When the world is sane, be a little mad and when the world is mad, be sane.
A couple nights ago TikTok's algorithm sent me down a rabbit hole after stumbling on a post author's stitch with a woman teaching neo pronouns to children. Dressed as snow white, using a high pitched baby voice, she proceeds to explain how to address people as their frog self, pumpkin self, ghost self, berry self...you get the picture. And no, it is not satire. This is the "new normal" for a world going slowly mad. (For those who wish to view it, you can find her under lesbian snow white)
I was half tempted to suggest she dress as Alice, or even more appropriately, the Mad Hatter, but I didn't have the heart for snark or jokes. It is far sadder to me than funny, especially after I finished up the last video on my strange little journey.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRHsffKC/
It's awful. And I don't even mean from the standpoint of society and this current bizarro world we're living in. I mean for some of these people who are clearly mentally ill, but instead of getting real help, they're being told their delusions are reality and encouraged to go deeper and deeper into them.
I feel true sadness for 25 year old Dylan Mulvaney. "I was giving up hope until this happened!..." well now they'll feel validated and happy for a few minutes, but what happens when they fade from the spotlight? All of these pseudo friends on tik tok will also fade, depression will follow...and these people hyping them up will have forgotten all about them until they read a headline Former tik tok star dies from overdose, followed by a blurb- depending on the leaning of the publication- that will either blame bullying for the demise or explain how their fall from the public eye led to depression, psychiatric treatments, and finally death at their own hand. If they haven't already succumbed to an illness brought on by surgical complications and/or chemical cocktails they've been fed for years.
I sat back and pondered the situation and concluded that in many cases it's not these people that are the problem. They are to be pitied as we would anyone in a diminished mental/emotional capacity. The real crime lies with the system that is setting them up for epic failure and the people of sound mind (arguable) that are supporting and encouraging them based on the desire to look accepting and "inclusive" to their peers- "See, I'm a good person, I told them how perfect and beautiful they are!"
Thousands upon thousands of people cheering them on with a variation of pretty words and no substance, giving these people the illusion of acceptance that will lead to a rug pull of devastating proportions.
And the worst part, perhaps the only reason I care about this particular situation, is the way this movement has targeted children. I am very "To each their own" when it comes to adults, so long as they aren't causing intentional harm. But when I hear about kids being told that make-believe is truth? When innocent, wild imagination is being touted as reality? When therapists and doctors are going so far as to prescribe chemicals to disrupt their natural processes and facilitate mutation without any data for long term consequences? When life altering surgeries are now being performed as young as 16? When I see This on the kids section of YouTube?:
I have no choice but to care. The above cartoon targeting children while promoting puberty blockers claims "It's safe and reversible, just stop taking them and puberty resumes."
Uhh... is no one seeing how even if this were the case and there were no other damaging side effects, they're talking about a prepubescent child "pausing" puberty for several years..Essentially their body is stuck as a child, and now they're years behind physically and hormonally- do they truly see no potential problems with this?
I'm watching educated, intelligent people behave like bobbleheads, going along with these things simply because it's the fashionable thing to do. It is clearly not because they've given it any real thought, but instead are sticking to their line Trust the Experts, when in this case the experts are either out of their minds, working by an agenda, or funded by pharma and driven by greed.
I have close friends that consider themselves Liberal and Progressive, and they now agree this has gone way too far. While initially they were very accepting, they now recognize that a line has been crossed and are no longer comfortable with where this is headed. They no longer think it's a conspiracy to imagine that this could progress to age identity. Where predators will insist they've done nothing wrong because they identify as sixteen...twelve...eight.
Perhaps you're thinking Don't be absurd, that won't happen. Yet several cases of trans women in prisons have led to assaults and rapes, as well as at least two cases in highschool bathrooms. So if men are allowed to simply call themselves women in order to be recognized as such and given access to women only facilities, then is age being the next fluid ideology truly such a large stretch?
And this is not to mention the damage it is doing to the queer community. As my bonus son and husband have stated on numerous occasions "We don't identify with the LGBTQ community, they have lost their minds and are giving the rest of us a bad name."
Because of this a group called Gays Against Groomers has formed, which includes several veteran trans persons as well as a growing number of gay, lesbian, bi and queer folk- speaking out against the targeting and sexualization of children.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRHwpgjc/
To date this group has been banned from PayPal and Twitter for "hate speech" and many news outlets are presenting them as bigots...The irony of which appears to be lost on the accusers.
We truly need a return of the George Carlin style, grumpy old men- and women- who are honest and say it like it is. We need a movement that brings logic back into fashion. Of course the problem we face with that is how likely is it for those individuals to be given a platform in this Ban It If We Don't Like It society?
I still hold onto the hope that we won't completely destroy our society. That despite the similarities to past fallen empires we can bring about a different outcome. But I am truly concerned that the pendulum has swung so far in one direction that the rebound will take it too far in the other. In fact I often wonder if that isn't exactly the method to the madness, too push it so far the people will welcome a "strong leader" AKA dictator to "make things right". (To those of you who view the former US president or current Russian president as modern day heroes, you might consider the implications of what I'm saying here.)
And everyone would do well to question why the centrists have all but disappeared, why our current propaganda is pushing people further and further from a balanced perspective and urging people to "take sides." Extreme left and extreme right were once minority politics, now they appear to be the rule rather than the exception.
Perhaps it isn't a Carlin that we need as much as thousands of rational people to gain the confidence to speak their minds. To stop fearing being labeled a bigot when that word has been so overused it has lost its meaning anyway.
To build bridges across the gap and stand on them... Who would have thought that the middle would become the new position of rebels?
Stop letting fear silence you. The two sides are loud but in this digital age, thousands of voices of reason can cut through the cacophony.
I admit even I feel slight trepidation at the thought of making this public as I am much more comfortable in a place of neutrality. What I'm realizing is that it is exactly people like myself-- Who operate in love and peace above all, who can empathize with people in all walks of life, who truly feel and know we are all sisters and brothers in one human race-- it is our voices that are needed in this moment. Perhaps we are the meek, and it's our time to speak.
I would love to have an open and honest discussion in the comments, I'm not afraid of hard questions or criticisms. Perhaps in speaking your truth we can find our way to The truth.
Thanks for reading!
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.
Oh you've done it now @dreemit. You just opened the most dangerous can of worms on the internet. I'm pretty sure you're already cancelled and I'm just talking to the vacuum where a dreemit used to be.
Seriously society has gone absolutely fucking insane. The only sane thing to do is be crazy enough to not be insane. I don't mind what consenting adults want to do with each other, but this whole movement to normalize chemically castrating children, teaching gender/race politics to children and trying to push "original sin" levels of guilt onto them before they're old enough to even comprehend what they're learning... It's bleak out there.
Don't bother coming up with facts, those don't work in a post-truth society where some hypothetical people's feelings matter more than reality and we're all expected to participate in other people's delusions to make them feel safer or more included or some shit. If I can respect your autonomy without allowing you to impose upon mine or others, it's only fair that goes both ways.
It stops being "freedom" when you need other people to participate to validate your beliefs or actions.
I think a good majority of people can see how messed up it has gotten- at least talking to people face to face tells me this- but so many are afraid of being shouted down by zealots they've decided to keep quiet. Unless of course they're zealous themselves on the other side. The most ridiculous threads on the internet are when far left and far right are arguing with each other. Or at least equally as ridiculous as when they're in their own echo chambers agreeing that they believe everything their preferred source of theatrical news is telling them. I recently saw someone say "Woke is what conservatives sling as an insult when they don't have a valid argument" to which someone responded "And racist is what liberals sling for the same reason", to which I responded "You both nailed it, and it's getting boring to watch for those of us who don't buy into any of that".
I'm not sure when the concept of "gender identity" got its start but people have confused it with sex. When you fill out a medical form (or many other forms for that matter), you are often asked your sex. This is based on biology. Your chromosomes. It has nothing to do with gender identity (except that most people to identify their gender with their sex). I'm not sure who decided that male/female bathrooms/prisons/sports/etc. should be based on gender identity as opposed to sex but they are all idiots and must think everyone else is as well.
Logic is in short supply these days across a variety of issues. I feel like I've spent the last two years with a perpetually astonished and slightly confused expression, just from people's inability to think things through; to see through narratives that to me are so very obvious. I'm afraid the reason they think everyone is stupid is because so many are giving them a reason to.
Honestly, aside from fear of public cancellation (which is fair, as it's costing so many their livelihoods), I think being honest and open about what you believe on "controversial topics" starts when you trust yourself. I find myself fall prey to the popular self-censorship that's taken over our society. Briefly, never for long, but long enough to reaffirm to myself that I'm a good person, that I care about other beings,and that the people whose voice typically rises in protest against this madness are good, decent people, too.
The word "liberal" has been bastardized and robbed of its once noble meaning, but I do think of myself as liberal in the true form of the word. And as long as I know who I am, and that what I say comes not from hatred, but love, I don't feel an ounce of guilt saying this madness has gone too far.
For everyone. As you said, I think the gays and the lesbians will be most hard-hit when the shit hits the fan. And it's bound to. We are in a place of extremity, and it'll most likely ricochet into another. And these groups will also be targeted because they've been lumped together with this corruption of children.
I was just talking to a friend about this. And I'm hopeful that more and more people are becoming less afraid to speak their mind and call for reason and common sense. But I can't tell if it's really going in that direction, or I just follow a lot of people with similar views to mine (which is to say balanced).
Don't. Your writing is balanced and reasonable and kind. If people would accuse you of bigotry or think you some crazed fascist for writing what you did, that shows narrow-mindedness and a general problem on their part. Not yours.
Thank you for the thought-provoking post. Have you read Abigail Shrier's "Irreversible Damage"?
Dear @dreemit,
May I ask you to review and support the new proposal (https://peakd.com/me/proposals/240) so I can continue to improve and maintain this service?
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I'll check it out :)
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