Q-type conspiracies are convoluted, but not exactly complex. To understand complexity, you have to be able to understand how many subtle details interact with each other, follow the logic of their interactions and synthesize those interactions in your mind. QAnon isn't that -- it's just a sprawling, tangent-tentacled spiral of bullshit. No understanding of any kind required, because nothing "follows" from anything else. It's throwing spaghetti at the wall and pretending there's a meaningful message in whatever sticks.
My favourite take is "Why do my chromosomes determine how I'm allowed to shape the fabric covering my flesh prison?".
But I remember a conversation with a bloke in our volunteer fire brigade. He'd worn a dress once as a costume, and spoke rather longingly of how comfortable it was. Sounds like he'd like to wear dresses on the regular...but isn't prepared to cop the extreme ridicule and homophobia, graduating to hostility, ostracism, and quite possibly violence, that would result if he did. Which is fair!
And I don't think he's trans, I think he's a cis man who just found that particular fabric shape really comfortable. But society says he has the wrong kind of genitals to wear it in peace, so he doesn't. It's ridiculous.
Hi, since as several people have pointed out, there's considerable research on this matter, and your opinion really does strike me as very badly informed but not bigoted, I'm going to ask you to just not continue any arguments in this thread. You may not intend to be offensive, but the "maybe kids are just gay" claim really is misused by people who genuinely are hateful transphobes. Please just drop it.
I have also informed the commenter who was badgering you elsewhere to knock that off, because it's a clear violation of the rules.
— Dok Zoom, Yr Friendly Neighborhood Comments Moderator
It is very useful to lay out the facts of the matter against what Texas is doing, but only as a way to inform people with an open mind, the only people whose actions can be changed by a presentation of facts. This does not include the R political machine that runs Texas.
This machine has arranged to entrench itself against being ousted by the voters, so it doesn't even make a lot of sense to imagine that sane responsible people might be able to take over Texas govt at the polls next election, so it is important to set out the facts in order to persuade some sensible center in Texas. I suspect that even the reddest states probably have a persuadable sane center that might vote R state govts out of office. But we are past that point of it being at all sensible to imagine that we will win power by way of rational persuasion getting uncommitted voters to give us a majority in the next election. Their political machine has made election results irrelevant in states like Texas.
When you say, "they need to stop", it could be taken as some sort of plea for them to stop. The reality is that they can't be argued with. And there is no longer a practical point to convincing voters in these states by reasoned argument.
They need to be stopped. That's the right way to put it. The rest of us, the sane people in states not run by their political machine, need to stop them.
Texas was never properly reconstructed after the Civil War. We need to reduce it to territorial status again so that its political culture can finish its reconstruction, or, better yet, while Texas and other unreconstructed bastions of vicious stupidity are no longer able to block needed change, we need to abolish state sovereignty, so that we won't have this problem of bastions of vicious stupidity having the power to impose these outrages on our fellow citizens. Simple majorities in House and Senate can do this. This is the only thing that will still work to stop them.
Forcing children to conform to narrow, inaccurate, unscientific expectations isn’t for the benefit of the children. It’s to please and comfort adults. These adults believe it’s more important to protect their own antiquated, regressive mental comfort zones than it is to protect and nurture children. And they hide that abusive and neglectful mentality by claiming they are benevolent protectors. They do the same thing to justify all sorts of other abuses, such as claiming they are protecting children by banning abortion.
Our culture is so filthy with gender-based psychological warfare that we can’t even accept a mother feeding her infant with her breast in public without people getting upset, because apparently breasts full of baby’s milk are sex objects and not baby bottles. Of course, men can go shirtless. We are forced to make a campaign to encourage body-positivity to counter the self-esteem busting built into our culture. That’s absurd! Men who cry are still often perceived as being ‘weak’. People are arguing that we shouldn’t let trans girls play girls sports, because somehow it’s unfair advantage. Less often they argue that trans boys shouldn’t play boys sports. There are so many layers of sexism. It’s a perpetual gendered headfuck in our culture, and it even harms cisgendered people, but especially cisgender females, because it’s a patriarchy. Trans girls, even when accepted by others as girls, are still subject to the abuses of systemic patriarchal misogyny.
Maybe we could just stay the fuck out of each other’s underwear? Especially children’s underwear! And stay out of people’s medical decisions. And let kids just be kids, while being as positive and supportive as possible. And stop obsessing about what consenting adults do in their own bedrooms. And maybe, one day in the distant future, we can all agree that everyone is equal, period. No exceptions. No special rules for special people. No caveats. Everyone gets full bodily autonomy.
and what, exactly, do all these gay men and women believe would have happened that they would regret so deeply, if they were allowed to explore their gender identity back during childhood? an embarrassing school photo?
TERFs hate trans because they hate men.
Q-type conspiracies are convoluted, but not exactly complex. To understand complexity, you have to be able to understand how many subtle details interact with each other, follow the logic of their interactions and synthesize those interactions in your mind. QAnon isn't that -- it's just a sprawling, tangent-tentacled spiral of bullshit. No understanding of any kind required, because nothing "follows" from anything else. It's throwing spaghetti at the wall and pretending there's a meaningful message in whatever sticks.
TERFs are whackjobs, who cares what they think.
My favourite take is "Why do my chromosomes determine how I'm allowed to shape the fabric covering my flesh prison?".
But I remember a conversation with a bloke in our volunteer fire brigade. He'd worn a dress once as a costume, and spoke rather longingly of how comfortable it was. Sounds like he'd like to wear dresses on the regular...but isn't prepared to cop the extreme ridicule and homophobia, graduating to hostility, ostracism, and quite possibly violence, that would result if he did. Which is fair!
And I don't think he's trans, I think he's a cis man who just found that particular fabric shape really comfortable. But society says he has the wrong kind of genitals to wear it in peace, so he doesn't. It's ridiculous.
Good for you, but it's pronounced just like sis.
Not if enough people change how they pronounce it. Language is a living thing, it changes over time through use.
Hi, since as several people have pointed out, there's considerable research on this matter, and your opinion really does strike me as very badly informed but not bigoted, I'm going to ask you to just not continue any arguments in this thread. You may not intend to be offensive, but the "maybe kids are just gay" claim really is misused by people who genuinely are hateful transphobes. Please just drop it.
I have also informed the commenter who was badgering you elsewhere to knock that off, because it's a clear violation of the rules.
— Dok Zoom, Yr Friendly Neighborhood Comments Moderator
Hi, please see my reply to your more recent comment downthread
Thank you for your considerate reply.
"And they need to stop."
It is very useful to lay out the facts of the matter against what Texas is doing, but only as a way to inform people with an open mind, the only people whose actions can be changed by a presentation of facts. This does not include the R political machine that runs Texas.
This machine has arranged to entrench itself against being ousted by the voters, so it doesn't even make a lot of sense to imagine that sane responsible people might be able to take over Texas govt at the polls next election, so it is important to set out the facts in order to persuade some sensible center in Texas. I suspect that even the reddest states probably have a persuadable sane center that might vote R state govts out of office. But we are past that point of it being at all sensible to imagine that we will win power by way of rational persuasion getting uncommitted voters to give us a majority in the next election. Their political machine has made election results irrelevant in states like Texas.
When you say, "they need to stop", it could be taken as some sort of plea for them to stop. The reality is that they can't be argued with. And there is no longer a practical point to convincing voters in these states by reasoned argument.
They need to be stopped. That's the right way to put it. The rest of us, the sane people in states not run by their political machine, need to stop them.
Texas was never properly reconstructed after the Civil War. We need to reduce it to territorial status again so that its political culture can finish its reconstruction, or, better yet, while Texas and other unreconstructed bastions of vicious stupidity are no longer able to block needed change, we need to abolish state sovereignty, so that we won't have this problem of bastions of vicious stupidity having the power to impose these outrages on our fellow citizens. Simple majorities in House and Senate can do this. This is the only thing that will still work to stop them.
Certainly scares them.
Forcing children to conform to narrow, inaccurate, unscientific expectations isn’t for the benefit of the children. It’s to please and comfort adults. These adults believe it’s more important to protect their own antiquated, regressive mental comfort zones than it is to protect and nurture children. And they hide that abusive and neglectful mentality by claiming they are benevolent protectors. They do the same thing to justify all sorts of other abuses, such as claiming they are protecting children by banning abortion.
Our culture is so filthy with gender-based psychological warfare that we can’t even accept a mother feeding her infant with her breast in public without people getting upset, because apparently breasts full of baby’s milk are sex objects and not baby bottles. Of course, men can go shirtless. We are forced to make a campaign to encourage body-positivity to counter the self-esteem busting built into our culture. That’s absurd! Men who cry are still often perceived as being ‘weak’. People are arguing that we shouldn’t let trans girls play girls sports, because somehow it’s unfair advantage. Less often they argue that trans boys shouldn’t play boys sports. There are so many layers of sexism. It’s a perpetual gendered headfuck in our culture, and it even harms cisgendered people, but especially cisgender females, because it’s a patriarchy. Trans girls, even when accepted by others as girls, are still subject to the abuses of systemic patriarchal misogyny.
Maybe we could just stay the fuck out of each other’s underwear? Especially children’s underwear! And stay out of people’s medical decisions. And let kids just be kids, while being as positive and supportive as possible. And stop obsessing about what consenting adults do in their own bedrooms. And maybe, one day in the distant future, we can all agree that everyone is equal, period. No exceptions. No special rules for special people. No caveats. Everyone gets full bodily autonomy.
and what, exactly, do all these gay men and women believe would have happened that they would regret so deeply, if they were allowed to explore their gender identity back during childhood? an embarrassing school photo?
More pronouns. https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
Very well said! Crotch Cops for Christ are not able to stay out of anyone's underwear. They are obsessed with control of others.
Yes, right wing authoritarians are an insular and tribal lot. See "The Authoritarians" by Professor Robert Altemeyer for more info.