I know I said I was going to wait until tomorrow to respond but I started reading and it pulled me in! : ) I'll start by saying that I consider myself a, "live and let live" kind of guy. I used to consider myself as liberal as they come my stance has changed in the last few years.
I'm a student of history and like to take the long view on these kinds of issues, it tends to provide more layers of context. What I've noticed are societies tend to become hyper-focused on gender and become more extreme in that regard just before the society's collapse. It also seems to happen when citizens feel as though they have no control in any other aspect of their lives (pandemic -- hint, hint). One thing they can often control is their sexuality and gender-identity.
I empathize with the people who really feel like they're a man born in a female body and/or vice versa. I think some people are truly born this way. But the way this issue is making headlines consistently and is being drilled into children's heads in schools seems to me like coercion. The explosion of children saying they want to become the opposite sex or they identify as a cat or a dog or whatever else seems more like a mind-virus, the power of suggestion to a certain degree. If you think about it when did you hear about a child identifying as an animal when we were kids? Also, is this really happening on this scale or is the media blowing it up to be much larger than it really is? This could be the case too. Anything to divide, distract. Make the masses focus on their differences instead of coming together and recognizing their similarities.
The political landscape is also getting more extreme on both sides every day....liberals need to prove that they're ultra liberal to get elected, conservatives need to prove they're ultra conservative to get elected. I believe what we're seeing from politicians and others who hold public offices is a race to see who can be more extreme to win approval. This is filtering to regular citizens, the result is more extreme views in all things and events like January 6th. I believe this will, ultimately, be the undoing of this nation (as we know it) if it's not stopped and we find some kind of common middle ground again.
Great post, @dreemit! It took courage to post this. We need more open and honest discussions about this and many other things!
What a wonderful comment! Ever since I wrote this I've been doing far more self examination. Looking for the biases I may be holding onto in terms of this issue, wanting to understand people who have dysphoria a little better, and really looking to prove myself wrong about the almost hard line I took on what I perceive as delusion. I know there are people who have a hormonal structure that doesn't line up with the majority in their gender, I.E. females with a lot more testosterone naturally, males with a lot more estrogen. I can't help but feel- wouldn't it would make more sense to help them accept their unique compositions as they are?
Looking a little bit more into Gays Against Groomers I learned the guy on the right in the screenshot I took, @stillmattrey, is a trans man, and he altered my perspective a bit. I would never have known he was born female, and it's not just because he looks and sounds like a man, it's the way that he's comfortable in his skin. He doesn't need any reassurance, instead he's attempting to bring sanity into everything that's going on. He is strongly opposed to the shift toward children in the trans movement, despite himself always knowing who he was. Because during his formative years he knew so many other kids claiming the same, and almost all of them either changed their minds or transitioned only to find it was a mistake for them and are now going through detransitioning.
Of course that sent me down another rabbit hole, a truly heartbreaking one. So many people speaking about how therapists and doctors are so afraid to go against the current trends, they're not doing their jobs and ensuring that transitioning is indeed what is needed. How they realized they made a mistake- after doing irreversible things such as breast removal or gender reassignment surgery. After hormones that may have permanently altered their voices and hair growth etc. After the injections have done irreversible damage to their bodies causing multiple, serious health issues. And to top it all off, they are called bigots by the friends they once had in the LGBTQ community. They are frequently banned for hate speech simply from sharing their stories that do not fit the happily ever after narrative of the current trans movement. And there are thousands of them, from around seventeen to late twenties.
I did need to adjust my views, to see that (in addition to intersex people, which I always understood as an exception) there are those out there who are more themselves as the opposite sex. But the cases of those who are confused or looking for a group to fit into, particularly in the younger generation, greatly outnumber them currently. It's my opinion, just as Mattrey says, that their needs to be much stricter age restriction for anything beyond social transition. He- and a trans woman I found @boldlygrowingforward- have logically pointed out- if they're not old enough for a beer or marijuana, how could they be old enough for these drugs or extreme operations?
This is getting long, I've already condensed it a bit lol. But I completely agree with you on the way politicians are currently operating. I don't watch the news, but just the secondhand news I get from people I know tells me I'm right not to participate in that show. I really hope I'm wrong about an extreme shift in the other direction, but so many people in the US glorifying Putin has me a little worried! I didn't see Trump as all that worrisome before, just a loud, obnoxious man, but now...I don't know except extremes are bad.
Thanks for having this discussion with me Eric! Let's concentrate on dreaming a healthy, balanced, vibrant society into reality :0)
You're welcome my friend, thank you for having the courage to post it! I'm listening to Lex Fridman's recent podcast interview with Kayne right now. Lex truly deserves an award for this interview because he's non-judgmental most of the time but isn't afraid to push back (forcefully) when he doesn't agree with Ye. Both give each other the time and freedom to express their opinions too. I think it's a fine example of how public discourse should be. We should never be bullied or afraid to express our opinions in a "free and open" society.
Your last sentence is right on. "Let's concentrate on dreaming a healthy, balanced, vibrant society into reality." This is what we need to do. Negativity in the MSM and the echo chambers of social media have led us exactly to where we are today. Positivity, patience, empathy, and love will be the only thing that will make us rise above this horrible place we find ourselves in as a society.