I'm sorry, this is absurd. If the USA were anything like the Soviet Union, right-wing media personalities, who are hyper critical of the government, would fear for their lives. Contrary to what some people on the center right seem to think, we have a free press. And our government is not imprisoning people for the political speech.
I'm sorry, this is absurd. If the USA were anything like the Soviet Union, right-wing media personalities, who are hyper critical of the government, would fear for their lives. Contrary to what some people on the center right seem to think, we have a free press. And our government is not imprisoning people for the political speech.
As Jonah Goldberg points out, the Soviets ahd to build a wall to keep their citizens from fleeing the hell-hole of a country. We have to build a wall to keep out all the millions of people who want to share in the American dream. I mean, please!
Yes, “deaths of despair” is a real concern. But it should be noted that it's happening mostly among people without a college degree. They live in rural areas that have been abandoned by large employers, and they see no hope for their future. It seems to me that this is largely a MAGA phenomenon.
And one of the things that separates the USA from the USSR is that we value freedom for all individuals, including queer people and people who are members of ethnic, racial and religious minorities. That is a strength.
BTW, this sentence is an absurd distortion of reality: "and encouraging the mutilation of thousands of teenagers in the name of “gender-affirming surgery.” The number of people who get surgery as gender-affirming care is vanishingly small. And if it happens with someone under 18 it is with the parent's permission. Calling it "mutilation" is an obvious attempt to demonize the whole idea of gender-affirming care. And no one is pushing people into surgery. The risks of such procedures are thoroughly discussed. And no one does something like that lightly. Most trans and nonbinary people choose less severe options.
Niall have not said we are there already, but the striking analysis he provides gives me shivers and I can attest, being over there for the good part of my life, to the actual similarities. The deaths of despair are attributed to the people without college education? This is exactly what author is pointing to-the huge gap between elite and working people. If in previous time periods these people worked for the big corporations and received benefits as pensions, GOOD medical insurances, paid for graduate degrees. Now these benefits disappeared or are greatly diminished.
There is consensus among older immigrants from USSR (not Russai) to the growing similarities. You say the number of transgender's is STILL small? But look how it increased over the last ten years. In 2021, about 42,000 children and teens across the United States received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017. This is after European countries: Netherlands, Sweden, England practically shutdown their gender clinics. But here it become broad network with the vast financial interested and ideological war cry for Democrats. Our justice system became unaffordable for the most of American population and too busy with the cases based on ideology. In fact, it is the worst fear of Américains to be suid.by somebody with deeper pockets or by some deep packet organization. Again, we are not there but we are certainly on the wrong path.
Well, Russian trolls want Americans to lose trust in our system. You are arguing that we are right not to trust our system––that it is failing. And I detect a Russian accent in your writing.
Btw, the party that does the most to help the workers is the Democratic Party. The only thing the right has ever done is support the ownership class with tax cuts and deregulation and anti-union legislation.
So, If I run from the Soviet Union 40 years ago I am Russian troll? Wow, this is really twisted logic. It reminds me how some countries put refugees from Nazi Germany in the camps. I trust USA can and wish to fix the problems we have. Exactly what Niall is pointing to. But I and my fellows immigrants from USSR observing current tendences in USA, thanks to your "liberal" friends agitate for and Biden administration willingly follows, move toward Socialism. We are scared to death of Socialism, we put trust into civilized capitalism and if needed will fight for it. Nial give statistics on the attitude of the elite. Read it again. Their attitude is against our system. I confirmed facts in addition to Niall information about our institutions moving toward socialistic values. Please go, splash cold water in your face, come to your senses. Oh yes, how did you manage to detect Russian accent in my writing. Could it be Polish or Lithuanian or Ukranian or Romanian? It seems you are not very educated person regarding geography, social systems and different attitudes in general.
Regarding the mutilation of teenagers by so-called gender-affirming surgery, the number may indeed be small, but the point you make--that such depredations carried out on the under-18 are allowed only with parents' consent--helps make even more clear Ferguson's contempt for the detachment--philosophical, political, and moral--of the nomenklatura.
Calling GAC a "depredation" does not make it so. Indeed it reveals a bigoted attitude toward people who were born different. I happen to know quite a few trans and nonbinary people. GAC is healing for the vast majority of people who choose to partake of it. Why would you want to deprive people of a procedure that is healing? That is not only bigoted; it's also fascistic.
Also, have you ruled out the possibility that the nomenklatura have some good points? Are you claiming that the poorly educated are the ones who know better?
Apparently you are not aware of the reason we call children under 18 minors. Your seven-year-old will give you half a dozen good reasons why he or she is perfectly able to drive a car. But you wouldn't say yes, would you? Or maybe you would, in order to see for yourself if injury or death was what the child really wanted.
I am neither a bigot nor a fascist. But your propensity toward name-calling says more about you than you realize. I can only hope you keep any further thoughts you have, with regard to me or what I write, to yourself. Spew elsewhere, please.
That's why children under 18 only get any kind of surgery or hormone therapy with the permission of their parents.
I didn't call you a bigot or a fascist. I said denying gender-affirming care to people who want it because you don't think they should have that right is bigoted and fascist.
except it isnt only with consent of parents. several states are currently pushing to allow this "care" WITHOUT the consent of parents. many states allow plenty of medical care without parental consent- read abortions, covid vaccines, etc. anyone who is an adult should be able to get whatever care THEY can pay for. kids are another story, and parental consent is only the MINIMUM standard, and shouldn't necessarily be the final. there is plenty of parental consent for child brides across the world and in certain ethnic/religious groups in america- is that OK? how about parental consent for 12 year olds to smoke/drink?
to anyone who supports this "care" you should realize that america is now an outlier, europe is in the process of banning all of it, and most non-western countries never even considered it. to anyone who thinks that 12 year olds should get life-altering hormones or surgeries- with or without parental consent- let me ask: would you let your 12 year old get a tattoo?? would you let your 12 year old get a boob job?? the answer is obviously no to both- because we dont sexualize 12 year olds and/or tattoos are permanent and whatever ridicuous thing they think is cool at 12, likely wont be in 5 minutes, let alone age 18+.
does it not concern you that the percentage of people "who identify as trans" has gone up geometrically in the last few years?? if it had a scientific cause what would be the explanation for the 100-fold incerase?? if it isnt biologically caused, then it is clearly a function of mental status, and we ought to exhaust all behavioral treatment options BEFORE resorting to chemical castration and pharma intervention- just like we should do with depression, anxiety, et al.
No. I'm not worried about any of that. I think the increase is due to the fact that queer people can use the internet to meet people who are like them. I've heard of a lot of adults say that they hadn't thought of calling themselves "nonbinary" until recently. But that is how they would've referred to themselves had they had the language. Trans people are meeting other trans people online, and they are feeling more confident to express their true selves. To me, this is progress. It's an expansion of individual freedom. People shouldn't be forced into two neat and tidy boxes of people. That old way of thinking was making a lot of people miserable for no good reason.
that doesnt answer the question, thats a nice aside, and you are referring again to adults- while the original post was about kids. let me be clear, for adults, i dont care who wants to wear women's panties-that is their freedom, and their business. however, it is my freedom, not to be forced to live in whatever fantasy world they are in. they can ask me to call them "susie" instead of robert if they want, but they cant force me to pretend they are woman.
as for your point, what you are implying is that in ~10,000 years of human history there have always been this many "queers" running around who had to hide, until 5 minutes ago when the internet made it "OK" to come out?? that isnt borne out by ANY sort of historical metrics at all, and it isnt logical. i have seen studies out today that ~20% of gen Z "identifies as lgbtq...." now we can quibble over the accuracy and mechanics of the study(s), but by any reading that is a SUBSTANTIAL increase from 5 years ago. if 20% of the population was doing this historically then humans would be extinct, we wouldnt have enough reporduction to sustain the species. what you are talking about with openness toward alternative lifestyles would explain an increase of less than a hundred basis points, not what we are seeing now. what we are seeing now is a fad, because it is "cool" to do this. there is peer pressure and additional attention given to these people. this will go away like acid washed jeans and chia pets (back to historical levels) as soon as the "next thing" comes out. the problem comes with permanently, medically altering the next generation for a fad.
the "old way of thinking", you refer to, by which there are 2 sexes, is because of biology. there ARE scientific differences. you can dig up 2000 year old bones and tell if the person was a man or woman-also what race they were. that is a FACT. denying this is living in fantasy. these people can wear whatever clothes they want, and call themselves whatever they want, but it doesnt make it so.
With respect, I suggest that you treat trans people how they want to be treated. People who intentionally misgender someone in order to bully them or shame them, or to make some self-righteous point, are assholes. Don't do that.
And I think the two neat and tidy boxes thing probably came along with the Bible, and wherever that book has taken on holy meaning, LGBTQ people have had to live secret lives. They lived lives of shame and humiliation, and they've suffered horrible abuse if they were ever found out. But recently, our society has made it more comfortable for them to be their true selves. I think that's a good thing. That is progress. Though in some cultures, the queer lifestyle has been more accepted. I work in a museum. I've seen Dutch etchings from the 1500s of obviously queer people.
And, sure, generally there are two sexes, though there are biologists who will tell that it's not binary––that it's actually quite a bit more complicated than that. But whatever. The fact is that there are people whose gender identity does not match their biological sex. They have gender dysphoria. My nephew is such a person. At about 13 his conservatives parents agreed that the best thing for him was to socially transition to a boy. Overnight he went from being depressed and miserable and angry and failing school to being happy, outgoing, and extremely successful in school (top ten in his class of about 800 and a rising star on the debate team). I know first hand that some people really benefit from GAC and from being supported by the people around them. He started receiving testosterone at about 15. His parents have no regrets about any of this. They know it was the right thing to do. My mom's husband has queer grandkids. This issue is not going away.
To your point about it being a trend: I'm sure there is some truth to that. My nephew's younger sister has seen how much praise and attention her older brother has been getting (for his academic achievements) and she has gotten a little confused about her gender identity. But here's the thing. Her parents know that. They know that she is going through a phase and will grow out of it. People are generally not stupid about caring for their kids, though they are plenty of obvious exceptions.
This issue is not going away. Our society needs to learn how to deal with it. And for that reason, I'm glad that they have claimed June as Pride Month. They are saying to the world: "I refuse to feel shame for being who I am!"
Yes, we need to be cautions about the kind of GAC that we are approving of. Each case is different. Perhaps just learning to deal with it mentally is the best way for some. But that might not work for others. The trans community uses a basic rule of them: insistent, persistent, and consistent. If there is wavering, it's probably not a genuine case of gender dysphoria; it's just normal teenage confusion and questioning about "who I am."
I'm sorry, this is absurd. If the USA were anything like the Soviet Union, right-wing media personalities, who are hyper critical of the government, would fear for their lives. Contrary to what some people on the center right seem to think, we have a free press. And our government is not imprisoning people for the political speech.
As Jonah Goldberg points out, the Soviets ahd to build a wall to keep their citizens from fleeing the hell-hole of a country. We have to build a wall to keep out all the millions of people who want to share in the American dream. I mean, please!
Yes, “deaths of despair” is a real concern. But it should be noted that it's happening mostly among people without a college degree. They live in rural areas that have been abandoned by large employers, and they see no hope for their future. It seems to me that this is largely a MAGA phenomenon.
And one of the things that separates the USA from the USSR is that we value freedom for all individuals, including queer people and people who are members of ethnic, racial and religious minorities. That is a strength.
BTW, this sentence is an absurd distortion of reality: "and encouraging the mutilation of thousands of teenagers in the name of “gender-affirming surgery.” The number of people who get surgery as gender-affirming care is vanishingly small. And if it happens with someone under 18 it is with the parent's permission. Calling it "mutilation" is an obvious attempt to demonize the whole idea of gender-affirming care. And no one is pushing people into surgery. The risks of such procedures are thoroughly discussed. And no one does something like that lightly. Most trans and nonbinary people choose less severe options.
Some do fear for their lives. Most fear for the death of the Republic
There is a nursery full of urban underemployed Woman Studies majors.
Niall have not said we are there already, but the striking analysis he provides gives me shivers and I can attest, being over there for the good part of my life, to the actual similarities. The deaths of despair are attributed to the people without college education? This is exactly what author is pointing to-the huge gap between elite and working people. If in previous time periods these people worked for the big corporations and received benefits as pensions, GOOD medical insurances, paid for graduate degrees. Now these benefits disappeared or are greatly diminished.
There is consensus among older immigrants from USSR (not Russai) to the growing similarities. You say the number of transgender's is STILL small? But look how it increased over the last ten years. In 2021, about 42,000 children and teens across the United States received a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, nearly triple the number in 2017. This is after European countries: Netherlands, Sweden, England practically shutdown their gender clinics. But here it become broad network with the vast financial interested and ideological war cry for Democrats. Our justice system became unaffordable for the most of American population and too busy with the cases based on ideology. In fact, it is the worst fear of Américains to be suid.by somebody with deeper pockets or by some deep packet organization. Again, we are not there but we are certainly on the wrong path.
That sounds exactly like what a Russian bot or troll would say.
O man, and where did you find Russian propaganda here? Check your logical abilities. I think its very seriously screwd up
Well, Russian trolls want Americans to lose trust in our system. You are arguing that we are right not to trust our system––that it is failing. And I detect a Russian accent in your writing.
Btw, the party that does the most to help the workers is the Democratic Party. The only thing the right has ever done is support the ownership class with tax cuts and deregulation and anti-union legislation.
So, If I run from the Soviet Union 40 years ago I am Russian troll? Wow, this is really twisted logic. It reminds me how some countries put refugees from Nazi Germany in the camps. I trust USA can and wish to fix the problems we have. Exactly what Niall is pointing to. But I and my fellows immigrants from USSR observing current tendences in USA, thanks to your "liberal" friends agitate for and Biden administration willingly follows, move toward Socialism. We are scared to death of Socialism, we put trust into civilized capitalism and if needed will fight for it. Nial give statistics on the attitude of the elite. Read it again. Their attitude is against our system. I confirmed facts in addition to Niall information about our institutions moving toward socialistic values. Please go, splash cold water in your face, come to your senses. Oh yes, how did you manage to detect Russian accent in my writing. Could it be Polish or Lithuanian or Ukranian or Romanian? It seems you are not very educated person regarding geography, social systems and different attitudes in general.
Regarding the mutilation of teenagers by so-called gender-affirming surgery, the number may indeed be small, but the point you make--that such depredations carried out on the under-18 are allowed only with parents' consent--helps make even more clear Ferguson's contempt for the detachment--philosophical, political, and moral--of the nomenklatura.
Calling GAC a "depredation" does not make it so. Indeed it reveals a bigoted attitude toward people who were born different. I happen to know quite a few trans and nonbinary people. GAC is healing for the vast majority of people who choose to partake of it. Why would you want to deprive people of a procedure that is healing? That is not only bigoted; it's also fascistic.
Also, have you ruled out the possibility that the nomenklatura have some good points? Are you claiming that the poorly educated are the ones who know better?
Sad how quickly you went to Hitler for your arguement. Really Sad, but you do the best you can.
I never mentioned Hitler.
LoL!
But they can't buy a cigarette! I know both - A few LSMFT+ born that way and then many more silly pre-teens and teens enjoying the latest peer fad.
Apparently you are not aware of the reason we call children under 18 minors. Your seven-year-old will give you half a dozen good reasons why he or she is perfectly able to drive a car. But you wouldn't say yes, would you? Or maybe you would, in order to see for yourself if injury or death was what the child really wanted.
I am neither a bigot nor a fascist. But your propensity toward name-calling says more about you than you realize. I can only hope you keep any further thoughts you have, with regard to me or what I write, to yourself. Spew elsewhere, please.
That's why children under 18 only get any kind of surgery or hormone therapy with the permission of their parents.
I didn't call you a bigot or a fascist. I said denying gender-affirming care to people who want it because you don't think they should have that right is bigoted and fascist.
except it isnt only with consent of parents. several states are currently pushing to allow this "care" WITHOUT the consent of parents. many states allow plenty of medical care without parental consent- read abortions, covid vaccines, etc. anyone who is an adult should be able to get whatever care THEY can pay for. kids are another story, and parental consent is only the MINIMUM standard, and shouldn't necessarily be the final. there is plenty of parental consent for child brides across the world and in certain ethnic/religious groups in america- is that OK? how about parental consent for 12 year olds to smoke/drink?
to anyone who supports this "care" you should realize that america is now an outlier, europe is in the process of banning all of it, and most non-western countries never even considered it. to anyone who thinks that 12 year olds should get life-altering hormones or surgeries- with or without parental consent- let me ask: would you let your 12 year old get a tattoo?? would you let your 12 year old get a boob job?? the answer is obviously no to both- because we dont sexualize 12 year olds and/or tattoos are permanent and whatever ridicuous thing they think is cool at 12, likely wont be in 5 minutes, let alone age 18+.
does it not concern you that the percentage of people "who identify as trans" has gone up geometrically in the last few years?? if it had a scientific cause what would be the explanation for the 100-fold incerase?? if it isnt biologically caused, then it is clearly a function of mental status, and we ought to exhaust all behavioral treatment options BEFORE resorting to chemical castration and pharma intervention- just like we should do with depression, anxiety, et al.
No. I'm not worried about any of that. I think the increase is due to the fact that queer people can use the internet to meet people who are like them. I've heard of a lot of adults say that they hadn't thought of calling themselves "nonbinary" until recently. But that is how they would've referred to themselves had they had the language. Trans people are meeting other trans people online, and they are feeling more confident to express their true selves. To me, this is progress. It's an expansion of individual freedom. People shouldn't be forced into two neat and tidy boxes of people. That old way of thinking was making a lot of people miserable for no good reason.
that doesnt answer the question, thats a nice aside, and you are referring again to adults- while the original post was about kids. let me be clear, for adults, i dont care who wants to wear women's panties-that is their freedom, and their business. however, it is my freedom, not to be forced to live in whatever fantasy world they are in. they can ask me to call them "susie" instead of robert if they want, but they cant force me to pretend they are woman.
as for your point, what you are implying is that in ~10,000 years of human history there have always been this many "queers" running around who had to hide, until 5 minutes ago when the internet made it "OK" to come out?? that isnt borne out by ANY sort of historical metrics at all, and it isnt logical. i have seen studies out today that ~20% of gen Z "identifies as lgbtq...." now we can quibble over the accuracy and mechanics of the study(s), but by any reading that is a SUBSTANTIAL increase from 5 years ago. if 20% of the population was doing this historically then humans would be extinct, we wouldnt have enough reporduction to sustain the species. what you are talking about with openness toward alternative lifestyles would explain an increase of less than a hundred basis points, not what we are seeing now. what we are seeing now is a fad, because it is "cool" to do this. there is peer pressure and additional attention given to these people. this will go away like acid washed jeans and chia pets (back to historical levels) as soon as the "next thing" comes out. the problem comes with permanently, medically altering the next generation for a fad.
the "old way of thinking", you refer to, by which there are 2 sexes, is because of biology. there ARE scientific differences. you can dig up 2000 year old bones and tell if the person was a man or woman-also what race they were. that is a FACT. denying this is living in fantasy. these people can wear whatever clothes they want, and call themselves whatever they want, but it doesnt make it so.
With respect, I suggest that you treat trans people how they want to be treated. People who intentionally misgender someone in order to bully them or shame them, or to make some self-righteous point, are assholes. Don't do that.
And I think the two neat and tidy boxes thing probably came along with the Bible, and wherever that book has taken on holy meaning, LGBTQ people have had to live secret lives. They lived lives of shame and humiliation, and they've suffered horrible abuse if they were ever found out. But recently, our society has made it more comfortable for them to be their true selves. I think that's a good thing. That is progress. Though in some cultures, the queer lifestyle has been more accepted. I work in a museum. I've seen Dutch etchings from the 1500s of obviously queer people.
And, sure, generally there are two sexes, though there are biologists who will tell that it's not binary––that it's actually quite a bit more complicated than that. But whatever. The fact is that there are people whose gender identity does not match their biological sex. They have gender dysphoria. My nephew is such a person. At about 13 his conservatives parents agreed that the best thing for him was to socially transition to a boy. Overnight he went from being depressed and miserable and angry and failing school to being happy, outgoing, and extremely successful in school (top ten in his class of about 800 and a rising star on the debate team). I know first hand that some people really benefit from GAC and from being supported by the people around them. He started receiving testosterone at about 15. His parents have no regrets about any of this. They know it was the right thing to do. My mom's husband has queer grandkids. This issue is not going away.
To your point about it being a trend: I'm sure there is some truth to that. My nephew's younger sister has seen how much praise and attention her older brother has been getting (for his academic achievements) and she has gotten a little confused about her gender identity. But here's the thing. Her parents know that. They know that she is going through a phase and will grow out of it. People are generally not stupid about caring for their kids, though they are plenty of obvious exceptions.
This issue is not going away. Our society needs to learn how to deal with it. And for that reason, I'm glad that they have claimed June as Pride Month. They are saying to the world: "I refuse to feel shame for being who I am!"
Yes, we need to be cautions about the kind of GAC that we are approving of. Each case is different. Perhaps just learning to deal with it mentally is the best way for some. But that might not work for others. The trans community uses a basic rule of them: insistent, persistent, and consistent. If there is wavering, it's probably not a genuine case of gender dysphoria; it's just normal teenage confusion and questioning about "who I am."
You have both words in your initial post!!! Short term memory issues?
Your meaning was perfectly obvious! My God--poke a Good Leftie, in return get unwanted and unwarranted abuse. GOODBYE, Mullen!
Abuse? 🤡
Yupe!