"Given the secrecy and lack of rigorous standards that characterize youth gender transition across the country, I believe that to ensure the safety of American children, we need a moratorium on the hormonal and surgical treatment of young people with gender dysphoria. "
Yes, yes, YES.
I don't even understand how this became an issue. Seri…
"Given the secrecy and lack of rigorous standards that characterize youth gender transition across the country, I believe that to ensure the safety of American children, we need a moratorium on the hormonal and surgical treatment of young people with gender dysphoria. "
Yes, yes, YES.
I don't even understand how this became an issue. Seriously.
I totally believe that there ARE people who are affected by gender dysmorphia, but this number is very small, and I am convinced that the majority of people who _think_ they're affected by gender dysmorphia are, in fact, infected by a mimetic illness, a kind of mass hysteria—because what does it MEAN to feel like you're in the wrong body? How would a male "trapped" in a female body or a female "trapped" in a male body _know_? Since so many of the things that characterize and differentiate men and women—outside of anatomical and physiological differences—are cultural tropes.
I was a total tomboy when I was a kid. And around the age of nine or so, I _did_ go through a period when I insisted I was a boy. Looking back on that time, it seems clear in retrospect that I was chafing at all the restrictions I saw embedded in the feminine role.
It's scary to think what might have happened to me had I been born 50 years later.
"I don't even understand how this became an issue. Seriously."
It became an issue because the powers that be chose to use it to further their own agenda. Sadly, large numbers of people are willing to participate. With their votes as well as their cultural submission.
Patrizia - The 'mass hysteria', yes, aided and abetted by hyper speed social media. Looking at the curve of the increase in gender dysmorphia amongst teens in the last fifteen years pretty well matches the introduction of social media platforms and smart phones and the steep usage curve of that.
You may have thought you were a boy at nine years old, but you thought your way through it on your own. The power of the self. The social media to dissuade you and tell you that you were indeed a boy wasn't there. And that, to me at least, is the difference. Without the reinforcement of the immediacy of social media to buttress and support whatever emotions kids are experiencing, we wouldn't be seeing this dramatic and tragic trend in jump on the band wagon of gender transference.
"I don't even understand how this became an issue. Seriously."
Allow me to help you understand this, Patrizia. It became "an issue" when the common sense and consensus position that gender dysphoria is a rare condition that should be treated with compassion morphed into trans-mania once Leftists got control of the institutional apparatus...kind of like what happened with race and any number of other "issues." All in he name of "the Revolution."
It was/is the lack of intellectual pushback that put us in this place. But that may be changing. This comment thread is an indicator of that.
You vote for Biden and support him appointing Rachel Levine to power, you think he's doing a great job, and then you can't understand how this became an issue?
You, the people you vote for, and the causes you support are how it became an issue. "Progressives" glorifying false ego identity over reality, assaulting anybody who oppose them, are how it became an issue. Toxic femininity and the worship of feelings are the core issue.
And yes, if you were a teenager today, the people you support would have destroyed your life. You would be a slave of the pharmaceutical companies like so many young people today. This is why it sickens me to hear Biden scream his lies, "we beat Pharma and it mattered!!"
You know it's a lie. Every Democrat does. You live in a world of lies. You glorify them to such a degree that the professionals in this article will passionately destroy the bodies of young people purely to continue the lie. While the Grammy feature Satan reveling in his glorious rule, celebrating the kind of sexual perversity that leads to confused, abused teenagers with health conditions.
There is need for a lot of anger about this issue, but not voting for Trump was not an endorsement of gender reassignment. The person who wrote this article indicated that she was progressive and inferred an acceptance of trans since her spouse was, but she is appalled by the current process targeting minors.
Every thinking person should be appalled by the current process. Patients have a right to demand that most surgeries meet a standard and sue when parts are not rebuilt or replaced according to the standards of care. Currently, many of these gender assignment surgeries (despite the number performed) are qualified as experimental which means that the patient has no legal recourse when the surgeries and treatments fail. The surgeons can act with impunity at no risk to their finances.
How do these surgeries and treatment burden the future of the healthcare system? Woman were warned against high estrogen pills causing cancer and now even higher levels of hormones are being prescribed to 11 year old children for the rest of their lives as if moderation and caution are inappropriate courses of action?
As for Rachel Levine, she is an absolute disgrace. Any caring person and a professional with vision would recognize that sterilizing children, especially those that are mentally fragile or vulnerable, is one of the most horrific acts ever.
I was with you until the last paragraph. Rachel Levine is a man. HE is a disgrace.
If people are genuinely appalled by this gender confusion being perpetrated upon kids, then maybe the very first step should be to reinforce for children that *sex differences exist and are IMMUTABLE.*
Maybe it's time to stop gaslighting children by kowtowing to the new vogue of using the wrong pronouns.
Do people honestly believe it does not add to—even cement—confusion in the psyches of children to hear adults around them refer to a male as "she" and a female as "he"? That it does not confirm for children that they shouldn't believe the truth of their own eyes or trust their own sense of reality?
If we're serious about not harming kids then we need to stop playing along with the pretense. Too many adults in our society would rather give up reality than their "good" manners. We reap what we sow.
While I think Rachel is a male - I would respect the grown adult and refer to them as a she. That's being polite. But the transition was made as an adult. The issue at play here is children. And that is a winning point. If you start attacking adult trans people - many people that support you in protecting children from radical extremists will be turned off.
"If there is one reasonable caveat [to refusing to use wrong pronouns], I'd say it's this: if the trans person is a Blair White or Buck Angel type, who not only unequivocally "passes" as the other sex and—very importantly—does not claim they actually "are" the opposite sex, AND also uses their trans profile to speak out against the targeting of children—then I can see "respecting" incorrect pronouns. Because at least such trans people are willing to acknowledge reality and protect the innocent."
So for the record, I'm not talking about "attacking" trans adults. At all.
I'm talking about declining to participate in a polite fiction that subverts the development of children, who are wired to absorb the norms of the adult world as they mature. Because adults normalizing the misuse of pronouns in their noble effort to be kind and polite will convey to children the profoundly destabilizing message that their perceptions are unreliable, that reality is not tethered to our material world, that they shouldn't trust their lying eyes. Pretending humans aren't sexually dimorphic just isn't something society can safely engage in with adults instructing children to "do as I say not as I do."
Bottomline is that protecting the feelings of adults should not be prioritized above protecting the developmental needs of children; there is no such thing as a successful society that sacrifices its children to the "needs" of the adults.
"there is no such thing as a successful society that sacrifices its children to the "needs" of the adults." - we just proved that with the response to COVID.
Agree with your point that the article was about minors and this should remain the focus. Strongly agree with a mortarium called for minors.
It also seems important to establish parameters for best medical care for adults transitioning which is not an attack or a denial of services. An adult should not be given life altering meds or treatment without a very clear understanding of what can and cannot be achieved through medical intervention along with all the implications of the treatment. There should also be continuing care that is more comprehensive than handing a patient a prescription every month. Many serious interventions for cancer or heart care have parameters and regimes of care not to prevent the intervention but to support the patient through out the treatment & improve successful results. Maybe due to the profitability of trans surgery vs. the reimbursement rate for some cancer and heart treatments, there is a motive for trans care to become more "cowboy" than evaluative of the patient's needs.
I agree with you broadly - though I should note that research in adults transitioning is much more robust and has been around for many decades. 'Sex changes' as they used to be called are not new in the adult population. Some countries, (including surprising ones like Iran), are quite advanced in trans surgery techniques. On a side note, I'm a Canadian physician - and there is really no profit in trans surgery here - yet the push for children getting the procedure exists here too. So I'm not sure economics is the main factor either. I really feel there is a religious cult component to this movement.
Transitioning is a thing in Iran because homosexuality is illegal; gays and lesbians are forcibly transitioned in order to enforce heterosexual norms.
I totally agree there is a religious cult component, particularly in the way trans activism operates. I think the reasons why are complex, but cultural marketing is playing a gigantic role. In our 21st century globalist corporatist reality, there are also gigantic economic factors in play. I recommend reading Jennifer Bilek's work, which can be found at her blog. She has been following the money behind the trans cult for years, and her findings are eye-opening. Here are a few articles worth pondering:
Thank you for your very polite reply and thought provoking. There is this idea that an adult can do what they want with their body i.e. if Richard wants to transition to Rachel, it is an adult controlling their body and their destiny. But as you point out and as healthcare becomes everyone's burden, every individual is part of a society.
If transition surgeries are self diagnosis and reported as almost screen free, can and should an adult in deep depression or suffering trauma be signed up for transition surgery? Is being a chronological age enough or does one need to be mentally healthy? If one has dysmorphia where one is rejecting their body's sex is that mentally healthy? Can surgery offer peace since the origin of the discontent is mental. Thinking of Chelsea Manning (Bradley Manning) who tried suicide after transition. Every life has value, but what method truly validates, saves, and enriches a life needs to be carefully considered. Just as every fix doesn't require a hammer, every dysmorphia doesn't require a scalpel.
And please allow this edit:
Rachel Levine is an absolute disgrace. Any caring person and a professional with vision would recognize that sterilizing children, especially those that are mentally fragile or vulnerable, is one of the most horrific acts ever.
Now I'm with you 100%. Thank you for your gracious reply. Your questions all hit the nail squarely on the head.
Unfortunately, under the corporatist paradigm dysmorphia provides a new consumer group, whether it's in surgeries, drugs, clothing, makeup, music, movies, you name it. The only silver lining I see is that more and more people are waking up to the recognition that as our system currently functions, health and wellness have vanishingly little to do with the practice of medicine. Profits steer the ship. And our children—and theirs—will pay the price.
Trust me. There have been plenty of angry women shouting on top of their throats about this monstrosity. They got deplatformed, banned, and shut down by Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, etc etc. They got rape threats and death threats. They lost jobs and got doxxed. They got dragged through the town square. They only thing let is they haven't been burned...yet. Exhibit No.1: JK Rowling.
Bari ought to find someone to do a deep dive investigation into the cesspool that is Reddit that has been fostering this train wreck and also vilifying anyone who voices disagreement, plus the trans mod and admins super takeover of every women's sub to groom kids especially teen girls into this sinister mass hysteria.
Well maybe there a few "angry white women" protesting this, but in 2023, I'm guessing the majority of white women are still listening to NPR and hating on Republicans, white men, and anything else they are being told to hate. And feeling very smug and self-righteous in doing so. But maybe this will change.
I know you replied to vent about "angry white women" but I'm answer in a more truthful and substantive way assuming you mean well rather than letting this battle of sexes derail the subject. Yes a majority of white women on the left are still listening to NPR, hating on Republicans, men, and anything else they're being told to hate. Yes many, especially those who are paid professional activists and liberal talking heads are feeling very smug and self-righteous in doing so. But there is in fact more than "a few" women on the left, white or otherwise, who are keeping their heads down and being stifled by silence because they cost of speaking up in so so high. If they dare to go against the grain, they will lost friends, families, and very likely their livelihood as well. And yes many of them can be describe as cowards, especially if what they've got to lose is their social circle of friends, But it becomes murkier to condemn their inability to speak up when the stakes get higher when they may lose family members or children. Or if it means costing their job and they have children or dependents. Or if it means their children would get ostracized and made pariahs at school. They can't even find out who among them think like they do to ban together, because the left has made it threatening if they dare to out themselves.
I won't dispute you if you have other criticisms I may agree or disagree with. The only thing I want to point out is that these women exist and it's not just "A few".
And yes, many continue to follow other left-wing narratives and still voting left. But it is also true that the more moderate ones are moving to the center and even voting conservative because of this. The one single reason why you didn't see the cross over is because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. A sizable number of women would have and likely will going forward silently vote conservative as a silent rebellion against this. Much like the silent rebellion of voters voting Trump in 2016 even if they wouldn't admit to having done so.
Another reason some of these women didn't vote conservative is because our two-party system has made it so that in the very blue and very red voting districts, the non-dominant candidates are clowns and unelectable. All the gerrymandering by both parties had made it so that the opposition parties no longer even bother to offer up any credible candidates in those places, let alone fund them. In this respect, the problem can't be faulted on women alone. It's a problem with the system.
There are definitely women vote open for Republicans to grab as the Democrats and liberals continue down the Road of Deranged. But it is also true that the Republicans have made no efforts in the least to appeal to those votes. Rather, they double-down on the issue of abortion. Without going into whether abortion is right or wrong, we can acknowledge that this one issue will always stop a lot of women from voting conservative.
So while a lot of what your said is legitimate, the problem goes both ways. Some people (men or women) will never vote Republican. But at the moment there are many women who feel stifled and wronged by this and they want an alternative. There's a lot of ineptitude on the part of Republicans to not even make any sincere attempt to take these votes the Democrats have left hung out to dry. But maybe like the Dems it's just easier to keep singing the same song.
So mutilating an unborn baby (including up until the moment of birth or beyond, for the really sadistic) is cool, but it's different for the 12 yo? One who can't see the difference between mutilation of the unborn AND the born is where the slope gets slippery fast. No need to try to explain, express, convince or cajole. It's all wrong. It's all unjust. It's all evil.
QX, thank you for your very detailed and thoughtful response...a lot to process. A couple of comments:
You are so so right about the fear so many of us face--both men and women--in contradicting what I term the new dominant ideology. On a personal note, I have paid a deep price for doing so, the consequences of which I deal with everyday. It is, in part, what motivates me to be so active on Substack et al comment threads--the last best hope of free expression. But you well describe the totalitarian nature of the consequences that many pay for speaking out. It truly is the US version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution--break out the dunce caps and re-education camps! And I don't necessarily hold it against people for remaining quiet. But, for now at least, voting is still a (mostly) private act...maybe the rebellion can happen in the voting booth.
My own politics are not so much pro-Right as they are anti-Left. Politics for me has long been not so much about who I am "for," but rather what it is that I am most against, i.e., most fear. For decades, the was the Right/Republican side, now it's the Dem/Left side. Institutionalized Pediatric Gender Mutilation surgery is but one of the things that have caused that shift in my perspective. I'm guessing that is true for you as well.
You are so right about how the Dobbs decision has considerably muddied the waters of all this...I'm thinking of a woman who was/is(?) a good friend and formerly sympatico philosophically who has shifted back dramatically as a result of the decision because it "took rights away from women." I couldn't bring myself to suggest to her that, actually, Dobbs did not "take away" the right to an abortion, it just left it up to the states. And some states are restricting it, and others, like CA where I live, have expanded legal abortion right up to the minute of birth. So the Dobbs decision actually expanded the range of possibilities for unrestricted abortion far beyond the first trimester, as was the case with Roe. But again, you are not hearing that on NPR, NYT, et al. Hard to know where that discussion is going to go from here.
But cheers, I am hoping that you are right about there being more than "a few" women who are seeing the light.
Gotta go now, but maybe we can continue this dialogue at a later time.
I'm truly sorry to hear you've also been on the receiving end of left-wing speech suppression and suffered consequences for it. Yes I totally agree with you. It's like we have the Mao Red Guards in the US these days. I keep reminding myself we lived through the McCarthy era (the one in the 50s not this current new one), and there is hope that this too shall pass. But sometimes it's hard to keep faith. It's so wrong how so many people are absolutely terrified to say anything, especially on the trans issue. But a lot of debates are now coming into the open in Europe especially England. And with the internet it's hard to keep everything under cover and it'll be inevitable for the US to come to some kind of reckoning too.
Politics wise I'll say we're pretty much on the same page then. It drives me crazy sometimes when I have to keep my mouth shut just to keep the peace when my liberal family members who are not online so to speak are still talking trash about Republicans while being totally clueless how off the rail the left has become. They just read NYT and listen to NPR and have no clue. And don't even get me started on the abortion debate. Neither party represents the majority on this. And the most radical advocates on both sides are IMO not allowing any honest talk about how much things have changed since the 1950s or even the 1970s, and there are some realistic ways forward but nothing productive can ever even be brought to the table.
Cheers to you too and yeah I too hope the wall of silence will continue to erode as more and more of this horror comes to light.
OX, it seems that we are indeed very much on the same wavelength/intellectual trajectory on all of this. I take heart from your optimism about the direction the conversation is going in Europe/England. I'm not very tuned into that.
Yes, perhaps it is better to refrain from being too direct with family members who are still dyed-in-the-wool NPR listeners (the point on which our conversation began). Case in point: my mother in law, who is in most respects a wonderful person but who, politically, is the classic white woman Oprah liberal. This drives both me and my wife slightly insane at times. My occasional desire to broach some of the contradictions we perceive has, thus far, been wisely shot down by her. So I may talk a big game in the chat room, but in real life, I'm reluctant to burn bridges over this stuff. It's happened too many times already.
Reddit admins banning r/gendercritical overnight, the instant extinguishing of THE key international forum of over 60,000 members who saw through and critiqued gender identity (mostly women, of course)... Unbelievable.
Yet the bans you mention have gone unexamined, right? Meanwhile Reddit's favored pushing of sissy fetish and all things trans carries on, grooming from the shadows.
Reddit really does need serious investigating. Here's hoping Bari / Free Press might have contacts who would take it on, pull back the curtain, even a little.
Oh don’t worry. They’ve regrouped outside of Reddit. Reddit can’t control every conversation everywhere all the time, banning reasonable speech from their platform just sends it where they can’t see. It can encourage extremism but in this case it just sends ppl with commons sense away from Reddit.
That one's a little different, but still worth looking at if you're going to fall down that hole of differential treatment and protected categories versus vulnerable ones
Adjacent - from friend - "also re: "are we wrong about the rate of problems/are we entering into our own echo chambers?" is a good question to periodically ask so that we DON'T fall into those kind of traps
that said, speaking of the detransitioner rate (as a specific example), i think our current issue is less the rate itself and more the fact that we can't even ask questions to determine a more accurate rate because doing so is hailed as transphobic. and people are knee-jerking against the knee-jerk censorship
take, for instance, the Harry Potter subreddit, that I recently discovered has "*Discussion of JKR's personal opinions is banned, defense of her words and actions will lead to a ban. This includes supporting her right to a platform to spread hate.*" as one of its main rules. not just "discussion of JKR's personal opinions is banned" but specifically "discussion is banned AND defense of her 'hate' will lead to a ban"; i.e. judgement has been pre-decided, if you are to question it, you are just as guilty (https://www.reddit.com/r/harrypotter/wiki/oursub/)
note that flatearthers are not getting banned. evidence that the earth is round is abundant and can be worked through logically with plenty of examples and practical exercises
also, part of that big lead in was to link you guys a fun HP subreddit thread in which someone asked what JK Rowling said that was so bad and everyone collectively shrugged, so the mods nuked it for violating the "no discussing or defending rowling rule":
Oh gosh it's really hard to even know where to begin... but r/gendercritical, r/femaledatingstrategies, r/truelesbians (a female exclusive lesbian subreddit), etc. Pretty much any 'female centered' subreddit is now trans-centered, see TwoXChromosomes, Actuallesbians, pretty much any woman-centered sub is now trans-dominated. Hell, even TallGirls is pretty much all males and a ton of 6'5"+ "women"
That tirade only gets 4.3 on the 10-point Rant Scale, sorry.
For one thing, I'm not a Democrat. For another, I wouldn't watch the Grammys unless someone (a) pointed a gun at my head, (b) offered me a million bucks, or (c) did both simultaneously. I had no idea that Satan had made an appearance at the Grammys. What designer did he wear?
The Rachel Levine appointment _is_ a bit squirmy, I will concede, given that she may have a problem differentiating politics from public health, _may_ being the operative word there.
But what's up with this "angry white men" thing? If I had to speculate, I'd guess that "angry old men" captures the spirit of your Zeitgeist so much more succinctly.
I much appreciate your reply, especially your doubt about how anyone can "know" what it means to "feel" like the opposite sex. That's the crux of the whole issue. The glaring question.
However...while Rachel Levine may have changed his name from Richard, he's a not a "she." Buying into this gaslighting by using incorrect pronouns in the cause of "being respectful," of not "being offensive," isn't helping society to reassert sanity.
If there is one reasonable caveat, I'd say it's this: if the trans person is a Blair White or Buck Angel type, who not only unequivocally "passes" as the other sex and—very importantly—does not claim they actually "are" the opposite sex, AND also uses their trans profile to speak out against the targeting of children—then I can see "respecting" incorrect pronouns. Because at least such trans people are willing to acknowledge reality and protect the innocent.
But people like Rachel Levine, a delusional man on estrogen who wears a dress and uses his trans profile to celebrate, defend, and advance the harms and upheaval brought on by this lunacy, should not be given the courtesy of "respecting pronouns." I think people need to get much tougher on this point if we want this madness to end sooner rather than later.
I know it's supposed to be "not nice" to laugh at the pretend Admiral, but, seriously? Everyone - or at least the sane among us - are secretly doing so. Why not do it openly and end this sham? Where is the old National Lampoon when we most need them?????
On the one hand it’s certainly good to keep a sense of humor in the face of a crazy world. OTOH men in dresses being accepted and promoted as women feels more terrifying than funny. There’s a lot at stake. 🙁
Walking in a park a few summers ago in Dumbo, Brooklyn - ground zero for woke culture - I came upon a couple walking and holding hands. The one in the yellow sundress had a full beard and looked like Popeye's Bluto. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I am sorry for the personal tone of my rant. I've read many of your comments and appreciate your thoughts and perspective.
So allow me to clarify some things.
I don't care if you identify as a Democrat or not because I've seen you support their rhetoric, values and elected representatives in almost all the content you post here. Insofar as they are a religion, you seem like a believer. It's incredible, unbelievable to me that anyone can think Biden is doing a good job.
On that note, Rachel Levine is a man and always will be. He is a man given inordinate power and influence to validate his delusions and spread his pathology to children, which he does by lying about science. If you continue to honor his presentation as a woman and his position as a healthcare administrator, you cannot understand "how we got here."
The Grammys represent the cultural influence of the rich and fashionable. I'm not under the impression that Satan is a person who was on the stage, because I'm not an idiot. I believe symbolism matters and has spiritual import, and when our cultural leaders dress as demons singing a song about adultery, that matters whether or not you personally are watching. It should disgust everybody with a moral conscience, and it demonstrates how "inclusive" those people actually are.
"Angry white men" has been a popular rhetorical phrase on the left for many years now, that's why I make the reference. I've been personally told that I'm upset by our culture because I'm "afraid of losing power and privilege." In truth, I also hate identity politics and I don't view myself as a color.
There are many 'normal' people that find Biden to be doing a decent enough job - but you can find common cause with them on many issues (transgender issues, the border, etc). You act little different than the woke - you demand purity for your cause - and lose people that you can work with on important issues. Too many Republican activists do - and as a result, they didn't dominate the midterms the way they should have. Your criticisms of the woke are accurate. However, look into yourself to see how you act so much like them. I've read your posts - your extremism and intolerance is very similar to the Squad and their believers.
PS...i saw some of your later posts - and see you are trying to moderate. I'll keep the above post up - but appreciate your later explanations.
I appreciate you for reaching out to me in this way, Anthony. Thank you.
We _do_ disagree about many things, but I also appreciate your thoughts and perspective. Otherwise, I wouldn't be reading "The Free Press" or posting in this forum.
Just as a point of clarification—I think the "Republican"/"Democratic" distinction is about as meaningful as the distinction between Pepsi and Coke. There _are_ many hot-wire issues where I agree with the Democratic line, but there are also many hot-wire issues where I agree with the Republican line.
Trust me—as many times as I've been piled on in this forum for having "progressive" opinions, I've been piled on in real life for having "conservative" opinions.
For me, what's important is keeping the dialogue open.
THIS! Few people, unless they have joined the DEM or REP cult, genuinely believe in everything their tribe subscribes to. My beliefs don't fit into either party, yet are considered common sense in many parts of the world. some examples:
1. Climate change is real. I don't think we need to destroy to oil industry immediately either. We can work on gradual changes to energy use and transition energy, and work on carbon capture technologies which are being developed.
2. COVID is real. The vaccines and early lockdowns saved lives - anyone with basic first year university statistics could see that. We also no longer need to keep demanding boosters, masks don't add much value at all now, and the new versions of Covid are relatively mild and no longer novel.
3. Illegal immigration is a huge problem, but selective legal immigration has benefits.
Not sure any of the above reasonable beliefs, held firmly by many intelligent people, can be openly espoused in either party without being booed out.
Part of my participation here is also an ongoing self-therapy of trying to tone down my negativity, because I've felt increasingly targeted by the cultural left every year of my life and finally broke into a perpetual rage several years ago. I have a lot of anger to deal with and this forum helps to vent that and to find supportive voices. But I hope to eventually craft a more reasonable and moderate voice. In Seattle I was told, "you have great things to say but you need to find a better way to say them."
So thank you for helping with that, and I appreciate you as well.
I thought the attack on you was a bit unfair and off the mark but the description of today's "progressive Democrats" was spot on and incisive Savagely so. Needs to be said again and again. These people are lunatics. And should be treated accordingly.
It seems to me that descriptive terms like “angry,” “old,” “queer,” “Black” and so forth are not necessarily political identities, and further that there needs to be some conscious decision to embrace an identity as political. Walter Matthau and what’s his name were Grumpy Old Men as characters but not political identities.
It's murky because as political identities these things are artificial and imposed. "Black" as a political identity in America specifically means Leftist, radical, Marxist, etc. Black conservatives (even the highest level intellectuals or politicians) are specifically excluded from this identity.
"Hispanic" as an identity was made up by the government and a handful of Chicano activists. The groups lumped together do not necessarily have more culturally in common than they do with Italians or other groups not part of this "identity".
"AAPI" is even more ridiculous, lumping together vast swaths of the world that have almost nothing in common. I forget the details but adding on the "PI" was for some hilarious, very specific govt-related reason.
In the post civil rights era I think most white people did not see themselves as part of a "white" identity. The great irony of the New Racial Purists in the "anti-racism" movement is they are creating a new shared white identity in response/backlash to their actions. None of this will end well.
"Angry white men" started as a put-down like Hillary's "deplorables". It was a way of dismissing the valid concerns of people not on the winning side of the economic and social transformations of recent decades. Personally I'm not angry, just despairing for the direction the country is going in.
Maybe we're angry because we're tired of seeing the nation we love demonized, our history distorted and mocked and the race to which we were born viewed as some badge of shame despite our inability to anything about it. More important, given the accomplishments of the white race, we're actually quite proud of it, notwithstanding it's irrelevance to our own deeds and accomplishments.
I appreciate your honesty, and I feel that "badge of shame" irritation as well. (I am talking to yew-w-w-w-w-w, Robin DeAngelo!!!)
I guess my sense is that it's most effective to discount _all_ identity politics rather than go on the defensive on behalf of the one that might fit. Because identity politics are just bad, bad, BAD.
My Gen Z daughter, 22, recently described her 'red-pill' journey.
She described the barrage of tiktok posts by 'trans' women complaining about the difficulties of being a woman (including periods, if you can believe it!). As she put it "you (males) have no lines in this play".
She was previously very trans-friendly but, now that she sees the male-weirdo side, she is NOT onboard.
I reminded her that she might be considered a TERF. She is fine with that.
They don't like "anger" all that much, either. Always try portraying it (and lots of other stuff) as "fear." Sometimes through the "-phobe" labels & sometimes just flat out "you're afraid of this that & the other thing. Which makes me laugh, in a pissed-off sort of way. I always think You know, you are so emotionally illiterate, you can't even distinguish among emotions, everything--anger, betrayal, resentment, whatever--is reduced to "fear." They're like people who are colorblind & sees all colors as orangey-brown.
It seems to be a law right now among my fellow mom friends - both conservative and liberal - that if you let any conversation go on longer than 10 minutes it will turn into letting out steam about "this gender bullsh*t."
Add in some wine and it takes more like 5 minutes.
I find there are a LOT of women my age with kids who seem to feel the need to get some pent up anger about this off their chest right now.
Republicans swept the last school board election in our town, and I live in a not particularly conservative part of New England. Our Democratic congresswoman came within something like 1000 votes of getting unseated. So the ground def feels like it is moving in that direction.
And our local parish Catholic school has a waiting list.
All the GOP has to do is be *not crazy* to win over these voters.
I will never vote for a democratic who supports this crap, and I know others who won’t! I don’t care for DeSantis on most issues( don’t like guns for all) but on this is the is absolutely correct!
You still believe polls? I think they are just to guage how many ballots will need to be harvested. Or to justify the election results because because folks will expect the outcome because the polls predicted it.
Oh definitely. There are women on all political spectrums and races who are fed up with this. Liberal MSM are just putting a media black out on the whole shit show. And they are pushing the misinformation narrative that this is some kind of conservative bigotry (it is not for most people) so they can just demonize anyone still in the blind who asks questions.
"Given the secrecy and lack of rigorous standards that characterize youth gender transition across the country, I believe that to ensure the safety of American children, we need a moratorium on the hormonal and surgical treatment of young people with gender dysphoria. "
Yes, yes, YES.
I don't even understand how this became an issue. Seriously.
I totally believe that there ARE people who are affected by gender dysmorphia, but this number is very small, and I am convinced that the majority of people who _think_ they're affected by gender dysmorphia are, in fact, infected by a mimetic illness, a kind of mass hysteria—because what does it MEAN to feel like you're in the wrong body? How would a male "trapped" in a female body or a female "trapped" in a male body _know_? Since so many of the things that characterize and differentiate men and women—outside of anatomical and physiological differences—are cultural tropes.
I was a total tomboy when I was a kid. And around the age of nine or so, I _did_ go through a period when I insisted I was a boy. Looking back on that time, it seems clear in retrospect that I was chafing at all the restrictions I saw embedded in the feminine role.
It's scary to think what might have happened to me had I been born 50 years later.
"I don't even understand how this became an issue. Seriously."
It became an issue because the powers that be chose to use it to further their own agenda. Sadly, large numbers of people are willing to participate. With their votes as well as their cultural submission.
Patrizia - The 'mass hysteria', yes, aided and abetted by hyper speed social media. Looking at the curve of the increase in gender dysmorphia amongst teens in the last fifteen years pretty well matches the introduction of social media platforms and smart phones and the steep usage curve of that.
You may have thought you were a boy at nine years old, but you thought your way through it on your own. The power of the self. The social media to dissuade you and tell you that you were indeed a boy wasn't there. And that, to me at least, is the difference. Without the reinforcement of the immediacy of social media to buttress and support whatever emotions kids are experiencing, we wouldn't be seeing this dramatic and tragic trend in jump on the band wagon of gender transference.
"I don't even understand how this became an issue. Seriously."
Allow me to help you understand this, Patrizia. It became "an issue" when the common sense and consensus position that gender dysphoria is a rare condition that should be treated with compassion morphed into trans-mania once Leftists got control of the institutional apparatus...kind of like what happened with race and any number of other "issues." All in he name of "the Revolution."
It was/is the lack of intellectual pushback that put us in this place. But that may be changing. This comment thread is an indicator of that.
You vote for Biden and support him appointing Rachel Levine to power, you think he's doing a great job, and then you can't understand how this became an issue?
You, the people you vote for, and the causes you support are how it became an issue. "Progressives" glorifying false ego identity over reality, assaulting anybody who oppose them, are how it became an issue. Toxic femininity and the worship of feelings are the core issue.
And yes, if you were a teenager today, the people you support would have destroyed your life. You would be a slave of the pharmaceutical companies like so many young people today. This is why it sickens me to hear Biden scream his lies, "we beat Pharma and it mattered!!"
You know it's a lie. Every Democrat does. You live in a world of lies. You glorify them to such a degree that the professionals in this article will passionately destroy the bodies of young people purely to continue the lie. While the Grammy feature Satan reveling in his glorious rule, celebrating the kind of sexual perversity that leads to confused, abused teenagers with health conditions.
And then you call it progress.
This is why angry white men are angry.
There is need for a lot of anger about this issue, but not voting for Trump was not an endorsement of gender reassignment. The person who wrote this article indicated that she was progressive and inferred an acceptance of trans since her spouse was, but she is appalled by the current process targeting minors.
Every thinking person should be appalled by the current process. Patients have a right to demand that most surgeries meet a standard and sue when parts are not rebuilt or replaced according to the standards of care. Currently, many of these gender assignment surgeries (despite the number performed) are qualified as experimental which means that the patient has no legal recourse when the surgeries and treatments fail. The surgeons can act with impunity at no risk to their finances.
How do these surgeries and treatment burden the future of the healthcare system? Woman were warned against high estrogen pills causing cancer and now even higher levels of hormones are being prescribed to 11 year old children for the rest of their lives as if moderation and caution are inappropriate courses of action?
As for Rachel Levine, she is an absolute disgrace. Any caring person and a professional with vision would recognize that sterilizing children, especially those that are mentally fragile or vulnerable, is one of the most horrific acts ever.
*He* is a disgrace.
I was with you until the last paragraph. Rachel Levine is a man. HE is a disgrace.
If people are genuinely appalled by this gender confusion being perpetrated upon kids, then maybe the very first step should be to reinforce for children that *sex differences exist and are IMMUTABLE.*
Maybe it's time to stop gaslighting children by kowtowing to the new vogue of using the wrong pronouns.
Do people honestly believe it does not add to—even cement—confusion in the psyches of children to hear adults around them refer to a male as "she" and a female as "he"? That it does not confirm for children that they shouldn't believe the truth of their own eyes or trust their own sense of reality?
If we're serious about not harming kids then we need to stop playing along with the pretense. Too many adults in our society would rather give up reality than their "good" manners. We reap what we sow.
While I think Rachel is a male - I would respect the grown adult and refer to them as a she. That's being polite. But the transition was made as an adult. The issue at play here is children. And that is a winning point. If you start attacking adult trans people - many people that support you in protecting children from radical extremists will be turned off.
In a different comment above I said this:
"If there is one reasonable caveat [to refusing to use wrong pronouns], I'd say it's this: if the trans person is a Blair White or Buck Angel type, who not only unequivocally "passes" as the other sex and—very importantly—does not claim they actually "are" the opposite sex, AND also uses their trans profile to speak out against the targeting of children—then I can see "respecting" incorrect pronouns. Because at least such trans people are willing to acknowledge reality and protect the innocent."
So for the record, I'm not talking about "attacking" trans adults. At all.
I'm talking about declining to participate in a polite fiction that subverts the development of children, who are wired to absorb the norms of the adult world as they mature. Because adults normalizing the misuse of pronouns in their noble effort to be kind and polite will convey to children the profoundly destabilizing message that their perceptions are unreliable, that reality is not tethered to our material world, that they shouldn't trust their lying eyes. Pretending humans aren't sexually dimorphic just isn't something society can safely engage in with adults instructing children to "do as I say not as I do."
Bottomline is that protecting the feelings of adults should not be prioritized above protecting the developmental needs of children; there is no such thing as a successful society that sacrifices its children to the "needs" of the adults.
"there is no such thing as a successful society that sacrifices its children to the "needs" of the adults." - we just proved that with the response to COVID.
Indeed.
Medical tyranny is tyranny.
Agree with your point that the article was about minors and this should remain the focus. Strongly agree with a mortarium called for minors.
It also seems important to establish parameters for best medical care for adults transitioning which is not an attack or a denial of services. An adult should not be given life altering meds or treatment without a very clear understanding of what can and cannot be achieved through medical intervention along with all the implications of the treatment. There should also be continuing care that is more comprehensive than handing a patient a prescription every month. Many serious interventions for cancer or heart care have parameters and regimes of care not to prevent the intervention but to support the patient through out the treatment & improve successful results. Maybe due to the profitability of trans surgery vs. the reimbursement rate for some cancer and heart treatments, there is a motive for trans care to become more "cowboy" than evaluative of the patient's needs.
I agree with you broadly - though I should note that research in adults transitioning is much more robust and has been around for many decades. 'Sex changes' as they used to be called are not new in the adult population. Some countries, (including surprising ones like Iran), are quite advanced in trans surgery techniques. On a side note, I'm a Canadian physician - and there is really no profit in trans surgery here - yet the push for children getting the procedure exists here too. So I'm not sure economics is the main factor either. I really feel there is a religious cult component to this movement.
Transitioning is a thing in Iran because homosexuality is illegal; gays and lesbians are forcibly transitioned in order to enforce heterosexual norms.
I totally agree there is a religious cult component, particularly in the way trans activism operates. I think the reasons why are complex, but cultural marketing is playing a gigantic role. In our 21st century globalist corporatist reality, there are also gigantic economic factors in play. I recommend reading Jennifer Bilek's work, which can be found at her blog. She has been following the money behind the trans cult for years, and her findings are eye-opening. Here are a few articles worth pondering:
https://www.the11thhourblog.com/post/media-conglomerates-marketing-the-gender-identity-industry
https://www.the11thhourblog.com/post/like-all-great-advertising-transgenderism-is-a-very-powerful-illusion
https://www.the11thhourblog.com/post/capitalism-the-new-new-left-and-the-gender-industry
Thank you for your very polite reply and thought provoking. There is this idea that an adult can do what they want with their body i.e. if Richard wants to transition to Rachel, it is an adult controlling their body and their destiny. But as you point out and as healthcare becomes everyone's burden, every individual is part of a society.
If transition surgeries are self diagnosis and reported as almost screen free, can and should an adult in deep depression or suffering trauma be signed up for transition surgery? Is being a chronological age enough or does one need to be mentally healthy? If one has dysmorphia where one is rejecting their body's sex is that mentally healthy? Can surgery offer peace since the origin of the discontent is mental. Thinking of Chelsea Manning (Bradley Manning) who tried suicide after transition. Every life has value, but what method truly validates, saves, and enriches a life needs to be carefully considered. Just as every fix doesn't require a hammer, every dysmorphia doesn't require a scalpel.
And please allow this edit:
Rachel Levine is an absolute disgrace. Any caring person and a professional with vision would recognize that sterilizing children, especially those that are mentally fragile or vulnerable, is one of the most horrific acts ever.
Now I'm with you 100%. Thank you for your gracious reply. Your questions all hit the nail squarely on the head.
Unfortunately, under the corporatist paradigm dysmorphia provides a new consumer group, whether it's in surgeries, drugs, clothing, makeup, music, movies, you name it. The only silver lining I see is that more and more people are waking up to the recognition that as our system currently functions, health and wellness have vanishingly little to do with the practice of medicine. Profits steer the ship. And our children—and theirs—will pay the price.
Spot on!
Trust me. There have been plenty of angry women shouting on top of their throats about this monstrosity. They got deplatformed, banned, and shut down by Reddit, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, etc etc. They got rape threats and death threats. They lost jobs and got doxxed. They got dragged through the town square. They only thing let is they haven't been burned...yet. Exhibit No.1: JK Rowling.
Bari ought to find someone to do a deep dive investigation into the cesspool that is Reddit that has been fostering this train wreck and also vilifying anyone who voices disagreement, plus the trans mod and admins super takeover of every women's sub to groom kids especially teen girls into this sinister mass hysteria.
He did not not say otherwise.
Well maybe there a few "angry white women" protesting this, but in 2023, I'm guessing the majority of white women are still listening to NPR and hating on Republicans, white men, and anything else they are being told to hate. And feeling very smug and self-righteous in doing so. But maybe this will change.
I know you replied to vent about "angry white women" but I'm answer in a more truthful and substantive way assuming you mean well rather than letting this battle of sexes derail the subject. Yes a majority of white women on the left are still listening to NPR, hating on Republicans, men, and anything else they're being told to hate. Yes many, especially those who are paid professional activists and liberal talking heads are feeling very smug and self-righteous in doing so. But there is in fact more than "a few" women on the left, white or otherwise, who are keeping their heads down and being stifled by silence because they cost of speaking up in so so high. If they dare to go against the grain, they will lost friends, families, and very likely their livelihood as well. And yes many of them can be describe as cowards, especially if what they've got to lose is their social circle of friends, But it becomes murkier to condemn their inability to speak up when the stakes get higher when they may lose family members or children. Or if it means costing their job and they have children or dependents. Or if it means their children would get ostracized and made pariahs at school. They can't even find out who among them think like they do to ban together, because the left has made it threatening if they dare to out themselves.
I won't dispute you if you have other criticisms I may agree or disagree with. The only thing I want to point out is that these women exist and it's not just "A few".
And yes, many continue to follow other left-wing narratives and still voting left. But it is also true that the more moderate ones are moving to the center and even voting conservative because of this. The one single reason why you didn't see the cross over is because of the overturn of Roe v. Wade. A sizable number of women would have and likely will going forward silently vote conservative as a silent rebellion against this. Much like the silent rebellion of voters voting Trump in 2016 even if they wouldn't admit to having done so.
Another reason some of these women didn't vote conservative is because our two-party system has made it so that in the very blue and very red voting districts, the non-dominant candidates are clowns and unelectable. All the gerrymandering by both parties had made it so that the opposition parties no longer even bother to offer up any credible candidates in those places, let alone fund them. In this respect, the problem can't be faulted on women alone. It's a problem with the system.
There are definitely women vote open for Republicans to grab as the Democrats and liberals continue down the Road of Deranged. But it is also true that the Republicans have made no efforts in the least to appeal to those votes. Rather, they double-down on the issue of abortion. Without going into whether abortion is right or wrong, we can acknowledge that this one issue will always stop a lot of women from voting conservative.
So while a lot of what your said is legitimate, the problem goes both ways. Some people (men or women) will never vote Republican. But at the moment there are many women who feel stifled and wronged by this and they want an alternative. There's a lot of ineptitude on the part of Republicans to not even make any sincere attempt to take these votes the Democrats have left hung out to dry. But maybe like the Dems it's just easier to keep singing the same song.
So mutilating an unborn baby (including up until the moment of birth or beyond, for the really sadistic) is cool, but it's different for the 12 yo? One who can't see the difference between mutilation of the unborn AND the born is where the slope gets slippery fast. No need to try to explain, express, convince or cajole. It's all wrong. It's all unjust. It's all evil.
QX, thank you for your very detailed and thoughtful response...a lot to process. A couple of comments:
You are so so right about the fear so many of us face--both men and women--in contradicting what I term the new dominant ideology. On a personal note, I have paid a deep price for doing so, the consequences of which I deal with everyday. It is, in part, what motivates me to be so active on Substack et al comment threads--the last best hope of free expression. But you well describe the totalitarian nature of the consequences that many pay for speaking out. It truly is the US version of the Chinese Cultural Revolution--break out the dunce caps and re-education camps! And I don't necessarily hold it against people for remaining quiet. But, for now at least, voting is still a (mostly) private act...maybe the rebellion can happen in the voting booth.
My own politics are not so much pro-Right as they are anti-Left. Politics for me has long been not so much about who I am "for," but rather what it is that I am most against, i.e., most fear. For decades, the was the Right/Republican side, now it's the Dem/Left side. Institutionalized Pediatric Gender Mutilation surgery is but one of the things that have caused that shift in my perspective. I'm guessing that is true for you as well.
You are so right about how the Dobbs decision has considerably muddied the waters of all this...I'm thinking of a woman who was/is(?) a good friend and formerly sympatico philosophically who has shifted back dramatically as a result of the decision because it "took rights away from women." I couldn't bring myself to suggest to her that, actually, Dobbs did not "take away" the right to an abortion, it just left it up to the states. And some states are restricting it, and others, like CA where I live, have expanded legal abortion right up to the minute of birth. So the Dobbs decision actually expanded the range of possibilities for unrestricted abortion far beyond the first trimester, as was the case with Roe. But again, you are not hearing that on NPR, NYT, et al. Hard to know where that discussion is going to go from here.
But cheers, I am hoping that you are right about there being more than "a few" women who are seeing the light.
Gotta go now, but maybe we can continue this dialogue at a later time.
I'm truly sorry to hear you've also been on the receiving end of left-wing speech suppression and suffered consequences for it. Yes I totally agree with you. It's like we have the Mao Red Guards in the US these days. I keep reminding myself we lived through the McCarthy era (the one in the 50s not this current new one), and there is hope that this too shall pass. But sometimes it's hard to keep faith. It's so wrong how so many people are absolutely terrified to say anything, especially on the trans issue. But a lot of debates are now coming into the open in Europe especially England. And with the internet it's hard to keep everything under cover and it'll be inevitable for the US to come to some kind of reckoning too.
Politics wise I'll say we're pretty much on the same page then. It drives me crazy sometimes when I have to keep my mouth shut just to keep the peace when my liberal family members who are not online so to speak are still talking trash about Republicans while being totally clueless how off the rail the left has become. They just read NYT and listen to NPR and have no clue. And don't even get me started on the abortion debate. Neither party represents the majority on this. And the most radical advocates on both sides are IMO not allowing any honest talk about how much things have changed since the 1950s or even the 1970s, and there are some realistic ways forward but nothing productive can ever even be brought to the table.
Cheers to you too and yeah I too hope the wall of silence will continue to erode as more and more of this horror comes to light.
OX, it seems that we are indeed very much on the same wavelength/intellectual trajectory on all of this. I take heart from your optimism about the direction the conversation is going in Europe/England. I'm not very tuned into that.
Yes, perhaps it is better to refrain from being too direct with family members who are still dyed-in-the-wool NPR listeners (the point on which our conversation began). Case in point: my mother in law, who is in most respects a wonderful person but who, politically, is the classic white woman Oprah liberal. This drives both me and my wife slightly insane at times. My occasional desire to broach some of the contradictions we perceive has, thus far, been wisely shot down by her. So I may talk a big game in the chat room, but in real life, I'm reluctant to burn bridges over this stuff. It's happened too many times already.
Anyway, keep talking the good fight.
I vote for this - though it comes both from the communities as well as the administration.
No one made r/makeupaddiction mods become a safe haven for sissy fetishists - see - https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/ev5in3/rmakeupaddiction_gives_man_a_shiner_after_he/
But it was administrators that banned truelesbians, female dating strategy, gender critical, super sexuality, etc.
Reddit admins banning r/gendercritical overnight, the instant extinguishing of THE key international forum of over 60,000 members who saw through and critiqued gender identity (mostly women, of course)... Unbelievable.
Yet the bans you mention have gone unexamined, right? Meanwhile Reddit's favored pushing of sissy fetish and all things trans carries on, grooming from the shadows.
Reddit really does need serious investigating. Here's hoping Bari / Free Press might have contacts who would take it on, pull back the curtain, even a little.
Oh don’t worry. They’ve regrouped outside of Reddit. Reddit can’t control every conversation everywhere all the time, banning reasonable speech from their platform just sends it where they can’t see. It can encourage extremism but in this case it just sends ppl with commons sense away from Reddit.
They also banned r/gendercritical but left r/hermancainaward, a sub where ppl celebrate the deaths of unvaccinated people
https://www.womenarehuman.com/reddit-group-run-by-trans-community-is-normalizing-assault-of-lesbians/
That one's a little different, but still worth looking at if you're going to fall down that hole of differential treatment and protected categories versus vulnerable ones
https://4w.pub/reddit-is-banning-womens-health-support-groups/
Adjacent - from friend - "also re: "are we wrong about the rate of problems/are we entering into our own echo chambers?" is a good question to periodically ask so that we DON'T fall into those kind of traps
that said, speaking of the detransitioner rate (as a specific example), i think our current issue is less the rate itself and more the fact that we can't even ask questions to determine a more accurate rate because doing so is hailed as transphobic. and people are knee-jerking against the knee-jerk censorship
take, for instance, the Harry Potter subreddit, that I recently discovered has "*Discussion of JKR's personal opinions is banned, defense of her words and actions will lead to a ban. This includes supporting her right to a platform to spread hate.*" as one of its main rules. not just "discussion of JKR's personal opinions is banned" but specifically "discussion is banned AND defense of her 'hate' will lead to a ban"; i.e. judgement has been pre-decided, if you are to question it, you are just as guilty (https://www.reddit.com/r/harrypotter/wiki/oursub/)
note that flatearthers are not getting banned. evidence that the earth is round is abundant and can be worked through logically with plenty of examples and practical exercises
also, part of that big lead in was to link you guys a fun HP subreddit thread in which someone asked what JK Rowling said that was so bad and everyone collectively shrugged, so the mods nuked it for violating the "no discussing or defending rowling rule":
https://archive.ph/8xQ9g
https://www.reveddit.com/v/harrypotter/comments/110cf4c/jk_rowling/"
Oh gosh it's really hard to even know where to begin... but r/gendercritical, r/femaledatingstrategies, r/truelesbians (a female exclusive lesbian subreddit), etc. Pretty much any 'female centered' subreddit is now trans-centered, see TwoXChromosomes, Actuallesbians, pretty much any woman-centered sub is now trans-dominated. Hell, even TallGirls is pretty much all males and a ton of 6'5"+ "women"
Ummmmm...
That tirade only gets 4.3 on the 10-point Rant Scale, sorry.
For one thing, I'm not a Democrat. For another, I wouldn't watch the Grammys unless someone (a) pointed a gun at my head, (b) offered me a million bucks, or (c) did both simultaneously. I had no idea that Satan had made an appearance at the Grammys. What designer did he wear?
The Rachel Levine appointment _is_ a bit squirmy, I will concede, given that she may have a problem differentiating politics from public health, _may_ being the operative word there.
But what's up with this "angry white men" thing? If I had to speculate, I'd guess that "angry old men" captures the spirit of your Zeitgeist so much more succinctly.
I much appreciate your reply, especially your doubt about how anyone can "know" what it means to "feel" like the opposite sex. That's the crux of the whole issue. The glaring question.
However...while Rachel Levine may have changed his name from Richard, he's a not a "she." Buying into this gaslighting by using incorrect pronouns in the cause of "being respectful," of not "being offensive," isn't helping society to reassert sanity.
If there is one reasonable caveat, I'd say it's this: if the trans person is a Blair White or Buck Angel type, who not only unequivocally "passes" as the other sex and—very importantly—does not claim they actually "are" the opposite sex, AND also uses their trans profile to speak out against the targeting of children—then I can see "respecting" incorrect pronouns. Because at least such trans people are willing to acknowledge reality and protect the innocent.
But people like Rachel Levine, a delusional man on estrogen who wears a dress and uses his trans profile to celebrate, defend, and advance the harms and upheaval brought on by this lunacy, should not be given the courtesy of "respecting pronouns." I think people need to get much tougher on this point if we want this madness to end sooner rather than later.
I know it's supposed to be "not nice" to laugh at the pretend Admiral, but, seriously? Everyone - or at least the sane among us - are secretly doing so. Why not do it openly and end this sham? Where is the old National Lampoon when we most need them?????
On the one hand it’s certainly good to keep a sense of humor in the face of a crazy world. OTOH men in dresses being accepted and promoted as women feels more terrifying than funny. There’s a lot at stake. 🙁
Walking in a park a few summers ago in Dumbo, Brooklyn - ground zero for woke culture - I came upon a couple walking and holding hands. The one in the yellow sundress had a full beard and looked like Popeye's Bluto. Didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I am sorry for the personal tone of my rant. I've read many of your comments and appreciate your thoughts and perspective.
So allow me to clarify some things.
I don't care if you identify as a Democrat or not because I've seen you support their rhetoric, values and elected representatives in almost all the content you post here. Insofar as they are a religion, you seem like a believer. It's incredible, unbelievable to me that anyone can think Biden is doing a good job.
On that note, Rachel Levine is a man and always will be. He is a man given inordinate power and influence to validate his delusions and spread his pathology to children, which he does by lying about science. If you continue to honor his presentation as a woman and his position as a healthcare administrator, you cannot understand "how we got here."
The Grammys represent the cultural influence of the rich and fashionable. I'm not under the impression that Satan is a person who was on the stage, because I'm not an idiot. I believe symbolism matters and has spiritual import, and when our cultural leaders dress as demons singing a song about adultery, that matters whether or not you personally are watching. It should disgust everybody with a moral conscience, and it demonstrates how "inclusive" those people actually are.
"Angry white men" has been a popular rhetorical phrase on the left for many years now, that's why I make the reference. I've been personally told that I'm upset by our culture because I'm "afraid of losing power and privilege." In truth, I also hate identity politics and I don't view myself as a color.
There are many 'normal' people that find Biden to be doing a decent enough job - but you can find common cause with them on many issues (transgender issues, the border, etc). You act little different than the woke - you demand purity for your cause - and lose people that you can work with on important issues. Too many Republican activists do - and as a result, they didn't dominate the midterms the way they should have. Your criticisms of the woke are accurate. However, look into yourself to see how you act so much like them. I've read your posts - your extremism and intolerance is very similar to the Squad and their believers.
PS...i saw some of your later posts - and see you are trying to moderate. I'll keep the above post up - but appreciate your later explanations.
I appreciate you for reaching out to me in this way, Anthony. Thank you.
We _do_ disagree about many things, but I also appreciate your thoughts and perspective. Otherwise, I wouldn't be reading "The Free Press" or posting in this forum.
Just as a point of clarification—I think the "Republican"/"Democratic" distinction is about as meaningful as the distinction between Pepsi and Coke. There _are_ many hot-wire issues where I agree with the Democratic line, but there are also many hot-wire issues where I agree with the Republican line.
Trust me—as many times as I've been piled on in this forum for having "progressive" opinions, I've been piled on in real life for having "conservative" opinions.
For me, what's important is keeping the dialogue open.
THIS! Few people, unless they have joined the DEM or REP cult, genuinely believe in everything their tribe subscribes to. My beliefs don't fit into either party, yet are considered common sense in many parts of the world. some examples:
1. Climate change is real. I don't think we need to destroy to oil industry immediately either. We can work on gradual changes to energy use and transition energy, and work on carbon capture technologies which are being developed.
2. COVID is real. The vaccines and early lockdowns saved lives - anyone with basic first year university statistics could see that. We also no longer need to keep demanding boosters, masks don't add much value at all now, and the new versions of Covid are relatively mild and no longer novel.
3. Illegal immigration is a huge problem, but selective legal immigration has benefits.
Not sure any of the above reasonable beliefs, held firmly by many intelligent people, can be openly espoused in either party without being booed out.
Part of my participation here is also an ongoing self-therapy of trying to tone down my negativity, because I've felt increasingly targeted by the cultural left every year of my life and finally broke into a perpetual rage several years ago. I have a lot of anger to deal with and this forum helps to vent that and to find supportive voices. But I hope to eventually craft a more reasonable and moderate voice. In Seattle I was told, "you have great things to say but you need to find a better way to say them."
So thank you for helping with that, and I appreciate you as well.
I always appreciate your commentary Anthony and would not have guessed you had anger issues. So good job. Keep it up!
Thank you so much for that! I've been concerned since the day I joined that my comments are unnecessarily harsh, so this is very reassuring.
Group hug!!!! 😀
Everything about this exchange is amazing and renews my faith in humanity.
Some “performer” named Sam Smith had a pretty convincing Satan costume according to the photo I saw.
Levine "may" have a problem differentiating???
All I need to hear. 1.1 on the response to 4.3 rant.
I thought the attack on you was a bit unfair and off the mark but the description of today's "progressive Democrats" was spot on and incisive Savagely so. Needs to be said again and again. These people are lunatics. And should be treated accordingly.
Agree completely. Only the remark about Rachel Levine - an obvious activist who shouldn’t be anywhere near any levers of power - was disappointing.
I don't disagree. Personally, I loathe identity politics.
But I do feel compelled to add here that "angry white men" is also a form of identity politics.
Is it? I am not so sure.
Serious question: Why do you think it might not be?
It seems to me that descriptive terms like “angry,” “old,” “queer,” “Black” and so forth are not necessarily political identities, and further that there needs to be some conscious decision to embrace an identity as political. Walter Matthau and what’s his name were Grumpy Old Men as characters but not political identities.
I agree with you.
But using that logic, why isn't "white" in the sense that Anthony is using it above a characterization of political identity?
It is! I used the phrase because it's a rhetorical device of the identitarian left, and my intent was ironic mockery.
I do not believe people are defined by race or gender, but by the spiritual forces they serve. "People do not have ideas, ideas have people."
It's murky because as political identities these things are artificial and imposed. "Black" as a political identity in America specifically means Leftist, radical, Marxist, etc. Black conservatives (even the highest level intellectuals or politicians) are specifically excluded from this identity.
"Hispanic" as an identity was made up by the government and a handful of Chicano activists. The groups lumped together do not necessarily have more culturally in common than they do with Italians or other groups not part of this "identity".
"AAPI" is even more ridiculous, lumping together vast swaths of the world that have almost nothing in common. I forget the details but adding on the "PI" was for some hilarious, very specific govt-related reason.
In the post civil rights era I think most white people did not see themselves as part of a "white" identity. The great irony of the New Racial Purists in the "anti-racism" movement is they are creating a new shared white identity in response/backlash to their actions. None of this will end well.
"Angry white men" started as a put-down like Hillary's "deplorables". It was a way of dismissing the valid concerns of people not on the winning side of the economic and social transformations of recent decades. Personally I'm not angry, just despairing for the direction the country is going in.
I appreciate your insights.
Maybe we're angry because we're tired of seeing the nation we love demonized, our history distorted and mocked and the race to which we were born viewed as some badge of shame despite our inability to anything about it. More important, given the accomplishments of the white race, we're actually quite proud of it, notwithstanding it's irrelevance to our own deeds and accomplishments.
Thanks for this, Bruce.
I appreciate your honesty, and I feel that "badge of shame" irritation as well. (I am talking to yew-w-w-w-w-w, Robin DeAngelo!!!)
I guess my sense is that it's most effective to discount _all_ identity politics rather than go on the defensive on behalf of the one that might fit. Because identity politics are just bad, bad, BAD.
Angry conservative white women are pretty pissed off, too.
My Gen Z daughter, 22, recently described her 'red-pill' journey.
She described the barrage of tiktok posts by 'trans' women complaining about the difficulties of being a woman (including periods, if you can believe it!). As she put it "you (males) have no lines in this play".
She was previously very trans-friendly but, now that she sees the male-weirdo side, she is NOT onboard.
I reminded her that she might be considered a TERF. She is fine with that.
Progressives would have you believe that "angry white women" are simply "angry trans white men" who haven't accepted they're trans yet.
They don't like "anger" all that much, either. Always try portraying it (and lots of other stuff) as "fear." Sometimes through the "-phobe" labels & sometimes just flat out "you're afraid of this that & the other thing. Which makes me laugh, in a pissed-off sort of way. I always think You know, you are so emotionally illiterate, you can't even distinguish among emotions, everything--anger, betrayal, resentment, whatever--is reduced to "fear." They're like people who are colorblind & sees all colors as orangey-brown.
It seems to be a law right now among my fellow mom friends - both conservative and liberal - that if you let any conversation go on longer than 10 minutes it will turn into letting out steam about "this gender bullsh*t."
Add in some wine and it takes more like 5 minutes.
I find there are a LOT of women my age with kids who seem to feel the need to get some pent up anger about this off their chest right now.
Yeah, but how many of them will still go out and vote Democrat? Most of them, according to the polls.
Republicans swept the last school board election in our town, and I live in a not particularly conservative part of New England. Our Democratic congresswoman came within something like 1000 votes of getting unseated. So the ground def feels like it is moving in that direction.
And our local parish Catholic school has a waiting list.
All the GOP has to do is be *not crazy* to win over these voters.
I will never vote for a democratic who supports this crap, and I know others who won’t! I don’t care for DeSantis on most issues( don’t like guns for all) but on this is the is absolutely correct!
You still believe polls? I think they are just to guage how many ballots will need to be harvested. Or to justify the election results because because folks will expect the outcome because the polls predicted it.
Oh definitely. There are women on all political spectrums and races who are fed up with this. Liberal MSM are just putting a media black out on the whole shit show. And they are pushing the misinformation narrative that this is some kind of conservative bigotry (it is not for most people) so they can just demonize anyone still in the blind who asks questions.
And women too.