wig was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday. The unconfirmed image quickly picked up steam and began trending under the hashtag #SofaLoren, a reference to the iconic Italian actress Sophia Loren and false claims that the Republican senator had sex with a couch.

ā€¦

Many commenters online connected Vanceā€™s alleged history of cross-dressing with his legislative historyā€”which has long been a point ofĀ concernĀ for LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.

The Ohio senator introduced the ā€œProtect Childrenā€™s Innocence Act,ā€ whichĀ aims to criminalizeĀ medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care to minors.

The Republican vice presidential pick also supports measures to limit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, and labeled critics of so-called ā€œdonā€™t say gayā€ legislationĀ ā€œgroomers.ā€

  • snooggums
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    1 month ago

    You are stating the literal hypocrisy and saying it isnā€™t hypocrisy. I have no idea what nuance you are saying is there.

    Pointing out hypocrisy is actually fairly effective with uninformed people. If they have only a passing interest in JD couch molester, but are made aware of his anti-trans/drag legislation at the same time they find out he was cool doing it himself, they will be likely to not believe his bullshit in the future. No, it wonā€™t swing his base who are already on the cognitive dissonance express, but it might help motivate someone on the fence to get out and vote against him.

      • snooggums
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        1 month ago

        The issue is this: hypocrisy is a very surface level complaint.

        The ā€˜rules for thee but not for meā€™ kind of hypocrisy is extremely important.

          • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I think thereā€™s just a disagreement with your core premise.

            There is a subset of people that are not engaged and unaware of Vanceā€™s legislative history or public statements regarding drag. Those people will generally not engage with long thoughtful nuanced discourse. Those are the people that pointing out hypocrisy speaks to. An article or long post just doesnā€™t work. A quick meme does. Itā€™s a simple cognitive shortcut to get them engaged, and itā€™s effective. Yes, I get a bit of masturbatory joy when I see that stuff, but it shouldnā€™t be meant for me. This stuff is meant to go ā€œviralā€ so it gets in front of the non-engaged eyeballs.

            We need to use every single goddamn tool in the toolbox we have to engage people and get them to turn out. All of it. Including pointing out hypocrisy.

              • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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                1 month ago

                Fair enough on the terminology.

                Everyone is aware of the GQPā€™s obsession with drag queens/trans folks/bathrooms/etc. You can attack this obsession with this photo.

                So attacking their obsession is okay, but taking it one step further and explaining that theyā€™re not only obsessed but hypocritical somehow makes it out of bounds?

                I am truly trying to understand your point, and I think others have too, but it simply isnā€™t there. Can you just specifically say what you would like to see written when communicating this information to someone? What specifically do you want said about JD Vance when someone posts this photo? I think that might help.

                  • MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world
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                    1 month ago

                    It was a question, trying to understand what the hell youā€™re trying to say. Donā€™t really think itā€™s fair to call that ā€œwildly mischaracterizedā€ but you do you.

                    Happy to move on. You should really work on communicating your thoughts though. Youā€™re not making any sense and wasting a bunch of peopleā€™s time who are trying to engage with you in good faith, and then getting combative when itā€™s pointed out. We canā€™t see eye to eye while youā€™re facing the other direction.