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David Tennant, of Dr Who fame, apparently said some pro trans things and now the TERFs are going after him on Twitter. His response is that he isn't worried because, and I quote, "I'll be fine, Terfs can't climb stairs"

I want that on a T-shirt. No, I NEED that on a T-shirt!

ETA: Apparently it was a parody account that said the stairs line. I still want it on a T-shirt.

in reply to Sarah Brown

This is a fantastic quote even without context, but is there context to this stairs thing? Like, don't get me wrong; I am already picturing a world where TERFs cannot climb stairs and just hiss at you from below as you mock them from higher ground, but is there a reason for this?
in reply to Birdy

@birdy In the old series of Doctor Who, Daleks couldn't climb stairs
in reply to altreus™

@Altreus @birdy Thank you. I did not know the reference.

Love this quote even more, now.

in reply to Marc Jacobs

@trollball @Altreus @birdy also the Daleks aren't just "bad guys". They are a species artificially designed for the sole purpose of hate, that's all they know. They have no art, no culture, nothing at all. Only hatred towards anything and anyone that isn't Dalek.
in reply to Pelayo

@pelayo @trollball @Altreus @birdy
Also also, the Daleks were very specifically created by scriptwriter Terry Nation as "Nazis in space", so to anyone who knows the show's history (which Tennant definitely does), comparing a group of people to the Daleks comes with an implied "and we know who they were based on"...
in reply to altreus™

@Altreus @birdy I vaguely remember a story from @neilhimself about being terrified of Daleks until he realized his bedroom was on the second floor.
in reply to Mx Amber Alex (she/it)

It was a British popular culture thing that daleks from Dr. Who weren't that scary, really, because you could just climb some stairs and then they'd be stuck.

Tennant played Dr. Who, so he's likening TERFs to daleks, because TERFs are also fascist-adjacent assholes who want to exterminate people. It's also funny because most of the leading transphobes are of the boomer generation, and quite possibly are starting to struggle with stairs.

in reply to Sarah Brown

sadly it seems the account that came from was a satire account twitter.com/PoliticoForYou/sta…

but it is 100% something i am going to keep in my back pocket to use against TERFs and other fascist

This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to miawgogo :KirbyVerified:

@miawgogo :class800: ah, the perils of relaying Twitter gossip in an age when it’s practically impossible to access!

Still, he seems like a good egg on the issue and I still want the T shirt.

JdeBP reshared this.

in reply to Sarah Brown

I looked this up and it looks more like it was someone covering the event who joked that he said this. I'd love it if it turned out to be true!
in reply to Space Hobo

@spacehobo Yes, I looked too and couldn’t find a direct source. The t-shirt is definitely genuine, though.
in reply to Sarah Brown

doesn't surprise me. I've recently discovered on his wife's Instagram that their child is trans and non binary and that they both support them
in reply to Sarah Brown

@doot every time I've seen David Tenant do anything I've always liked the guy more. I think his kid is non-binary and he's taking a stance for them
in reply to Zekovski

@Zekovski ☀️ 👕 🥗 Apparently it wasn't him that said it, but no need to boost; this has gone viral and is already taxing my poor server a bit!
in reply to Sarah Brown

Don't you want to edit your message to make things clear ?
in reply to Sarah Brown

I'm sorry, I don't understand the link between editing the post and server capacity ?
in reply to Zekovski

@Zekovski ☀️ 👕 🥗 this went viral. I’m on a micro instance run from a Mac mini in my living room. At one point, this post was making the server run about 12 hours behind.

Editing the post causes a whole new rush of activitypub to happen as it has to go and inform everyone who has interacted with it, just making the problem worse.

I eventually did edit it when the load dropped a bit, but that still took 7 hours to propagate through.

in reply to Sarah Brown

Oh ! I didn't know this was your personal small instance.

Seems like a lot to me. I wonder how ActivityPub makes it so much work.

Anyway, have a nice day. Hope your mac will not set itself on 🔥.

in reply to Zekovski

@Zekovski Looks like the quote is actually probably from a Twitter satire account, alas.
Unknown parent

Nadav Perez-Vaisvidovsky
@Uraael
It is worth noting, though, that immediately following this statement the said Dalek hovers in the air, thus bypassing the stairs.
Wonder if TERFs can do that to
@amberage @goatsarah
in reply to Sarah Brown

David Tennent and Georgia have a nb / trans kid. They are always publicly supportive of trans or nb people.

Today he wore a tshirt and badge to a Good Omens media call. Previously he had other badges to wear

in reply to Sarah Brown

Yes! People kept trying to link TERFs calling women 'females' to the Ferengi, but I always thought...
in reply to Sarah Brown

he also wears an enby pin regularly, apparently, I think one of his children is non-binary. Also wore a "leave trans kids alone" tshirt to a Good Omens 2 set. He's a cool actor
Unknown parent

Sarah Brown
@The Arcane Composer @EH Lupton perils of relying on gossip I fear, but he still seems like his head is in the right place from other responses.
Unknown parent

Robin Bobcat
@maloki @birdy Long-running joke. They can, in fact, levitate up stairs.
Unknown parent

marnanel
oh!! All I could think of is that song about dachshunds with erections
This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

that is great. British people have some of the wildest burns.
Unknown parent

brainfreeze

As someone who doesn't know anything about either of these, thanks!

@goatsarah @amberage @NadavPV

in reply to Sarah Brown

Is there a source for this? I like to verify sources before I boost 😎
This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to glenn

@glenn insidethemagic.net/2023/07/dav…

tl;dr: He didn't say it. A parody account did.

in reply to Sarah Brown

I also want to point out that Mastadon is asking me if I want to have your UK English translated to US English. 😂😂
Unknown parent

Ailbhe
also, sure they learn to do stairs, but he still bested them.
Unknown parent

Joy Denebeim :tv: :tb: :pa:
oh god, I can just see a flood of jk Rowling clones chasing me yelling EXTERMINATE
in reply to Sarah Brown

Ha a reference to Daleks not being able to climb stairs. And your statement of needing Tennet's quote on a T-shirt couldn't help but think of the episode Blink - "I got that on a T-shirt"
Unknown parent

Sven Slootweg
Doctor Who spoiler (mild)

@maloki @birdy Yep, there is a scene in one of the Doctor Who episodes where the Doctor and his companion are followed to a staircase,by a Dalek, and the Doctor goes "don't worry, Daleks can't climb stairs" to reassure his companion that they can escape

... only to then discover that the Daleks have, apparently, learned to climb stairs since their last encounter

in reply to Rat Dad

@rolenthedeep @maloki @birdy youtube.com/watch?v=HgUBnEaZB5…
in reply to Sarah Brown

that would be a great shirt, but Tennant's shirt that brought much of this attention is pretty awesome.
Unknown parent

Nadav Perez-Vaisvidovsky
@Uraael
Yup, you're completely right, I was just making an (apparently bad) joke in how dangerous TERFs are
@amberage @goatsarah
in reply to Sarah Brown

that turns out not to be the case. Tennent h said nothing, the daleck quip came from a parody account
in reply to Sarah Brown

yeah me too. Accept the actual quote was better than anything else that I've seen.

I'm not worried, TERFS Can't climb stairs. Besides, I kept one of my sonic screwdrivers

in reply to Sarah Brown

all I’m saying is trans pride is this Saturday in Brighton…
Unknown parent

in reply to Sarah Brown

Hi, he did not actually say this; it was posted by a parody account.

See e. g. this article: insidethemagic.net/2023/07/dav…
twitter.com/PoliticoForYou/sta…
archive.is/XvdO3

in reply to Sarah Brown

tell you what, I'll bang out a T-shirt design if you edit your post to include a correction
in reply to nev

@nev no can do it’s already pushing my server to the limit. With that many reposts, editing it will probably melt the poor thing.
@nev
in reply to Sarah Brown

@Sarah Brown @nev I believe outgoing messages are easier on a server than incoming messages, so you might be good, the worker will process jobs in its own time.
in reply to Hypolite Petovan

@Hypolite Petovan @nev down to about 3000 left in the queue from a high of around 12000. Hopefully will clear overnight.
in reply to Sven Slootweg

They are also often referred to jokingly as "Fascist Dustbins" as their design was deliberately meant to mimic the Nazis in the post war Era of DW

Which makes the "X Cant Climb Stairs" quip a brilliant way to call someone a fascist without them realising

This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

as you could not love David more....this guy is national treasure (whole Dr Who team is in fact)
in reply to Sarah Brown

comparing TERFs to a horde of maniacal tyrants trying to exterminate everything they see as not enough like them.

yes. that tracks.

in reply to Sven Slootweg

Doctor Who spoiler (mild)
@joepie91
Minor detail: not the Doctor himself, but Rose and two other guys in this crazy billionaire's bunker.
@maloki @birdy @goatsarah
in reply to Sarah Brown

He didn’t say it, it was a parody account that tweeted a joke quote. But his allyship is still true, as is the fact that the tervery are becoming more and more vicious towards him.
in reply to Sarah Brown

O yes! On a T-shirt, stickers, bags ... that's the merch we're looking for!
in reply to Sarah Brown

Apparently it's from a satire account and not a real quote, though Tennant's support for trans kids is real of course twitter.com/PoliticoForYou/sta…
in reply to Sarah Brown

This article attributes that dynamite quote to a parody account. I agree they would be some great t-shirt fodder.

insidethemagic.net/2023/07/dav…

in reply to Sarah Brown

fantastic. Daleks are based on Nazis, and so saying something like this is inferring TERFs are Nazis in such a way that they can’t get angry about it without admitting that his comment is valid 😁😁😁
in reply to Sarah Brown

One of his companions in the three new Doctor Who specials he has filmed is trans so she may have helped enlighten him if he didn't understand already (which I'm inclined to think he did).
in reply to Volker

Doctor Who spoiler (mild)
@EinPhysiker @joepie91 @maloki @birdy
That's in the revival. The classic series had a similar scene involving the doctor. Back then the reveal, that darleks are in fact able to float up stairs was so shocking, they made it a cliff hanger. That's where this particular quote comes from. The quote with Rose goes: "it's stuck, it hasn't got legs"
Unknown parent

Vittelius
@Uraael @amberage @NadavPV former and current doctor as well as the most popular incarnation of the role (which is why they brought him back for the 60th anniversary of the show)
in reply to Sarah Brown

Again, TERFs qua TERFs or just general transphobes? Since it's the UK, I can never be sure.
Unknown parent

FinalOverdrive
@LevelUp It's just that there is a difference between feminist transphobes and garden variety transphobes. I guess UK particularly has a problem.
Unknown parent

Josh Susser
@rushraptor That is indeed quite nice!
in reply to Sarah Brown

sadly that's not true.
The person spreading this info is a satire twitter account. (twitter.com/PoliticoForYou/sta…)

But the response would be amazing!

in reply to Sarah Brown

It's reasonable to assume, based on their inability to elevate others, that they can't elevate themselves either.
in reply to Sarah Brown

- More reasons why @davidtennantcom is a National Treasure! 💖 🌈 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I believe that one of the reasons he is so outspoken on LGBTQ+ issues (aside from working with Russell T. Davies for years 😊 ) is because one of his kids may have recently "come out" either as gay or trans! 🏳️‍🌈

in reply to Sarah Brown

is a print by Order service and i use it for Some merch.
Not the cheapest but has a nice quality.
Anyway I did order one of this for me so I must thank you for the idea ;)
And the T-shirt will still here if you change your mind ;)
in reply to Peter Butler

@Peter Butler is that the new Doctor? I haven’t watched it for years. I have to say, he looks incredibly dapper, and it’s rare for me to notice that in men, if you catch my drift.
in reply to Sarah Brown

Yes. I hadn't seen that design before but it feels like they have gone with 1960s/70s design rather than something more modern (Tennant) or just odd.
in reply to Sarah Brown

Uh, I just found out the quote is from a parody account, so no shirt. Although I'm sure David would AGREE with it.
in reply to Vittelius

Doctor Who spoiler (mild)
@Vittelius
I really have to make some effort to complete the classic series. Unfortunately, is not that simple 🙁
@joepie91 @maloki @birdy @goatsarah
in reply to Sarah Brown

listen I love that line, but it was a joke by a parody news account, not David Tennant himself. Bringing twitter jokes over here without context only makes it more important not to spread misleading untruths without fact checking 😅

twitter.com/PoliticoForYou/sta…

in reply to Lakshmi

@Lakshmi You are, like, the fiftieth person who’s said this. Yes, fine, but this has gone viral and is stressing my micro instance. I would edit the post to reflect that, but that would just stress it again, so I need to wait until the virality has gone to dick about with it. That’s probably going to be tomorrow at the rate the queue backlog is slowly clearing, assuming it doesn’t encounter another massive growth spurt.

And I still want it on a T shirt. I don’t really care who said it. It’s not like we’re influencing elections or some shit here.

in reply to Sarah Brown

He had a tshirt in support of trans kids, the shirt was black with pink text on it if I remember correctly with, and I quote: "Leave Trans Kids Alone You Absolute Freaks"
I'm not the biggest fan of him, I started getting a little tired with all the focus he got in doctor who, but I love that he did this.
Unknown parent

Sarah Brown
@Kuchenschwarte @nev Dunno where you're seeing fifty. It's currently on one thousand, four hundred and seventy seven.
in reply to Sarah Brown

I'm being told that line was from the Onion?

So perhaps not the power move we'd like it to be, but still damn funny

in reply to Sarah Brown

neato! 😂Since when does David Tennant have Twitter? Or did he say that in an interview? 🙈
in reply to Sarah Brown

Digging into this it seems that the "TERFs can't climb stairs" bit wasn't actually said by him but damn, what a good line, I laughed out loud
Unknown parent

nev
@Kuchenschwarte Ah—from your server, you only see boosts/posts/replies from ones that are federated with yours. You have to go to the original page, on Sarah's server, to see the total stats.
Unknown parent

Sarah Brown
@Kuchenschwarte @nev It’s been corrected for some hours, but my server still has a seven hour backlog
Unknown parent

Hypolite Petovan
@Kuchenschwarte It's a Mac Mini and close to 1,500 reposts, but you'd only have known if you'd asked. Now you look like a fool.
This entry was edited (1 year ago)
Unknown parent

Hypolite Petovan
@Kuchenschwarte Get the fuck out of here.
in reply to Sarah Brown

@Hypolite Petovan Ok, done a couple of things to improve my life. Consulted htop, noted the machine isn't actually stressed and doubled the number of worker threads.

And I server blocked the other guy because he seemed like a bit of a knob.

in reply to Sarah Brown

This makes me love David Tennant so much. And I already loved David Tennant.

Florida Ted reshared this.

in reply to Sarah Brown

Being as I have a spreadshirt account and all, I had a go at making this happen: spreadshirt.co.uk/shop/design/…

Feedback welcome 😀

in reply to kevin Cummins

A transphobe. It's short for "trans exclusionary radical feminist" but the radical feminism bit is just window dressing
in reply to Sarah Brown

tbh it sounds like him even if it is not. He has been very vocal about where he stands.
in reply to Sarah Brown

amazing, ok, here's what i'm thinking. by no means final, but this is the general idea

dalek icon source: thenounproject.com/icon/dalek-…

in reply to Sarah Brown

I agree with your last paragraph. Whether David Tennant said it or not, it's a hilarious joke.
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

@ajlanes @LevelUp No they are feminist, they are just crappy obsolete feminists. Feminism used to be extremely transphobic. That's just a fact.
in reply to FinalOverdrive

Nope. There have always been trans accepting feminists, and indeed radical feminists when that became a term. The portrayal of feminism as always or originally transphobic is itself a TERF rewriting of history.
in reply to Alexandra Lanes

@ajlanes @LevelUp I don't deny that there were trans accepting feminists, but they largely were not the norm until the third wave.
in reply to Sarah Brown

a parody "verified" account? musk is already getting in trouble for that with regulators!
in reply to Craig Mcgee

The stupid thing is I think charging for an enhanced account tier would have been fair (cf. YouTube Premium). It's the ridiculous practice of categorising said accounts as 'verified'.
in reply to Alastair Cooper

@alastair87 its absolute... insidious genius. it promotes misinfo and it promotes scammers and it promotes bad actors smeering reputable people and it promotes bad actors who can gain legitimacy by pretending to be reputable brands and the list goes on. its exactly what musk wants, I believe. its how fascists operate.
in reply to Craig Mcgee

I wish people wouldn't delude themselves that Elon Musk is stupid. He's a nasty, arrogant, probably evil individual who gets a bit manic sometimes but collectively dismissing him as stupid when he wields so much influence and power and disturbing ideological notions on how to (ab)use it is extremely dangerous.
in reply to Alastair Cooper

@alastair87 sadly agree with you. he is insidious and as you say very dangerous, he knows what he is doing, in fact maybe he puts on the stupid act to cover up for that, like johnson and his clown act.
in reply to Alastair Cooper

@Alastair Cooper @Craig Mcgee He's not stupid, but he is a lot less clever than he thinks he is, and he is apparently at the mercy of his own ego and lack of impulse control.
in reply to Sarah Brown

I feel like I'd have to have an actual proper conversation with him to really get an idea, not that I relish that prospect.
in reply to Alastair Cooper

He is stupid.

At least, if you're an intelligent person, with even one shred of empathy/concern for our planet, you can easily see the stupidity.

If, OTOH, you share his lust for money and attention, I'm sure he "looks like" a great role model.

Fortunately, I have no interest in becoming a capitalist wanker, so my eyes are open.

in reply to Ian Molton

I think there's a danger of confusing different types of intelligence and awareness. Humans are quite clearly as a collective super-smart intellectually in terms of our ability to creatively outwit other species and manipulate our environment. We mostly don't seem to have the type of intelligence, at least in our current mode of operating, to regulate that impulse that prevents us from going way too far with our 'advantage' and destroying everything.

It's not totally unique to humans, there have been monkeys that have also been observed overfishing their environment, but it's rare. That's not including the cases where we've set other species up to cause harm by transplanting them somewhere else.

in reply to Craig Mcgee

Hardly surprising for the son of a South African emerald mine owner.

He's boring. Next.

in reply to Sarah Brown

Even daleks are better than TERFs. They hate everyone the same
in reply to Sarah Brown

Bwahahahaha, and appreciate you took the time to add it was a parody account. God forbid we don’t get hysterical over the bits in peoples small clothes.
in reply to Sarah Brown

Am having trouble so far finding an explanation/breakdown of what "terfs can't climb stairs" means exactly.

Am not posting this looking for enlightenment specifically. Though it would be nice & appreciated, of course.

in reply to Sarah Brown

Tennant didn’t say the line, but he is pretty awesome on trans issues. The whole thing exploded because of a t-shirt he was wearing. In addition, he’s been wearing a nonbinary pride pin to all his public appearances for some time, apparently in support of one of his kids.