This transgender movement and our elite’s acceptance of it’s demands is pure insanity! I don’t believe that most people are really taken in by this nonsense but many Millennials honestly seem to be. Men cannot become women anymore than human beings can somehow have a surgery that allows them to fly. I’ve been told it’s “reductionist” to believe that my body makes me a woman! How did we come to this? I do believe this mass delusion will end sooner than later - it’s really too absurd - so like that Anderson’s fairytale The Kings New Clothes.
The consensus of the posts seems to be 95-5 against biological men competing against women. Competitors and parents step up and be counted and force a third competitive category for those who identify as anything other than their biological gender. It's either take courage ......or the easy way out and ruin the future of girls sports.
Suzy - I don't really know how to reach you other than via the comments, so forgive me if this is not a good way, but I have lately run across some stories about Helena Kerschner, a woman who lived as a man for a time, having been groomed via Tumbler. If you have a moment to do some research on her, I think she might bring some remarkable first-hand perspective to this topic. All best, Jim
We have become utterly ridiculous. Reminds me of a limerick.... "The Humanist, whom no belief constrained, grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained."
So even though you know it's a lie, by golly don't speak out. And make sure you blame the NCAA. To any adults left in the room, how about acting as such. Your children learn from you. Biology does exist. Look in the mirror - or in the above photos that easily show a DNA male wearing a one piece swimsuit. I think an easy solution is to allow males, who undergo surgery to mimic females, to compete in men's sports as female. The old feminists always wanted women to compete in male sports; two birds, one stone.
Why are you calling this cheating MAN "she"? What a traitor to your sex class. Neither is he "transgender"...he has taken some wrong sex hormones and grown his hair. He flashes the female swimmers in the changing rooms. He is a predator and a charlatan. This is NOT about "inclusion" either. Why did you keep saying that? Women's sport does not include men by definition. Such ridiculous gaslighting. Why are you perpetrating this nonsense?
It is with sadness that I write to tell you that I am cancelling my subscription to your newsletter. When you founded Common Sense following your resignation from the New York Times, I eagerly joined other like-minded citizens, who were sick of right and left wing extremes in a mass media that long ago became unhinged from reality. We joined you with “optimism and gratitude” at the birth of your offspring–a new medium that we could trust to tell us the truth.
Much to my disappointment, however, I have discovered, as Voltaire put it, that “common sense is not so common.” In your resignation letter to the New York Times you lamented how a “new consensus has emerged in the press...that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.”
Some truths are a “process of discovery” and hard work. Other truths are as plain and simple as the nose on your face–well established facts that we all know are true, correct, and right. You could and should have begun the March 6, 2022 “Honestly“ podcast episode (and your Common Sense newsletter article), “Watching Lia Thomas,” with the truth. Instead, you incredulously chose to state an outrageous lie: “Lia Thomas is a transgender woman, who is now the star of the women’s swim team at Penn…”
I know that you know what everyone else–the whole world–knows: Lia Thomas is not a woman. Lia Thomas is a man. A male (equipped with a penis, to boot, which he likes to swing around the women’s locker room, according to his teammates). Saying that Lia Thomas is a “transgender woman” is both a false statement and an asinine one, becaus the word “transgender” has no coherent meaning.
“Transgender” does not denote some extra category of humans for whom sex is irrelevant. The word “transgender” is gibberish. It’s meaningless genderjargon, made out of whole cloth and used to justify all manner of monstrosities and injustices. According to Webster, “transgender” means “relating to, or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth.” Webster further confirms that “gender identity” is meaningless, describing it as a “person's internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female.” In other words: nothing. No one has ever described what an “internal sense of sex”–or not sex–is like, because it cannot be described. I can’t describe what “female” feels like, because I don’t know what female feels like. I just am a female.
Why would you lead your podcast story with a sentence containing both an outright lie and incoherent poppycock? Why would you tell a blatant lie? Were you trying to be “nice” to someone? Many people claim to use the neologisms, the non sequiturs and pas prequiturs of gender religion, to be polite or “kind.” “I’m just trying to be respectful. Why can’t you?” This response, one of many cognitotoxic byproducts of gender ideology, is akin to Stockholm Syndrome, in which victims/hostages develop a positive, psychological bond with their abusers/captors while developing negative feelings toward anyone trying to set them free.
Words matter. Although you can’t give someone a shiner with a sentence, as aspiring victims claim, “words are weapons for all causes, good or bad.” An ideology based on lies that forces and manipulates others to tell lies is dangerous and evil. Spouting nonsensical poppycock you know to be false is not only harmful; it’s insulting. Why would you treat your subscribers and audience with such disrespect? Do you think we don’t know that Lia Thomas is a man? Do you think we are stupid? Do you think we signed up for this when we left the NYT and NPR monoculture for you?
Most Americans do not understand the real threat that the neo-religious “gender identity” ideology poses to all of us—especially women and girls. We’ve been told that "transgender" rights are a battle for civil rights, the “new gay rights battle.” That is another lie. There’s a big difference between asking people to accept you for who you are and demanding they accept you for who you are not. The average American has no civil rights that “trans” identified people don’t have. In fact, according to my definition of “trans,” I’m the one holding the short stick: “Trans” is a deluxe class citizenship that entitles you to unlimited taxpayer-funded cosmetic surgery, to force your neologisms on lesser-class citizens and to have them punished for insults, real or imagined, to your hallowed trans feelings.
All of our civic institutions—government, law, media, academia, arts, and business—have been completely captured by the the pernicious cult of “gender identity” and a very wealthy and powerful “gender industry” which seeks to abolish sex from life as we know it. Most Americans* are completely ignorant of how firmly the tentacles of the gender cult have suckered in U.S. society and law, because the mainstream media are engaged in a calculated and coordinated effort to hide that fact from us. We–and especially you, Bari–should all be asking why.
*PS: If you believe that “the most vulnerable people on the planet” aka the “transgender population” can have big business, academia, medicine, law, and government crawling on all fours doing its bidding, you have been suckered.
If you want to BE heard, you need to extend the same courtesy to others - particularly to those with whom you disagree. All I look for here is an honest opinion, and whether I agree with it or not, THAT we certainly have.
Apparently collegiate athletes and their parents are quaking under the fear that they will be retaliated against if they object to biological males competing against women. Sooner or later, a biologically male transgender athlete will enter women's professional tennis and begin to wipe out the top women. Then the messy stuff will hit the fan. Pro women tennis players have too much at stake to sit down for the woke attitudes that have invaded collegiate women's swimming. The swimmers are losing out on scholarships -- pro tennis players will lose out on tens of millions of dollars. Then mature professionals who are unafraid of the power structure that now decides who is a man and who is a woman will take care of business.
Writing polite letters to school administrators and NCAA officials will get biological women nowhere. There is only one way to demonstrate seriousness about the subject of transgender men competing in the women's division - and it requires a tremendous sacrifice. Every biological woman has to suit up and be at the pool before the start of the race. Just before the gun, they need to walk out....en masse. Lia Thomas should be ashamed of herself for competing against biological women. She must know she is disadvantaging every female competitor. She must know this just by looking in the mirror. There is absolutely nothing that biological women can do to overcome this disadvantage. More practice, better diet, more sleep - it all makes no difference. These women have no shot. A walkout will send a real message to the NCAA. Create another division for men who believe themselves to be women. It is the only fair thing to do.
Thanks to Lia’s courage, my three sons, all mediocre athletes, are going to become women and seek basketball, softball and hockey scholarships.
I already feel the pride - like Adam Sandler swatting shots from 7 year olds in Billy Madison - when my son/daughter, 6’7”, leads the nation in dunks, blocked shots and averages 57 points per game. Or when my other son/daughter hits home runs that are still rising when they clear the left field wall. US Women’s hockey will return to gold medal prominence when my son/daughter averages four goals per game against the Canadian women’s team. Unless of course, the opposition teams start recruiting only transgender athletes. Wait. I hadn’t thought of that…
The Emperor is naked. Someone needs to have the courage to point this out.
Jesse Singal posted this thread on trands suicides and hormone therapy showing an INCREASED suicidality with hormone therapy. The woke manage to use the same study to prove decreased suicidality. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1499216769206075400.html
This is why we have secret ballots. People who are repeatedly intimidated into not speaking up in public, will eventually surprise the elite with their unexpected votes. We will likely see increasing disparity between public silences (or formulaic "support") and private voting.
I don't think that's a good thing, in a polarized nation where the available choices have been channeled into increasingly extreme opposites. I fear that both sides will alternate in power, while becoming increasingly authoritarian, justifying that change by pointing at the demons on the other side, until one side is able to seize permanent power "just to protect democracy" from the other side.
I hope we can pull back from the brink.
In a democracy, the cultural, educational, and economic elites who control media and institutions have power disproportionate to their numbers. The current neo-progressives seem to be gaining increasing control of the mechanisms and institutions, while increasingly losing the common people. It's going to be interesting to see how it all comes out, but alas I don't have a safe stand on the other side of the screen in a fictional drama.
Seems to me we are okay allowing people without kids dictating and silencing those of us with kids on how we should raise our kids, we're okay with that until we're not. To put it another way, am I supposed to put the hurt feelings of someone else over the life of my child? Should I allow someone else to damage my kid without pushing back? Just so that other person isn't offended?
This interview with the mother of a UPenn swimmer is disappearing from all platforms. Spotify and Apple have already taken it down. I hope Bari can track this woman down and interview her as well.
I remember all the feminist anti-male bias constantly demonizing toxic masculinity, starting in the 70's . In certain industries it crushed those of us just trying to compete for few jobs. I'm not a shrink but, I always felt this anger was driven by Daddy Issues. Now we enter the endgame.....
He is no champion. The Pulitzer for reporting on this story goes to the Babylon Bee: "Swimmers dead, viewers traumatized as a Great White Shark Tia competes in women's freestyle swim @ Ivy League Swimming Championships. 'Wow, this brave swimmer is making a splash' said one commentator as the shark thrashed through the pool, eating screaming swimmers. 'Look at that form! She's designed for this.' Tia vowed spectators with her speed, form, poise, and ability to maul anyone in the pool. 'What's your secret?' asked a reporter who was then promptly eaten. The shark was awarded all medals, as all the other swimmers were dead. Anyone questioning Tia's win will have their bank account frozen, be banned from Twitter, and put on an FBI watchlist. Then, they'll be eaten."
This transgender movement and our elite’s acceptance of it’s demands is pure insanity! I don’t believe that most people are really taken in by this nonsense but many Millennials honestly seem to be. Men cannot become women anymore than human beings can somehow have a surgery that allows them to fly. I’ve been told it’s “reductionist” to believe that my body makes me a woman! How did we come to this? I do believe this mass delusion will end sooner than later - it’s really too absurd - so like that Anderson’s fairytale The Kings New Clothes.
The consensus of the posts seems to be 95-5 against biological men competing against women. Competitors and parents step up and be counted and force a third competitive category for those who identify as anything other than their biological gender. It's either take courage ......or the easy way out and ruin the future of girls sports.
Suzy - I don't really know how to reach you other than via the comments, so forgive me if this is not a good way, but I have lately run across some stories about Helena Kerschner, a woman who lived as a man for a time, having been groomed via Tumbler. If you have a moment to do some research on her, I think she might bring some remarkable first-hand perspective to this topic. All best, Jim
We have become utterly ridiculous. Reminds me of a limerick.... "The Humanist, whom no belief constrained, grew so broad-minded he was scatter-brained."
So even though you know it's a lie, by golly don't speak out. And make sure you blame the NCAA. To any adults left in the room, how about acting as such. Your children learn from you. Biology does exist. Look in the mirror - or in the above photos that easily show a DNA male wearing a one piece swimsuit. I think an easy solution is to allow males, who undergo surgery to mimic females, to compete in men's sports as female. The old feminists always wanted women to compete in male sports; two birds, one stone.
Why are you calling this cheating MAN "she"? What a traitor to your sex class. Neither is he "transgender"...he has taken some wrong sex hormones and grown his hair. He flashes the female swimmers in the changing rooms. He is a predator and a charlatan. This is NOT about "inclusion" either. Why did you keep saying that? Women's sport does not include men by definition. Such ridiculous gaslighting. Why are you perpetrating this nonsense?
Dear Bari
It is with sadness that I write to tell you that I am cancelling my subscription to your newsletter. When you founded Common Sense following your resignation from the New York Times, I eagerly joined other like-minded citizens, who were sick of right and left wing extremes in a mass media that long ago became unhinged from reality. We joined you with “optimism and gratitude” at the birth of your offspring–a new medium that we could trust to tell us the truth.
Much to my disappointment, however, I have discovered, as Voltaire put it, that “common sense is not so common.” In your resignation letter to the New York Times you lamented how a “new consensus has emerged in the press...that truth isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else.”
Some truths are a “process of discovery” and hard work. Other truths are as plain and simple as the nose on your face–well established facts that we all know are true, correct, and right. You could and should have begun the March 6, 2022 “Honestly“ podcast episode (and your Common Sense newsletter article), “Watching Lia Thomas,” with the truth. Instead, you incredulously chose to state an outrageous lie: “Lia Thomas is a transgender woman, who is now the star of the women’s swim team at Penn…”
I know that you know what everyone else–the whole world–knows: Lia Thomas is not a woman. Lia Thomas is a man. A male (equipped with a penis, to boot, which he likes to swing around the women’s locker room, according to his teammates). Saying that Lia Thomas is a “transgender woman” is both a false statement and an asinine one, becaus the word “transgender” has no coherent meaning.
“Transgender” does not denote some extra category of humans for whom sex is irrelevant. The word “transgender” is gibberish. It’s meaningless genderjargon, made out of whole cloth and used to justify all manner of monstrosities and injustices. According to Webster, “transgender” means “relating to, or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth.” Webster further confirms that “gender identity” is meaningless, describing it as a “person's internal sense of being male, female, some combination of male and female, or neither male nor female.” In other words: nothing. No one has ever described what an “internal sense of sex”–or not sex–is like, because it cannot be described. I can’t describe what “female” feels like, because I don’t know what female feels like. I just am a female.
Why would you lead your podcast story with a sentence containing both an outright lie and incoherent poppycock? Why would you tell a blatant lie? Were you trying to be “nice” to someone? Many people claim to use the neologisms, the non sequiturs and pas prequiturs of gender religion, to be polite or “kind.” “I’m just trying to be respectful. Why can’t you?” This response, one of many cognitotoxic byproducts of gender ideology, is akin to Stockholm Syndrome, in which victims/hostages develop a positive, psychological bond with their abusers/captors while developing negative feelings toward anyone trying to set them free.
Words matter. Although you can’t give someone a shiner with a sentence, as aspiring victims claim, “words are weapons for all causes, good or bad.” An ideology based on lies that forces and manipulates others to tell lies is dangerous and evil. Spouting nonsensical poppycock you know to be false is not only harmful; it’s insulting. Why would you treat your subscribers and audience with such disrespect? Do you think we don’t know that Lia Thomas is a man? Do you think we are stupid? Do you think we signed up for this when we left the NYT and NPR monoculture for you?
Most Americans do not understand the real threat that the neo-religious “gender identity” ideology poses to all of us—especially women and girls. We’ve been told that "transgender" rights are a battle for civil rights, the “new gay rights battle.” That is another lie. There’s a big difference between asking people to accept you for who you are and demanding they accept you for who you are not. The average American has no civil rights that “trans” identified people don’t have. In fact, according to my definition of “trans,” I’m the one holding the short stick: “Trans” is a deluxe class citizenship that entitles you to unlimited taxpayer-funded cosmetic surgery, to force your neologisms on lesser-class citizens and to have them punished for insults, real or imagined, to your hallowed trans feelings.
All of our civic institutions—government, law, media, academia, arts, and business—have been completely captured by the the pernicious cult of “gender identity” and a very wealthy and powerful “gender industry” which seeks to abolish sex from life as we know it. Most Americans* are completely ignorant of how firmly the tentacles of the gender cult have suckered in U.S. society and law, because the mainstream media are engaged in a calculated and coordinated effort to hide that fact from us. We–and especially you, Bari–should all be asking why.
*PS: If you believe that “the most vulnerable people on the planet” aka the “transgender population” can have big business, academia, medicine, law, and government crawling on all fours doing its bidding, you have been suckered.
https://irislee.substack.com/p/open-letter-to-bari-weiss?r=h9qg8&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
If you want to BE heard, you need to extend the same courtesy to others - particularly to those with whom you disagree. All I look for here is an honest opinion, and whether I agree with it or not, THAT we certainly have.
Apparently collegiate athletes and their parents are quaking under the fear that they will be retaliated against if they object to biological males competing against women. Sooner or later, a biologically male transgender athlete will enter women's professional tennis and begin to wipe out the top women. Then the messy stuff will hit the fan. Pro women tennis players have too much at stake to sit down for the woke attitudes that have invaded collegiate women's swimming. The swimmers are losing out on scholarships -- pro tennis players will lose out on tens of millions of dollars. Then mature professionals who are unafraid of the power structure that now decides who is a man and who is a woman will take care of business.
Writing polite letters to school administrators and NCAA officials will get biological women nowhere. There is only one way to demonstrate seriousness about the subject of transgender men competing in the women's division - and it requires a tremendous sacrifice. Every biological woman has to suit up and be at the pool before the start of the race. Just before the gun, they need to walk out....en masse. Lia Thomas should be ashamed of herself for competing against biological women. She must know she is disadvantaging every female competitor. She must know this just by looking in the mirror. There is absolutely nothing that biological women can do to overcome this disadvantage. More practice, better diet, more sleep - it all makes no difference. These women have no shot. A walkout will send a real message to the NCAA. Create another division for men who believe themselves to be women. It is the only fair thing to do.
Thanks to Lia’s courage, my three sons, all mediocre athletes, are going to become women and seek basketball, softball and hockey scholarships.
I already feel the pride - like Adam Sandler swatting shots from 7 year olds in Billy Madison - when my son/daughter, 6’7”, leads the nation in dunks, blocked shots and averages 57 points per game. Or when my other son/daughter hits home runs that are still rising when they clear the left field wall. US Women’s hockey will return to gold medal prominence when my son/daughter averages four goals per game against the Canadian women’s team. Unless of course, the opposition teams start recruiting only transgender athletes. Wait. I hadn’t thought of that…
The Emperor is naked. Someone needs to have the courage to point this out.
Jesse Singal posted this thread on trands suicides and hormone therapy showing an INCREASED suicidality with hormone therapy. The woke manage to use the same study to prove decreased suicidality. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1499216769206075400.html
This is why we have secret ballots. People who are repeatedly intimidated into not speaking up in public, will eventually surprise the elite with their unexpected votes. We will likely see increasing disparity between public silences (or formulaic "support") and private voting.
I don't think that's a good thing, in a polarized nation where the available choices have been channeled into increasingly extreme opposites. I fear that both sides will alternate in power, while becoming increasingly authoritarian, justifying that change by pointing at the demons on the other side, until one side is able to seize permanent power "just to protect democracy" from the other side.
I hope we can pull back from the brink.
In a democracy, the cultural, educational, and economic elites who control media and institutions have power disproportionate to their numbers. The current neo-progressives seem to be gaining increasing control of the mechanisms and institutions, while increasingly losing the common people. It's going to be interesting to see how it all comes out, but alas I don't have a safe stand on the other side of the screen in a fictional drama.
Seems to me we are okay allowing people without kids dictating and silencing those of us with kids on how we should raise our kids, we're okay with that until we're not. To put it another way, am I supposed to put the hurt feelings of someone else over the life of my child? Should I allow someone else to damage my kid without pushing back? Just so that other person isn't offended?
Talk about the tail wagging the dog!
https://youtu.be/Cd3Ltk30qv8
This interview with the mother of a UPenn swimmer is disappearing from all platforms. Spotify and Apple have already taken it down. I hope Bari can track this woman down and interview her as well.
I remember all the feminist anti-male bias constantly demonizing toxic masculinity, starting in the 70's . In certain industries it crushed those of us just trying to compete for few jobs. I'm not a shrink but, I always felt this anger was driven by Daddy Issues. Now we enter the endgame.....
He is no champion. The Pulitzer for reporting on this story goes to the Babylon Bee: "Swimmers dead, viewers traumatized as a Great White Shark Tia competes in women's freestyle swim @ Ivy League Swimming Championships. 'Wow, this brave swimmer is making a splash' said one commentator as the shark thrashed through the pool, eating screaming swimmers. 'Look at that form! She's designed for this.' Tia vowed spectators with her speed, form, poise, and ability to maul anyone in the pool. 'What's your secret?' asked a reporter who was then promptly eaten. The shark was awarded all medals, as all the other swimmers were dead. Anyone questioning Tia's win will have their bank account frozen, be banned from Twitter, and put on an FBI watchlist. Then, they'll be eaten."