Why This Shit Matters
After last night’s post detailing what I can only describe as a free-fall descent into Dante’s circles of Hell, TexBat asked a pertinent question.
The question was, to paraphrase, “why is this stuff so important?”
The whole modern gender ‘edifice’ (which is much more than solely about the ‘trans’ issue) is important to me, personally, for many reasons. There are scientific questions, ethical questions, and questions about what kind of society we are in the process of constructing (do we really want to be living in something that is beginning to look like a version of the Capital in The Hunger Games?)
Although, it is claimed, the percentage of “gender non-conforming” people is rising, it is still a relatively small section of society we’re talking about. So why are people getting their knickers in a twist over this?
One of the reasons is the impact it’s having on everyone else. One example that frequently crops up is in the pronoun issue. There are parallels with the mask ‘debate’ here.
It is claimed that masks (pronouns) hurt no one, that masks (pronouns) are a matter of courtesy to others, and that masks (pronouns) are a trivial imposition that help others and help to prevent death.
I am not going to pick apart these parallels except to say that my instincts make me wary of anything that smacks of coercion to ascribe to a particular dogma. When I’m asked to use a certain pronoun it may be a matter of courtesy to do so, but it is also an affirmation of a particular ideological position on gender.
If I had to sum things up, I would say that my objections stem from a disquiet surrounding a (largely) unthinking adherence to dogma, and the coercive imposition of that adherence.
There are other parallels with the case of covid, too. It’s the with/from issue.
Are people seeking medical care because of covid (‘trans’), or are they presenting with other conditions but also have covid (‘trans’)?
As with covid, there was only one solution presented. Prescribing things like ivermectin (therapy) are effectively made illegal and only one solution, the vaccine (affirmation) is presented as the only way forward.
By forcing everyone into the same ideological straitjacket we lose any flexibility or ability to develop a better understanding of the real issues.
By presenting “gender affirmation” as the only solution, and saying that questioning this official position is “hateful” and “damaging”, we’re forcing things down a potentially more damaging path.
Most kids struggling with gender identity issues actually ‘grow out of it’ when properly supported to value themselves as individuals. Typically, these kids will grow up to be well-adjusted homosexuals. Gender ‘affirming’ care is clearly going to be an absolute disaster for these kids and the wrong thing to do.
But what about the smaller percentage of kids for whom gender ‘dysphoria’ is more persistent and deep-seated? What do we do for these kids? The emphasis here is on ‘for’ and definitely not ‘about’.
It’s entirely possible that gender-affirming care is the right thing to do for these kids.
And just like the covid ‘vaccines’ it’s only later will we see the disaster unfold. We might well have traded apparent short-term mitigation of serious symptoms with long-term damage to health and immune systems for many.
The real issue here is the imposition of an ‘official’ blanket solution and the censorship/cancellation of those who question it.
The gender affirming care solution and the covid vaccine solution are both based on particular ideological positions, only purporting to be ‘based on science’. When you look at the science openly and honestly there emerge some very serious questions.
What, for example, are the long-term medical effects of delaying (or preventing) puberty? And when did undergoing puberty become so, allegedly, life-threatening? I may be wrong, but I’m not aware of a world-wide spate of suicides in, say, the 1700’s because people went through the ‘wrong’ puberty.
All of these kinds of questions matter for the individuals concerned - but it’s the tendency to impose particular ‘ready-made’ blanket solutions and to remove any concern or opposition that should worry us all.
Racism? BLM and ‘anti-racism’
Climate Change? Eat bugs and ride a bicycle (unless you’re amongst the elite)
Gender discomfort? Get it affirmed and have various bits surgically tampered with
Covid? Get vaccinated and wear a mask
There are difficult issues to be addressed in all of these things, legitimate questions to be asked which do not always have simple answers. But, too often these days, we’re not even ‘allowed’ to have the necessary debates and discussions.
Here’s an example of the kind of thing that’s happening - and it’s not even directly emerging from a government (although I would say that governments are encouraging and nudging people to adopt these positions regarding censorship and free speech). I’ve also included an example of the asymmetry of approach.
So, what’s happened here is that a teacher takes a picture and publishes it. Libs of TikTok publishes a mildly critical comment. People who see the tweet of Libs of TikTok comment in a manner that appears to be a direct incitement to violence (and the comment highlighted is pretty sick, in my view). Libs of TikTok then gets blamed for this and somehow (psychically?) “knowing” that her “followers” would behave like freakin eejits. This results in a call for her complete removal from ALL platforms (and this is just one example of such a call).
There’s some ‘next-level’ fortune-telling going on here.
Libs of TikTok did nothing wrong.
Now compare and contrast that with Trudeau’s statement about unvaccinated people. Quite a difference here.
The kind of illiberalism on display here is very concerning - and many people see nothing wrong with it!
One of the reasons the whole gender madness interests me is not just the issues themselves, which are both fascinating and important, but that it proves a very clear example of how something that is patently absurd (trigender, cake-gender, non-binary?) can end up having an almost complete stranglehold on societal, official and institutional discourse and opinion.
More concerning still, is how something like this gives rise to all sorts of coercion and limitation of free speech.
I am opposed to this transgender business, because Truth matters. And the truth is that human beings are created in 2 flavors: male and female, with the exception of some very rare unfortunates. To claim otherwise is to deny fundamental biological truth.
This really is a 2 + 2 = 5 situation. The authorities in the West are now forcing us to acquiesce to a lie, under penalty of fines and even loss of freedom.
They are now blending the lines between gender and sex, after separating the two to advance this transgender narrative. Earlier this year, when Rachel/Richard (circle both) Levine was made a 4-star admiral, the White House Tweeted its congratulations to the first FEMALE 4-star...
This assault on truth is just getting underway, and we all need to speak the truth, especially uncomfortable ones.
BTW, I just ventured onto Wikipedia to verify that Rachel was born Richard. No mention of Richard anywhere. Like an Old Comrade who fell out of Stalin's favor, Richard is completely erased from history. Hard evidence (pun intended) for Richard's continued existence lies under Rachel's skirt.
The "Current Thing" zealots I know are all neurotic messes, thoroughly infantilized, desperate for attention. They struggle to maintain close relationships. They'd be pitiable if they weren't so eagerly useful to powerful, cynical, psychopathic people. Their utility lies in their zealotry. Their normal condition is moral panic in service to brutal authoritarians.
The go along to get along people are frightened by them. Any entanglement brings a howling digital mob, career or job cancelation, opprobrium in the perjured media, and social isolation. Their passivity makes them the anaesthetized zombie hosts for the zealot botnet.
People wiser than me say that the best thing to do is to keep speaking calm reason, seek out the like-minded and organize whatever mutual aid is possible. There's a chance the go-alongs will tire of the abuse. Thanks for speaking calm reason!