We are experimenting with people's lives today. It is likely to backfire.
There must be something in the water - that has to explain it. Because when I was a kid, there were no "intersex" kids, or people with "gender identity disorders" (GID). Yea, there were guys who liked to dress up in women's clothing, but it wasn't that prevalent a thing.
Today? Well, not only is everyone "coming out" as having a gender disorder, parents are diagnosing this in their kids. And what is scary about this, is people are prescribing medical treatments, often irreversible, for children before they are of age - and of an age where they can consent to such treatments. Worse yet, many are arguing that these treatments - which can be horrifically expensive - should be paid for by the government, or through your health insurance plan.
There are some instances already where parents are having sex-change treatments for their children - using hormones and puberty-blocking drugs. No word on whether one of these kids has gone under the knife just yet. The problem is, are the kids really "identifying" as an opposite gender, or it is just a phase they are going through? And are the parents, trying to be trendy and hip, looking for this sort of thing in order to get attention for themselves? Munchhausen's syndrome by proxy raises its ugly head once again. And I've been there, done that, and still have medical complications as a result.
You know, sometimes it is just OK to leave your kids the hell alone. Really. As kids, we were spastic little monsters - most are - and most grow out of these phases. Trying to "intervene" and "fix" children will only make things worse. If you kids decides to be "emo" or "goth", your opposing this trend will only cement it. Like any other fashion or interest, it will blow over, over time, if you just ignore it.
Lately, it seems, the trendy thing to do among "woke" liberal parents, is to intentionally delay puberty in children, if they are "transgender". There may be situations - real medical situations - where such treatments may be necessary for severely disabled children. But because little Timmy says he wants to be a girl? Just take him dress shopping and have his Uncle Carl, the drag queen, show him how to "hide the candy" - the kid will be just fine. If he wants to go this transgender route as a grown adult and is willing to pay for this with his own money - fine. Bear in mind that the human brain doesn't mature until about age 25 - and yet we ask 18-year-olds to make life-changing decisions such as signing student loans. Sex changes for pre-teens? I don't think so!
What disturbs me about this whole thing is that it is not based so much on medical science as it is on trendiness and daytime talk shows. People hear about this stuff and then decide to go looking for it, in their own children, so they, too, can be profiled on Jenny Jones as a Mom of a transgender teen! How kicky! Meanwhile, some confused kid is being offered life-changing choices that may or may not be a good idea - likely not.
It is not too far different than the anti-vaxxer movement - something spread online by overwrought Moms. Are vaccines causing your kids to have autism? Here's how you can diagnose Asperger's syndrome in your children - take this simple 10-part test! And while we're at it, maybe little Timmy is transgender, too! After all, he used to play "dress up" at age 7 - let's make that a permanent lifestyle choice for him!
This is a radical change in how our society works, and yet we are going along with this, without any serious discussion. Some "expert" tells us this is the way things should be, and it becomes de facto law. And anyone going against the perceived flow of society is castigated as retrograde.
I get it that some boys are sissies and some girls are tomboys. God loves them both! But they are minor children and thus should be protected from the "helping hands" of interfering parents. After all, if you want to act like a girl or act like a boy, this doesn't require any surgery or hormones to do so - not in today's society, particularly.
But more than just these small tragedies being acted out across the nation (and they likely are small tragedies, which we will read about in a decade or more, as kids who were forced to go through these "procedures" later on have regrets in life) is the effect this has upon our political landscape.
There are two Americas, it seems - one that exists on the coasts and on television, and one that exists in the real world. And increasingly, it seems these two Americas are diverging from one another. Trump has tapped into this in a big(ly) way - sensing the angst of much of middle-America at the rapid pace of change in our society. His rants about LED lightbulbs and low-flush toilets are ridiculed by the New York Times, but resonate in the heartland, when people go to the hardware store and find their 99-cent lightbulb now costs $5 or more. And no, they don't understand that it costs less over time - that is like trying to explain Calculus to a dog.
They see their world spinning out of control, and the only solution Democrats have is more radical change much of which they don't directly benefit from. Free trade sounds great, until they close your factory. Going solar sounds swell, unless you work in a coal mine. Free college and student loan forgiveness sound great - if you are going to college or have student loans. To the high school graduate who is working a minimum-wage job, it sounds like another handout to an already privileged class of people.
Gay rights and whatnot they adapted to - even if their local Baptist minister railed against it from the pulpit. Everybody has an Uncle Carl, so they have a familiarity with it. But when we start talking about "transitioning" children, it sounds a lot more like recruiting people for alternative lifestyles, as opposed to allowing consenting adults to do what they want to do in private.
The push-back is already happening. I reported before about a lawsuit in Connecticut brought by two female athletes, arguing that allowing "transgender" men to compete in women's sports was unfair. These were biological men, who had an upper body muscle-mass that women would find hard to replicate - they had an unfair advantage over women. Well, another in a long line of unfair advantages over women - and haven't women suffered enough?
Well, sure as shit, some Republican representative in Ohio has proposed a bill in the State legislature outlawing transgender men from competing in women's sports. And likely it will pass, and likely Trump will make an issue about this, along with his lightbulb rants. And sure as shit, Democrats just won't get it.
Not only will they not get it, they will shout down any discussion of such issues, using shaming and damning techniques - something that is sure to change people's minds!
The two Americas are so far apart, and perhaps both are removed from reality, but I think one moreso than the other. We used to criticize the Soviet Union for putting transgender men into Olympic competitions - particularly Romanian weight lifters. When blood tests were proposed to check the genetic makeup of these "women athletes" they all suddenly declined to compete. We knew back then that men competing as women wasn't fair and it isn't fair now. But in the name of fairness we are allowing unfairness and it makes no sense whatsoever.
Trump will have a field day with this sort of nonsense - and all the other far-left crap that the likes of Bernie Sanders has been proposing. Never mind if he isn't the nominee - he will paint Biden with this - and the entire Democratic party. He already is - and it is starting to stick.
So consumed we are with the trivial, we are ignoring what is really important in the world. Four more years of Trump will mean no rights whatsoever for transgender people - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
But more than just these small tragedies being acted out across the nation (and they likely are small tragedies, which we will read about in a decade or more, as kids who were forced to go through these "procedures" later on have regrets in life) is the effect this has upon our political landscape.
There are two Americas, it seems - one that exists on the coasts and on television, and one that exists in the real world. And increasingly, it seems these two Americas are diverging from one another. Trump has tapped into this in a big(ly) way - sensing the angst of much of middle-America at the rapid pace of change in our society. His rants about LED lightbulbs and low-flush toilets are ridiculed by the New York Times, but resonate in the heartland, when people go to the hardware store and find their 99-cent lightbulb now costs $5 or more. And no, they don't understand that it costs less over time - that is like trying to explain Calculus to a dog.
They see their world spinning out of control, and the only solution Democrats have is more radical change much of which they don't directly benefit from. Free trade sounds great, until they close your factory. Going solar sounds swell, unless you work in a coal mine. Free college and student loan forgiveness sound great - if you are going to college or have student loans. To the high school graduate who is working a minimum-wage job, it sounds like another handout to an already privileged class of people.
Gay rights and whatnot they adapted to - even if their local Baptist minister railed against it from the pulpit. Everybody has an Uncle Carl, so they have a familiarity with it. But when we start talking about "transitioning" children, it sounds a lot more like recruiting people for alternative lifestyles, as opposed to allowing consenting adults to do what they want to do in private.
The push-back is already happening. I reported before about a lawsuit in Connecticut brought by two female athletes, arguing that allowing "transgender" men to compete in women's sports was unfair. These were biological men, who had an upper body muscle-mass that women would find hard to replicate - they had an unfair advantage over women. Well, another in a long line of unfair advantages over women - and haven't women suffered enough?
Well, sure as shit, some Republican representative in Ohio has proposed a bill in the State legislature outlawing transgender men from competing in women's sports. And likely it will pass, and likely Trump will make an issue about this, along with his lightbulb rants. And sure as shit, Democrats just won't get it.
Not only will they not get it, they will shout down any discussion of such issues, using shaming and damning techniques - something that is sure to change people's minds!
The two Americas are so far apart, and perhaps both are removed from reality, but I think one moreso than the other. We used to criticize the Soviet Union for putting transgender men into Olympic competitions - particularly Romanian weight lifters. When blood tests were proposed to check the genetic makeup of these "women athletes" they all suddenly declined to compete. We knew back then that men competing as women wasn't fair and it isn't fair now. But in the name of fairness we are allowing unfairness and it makes no sense whatsoever.
Trump will have a field day with this sort of nonsense - and all the other far-left crap that the likes of Bernie Sanders has been proposing. Never mind if he isn't the nominee - he will paint Biden with this - and the entire Democratic party. He already is - and it is starting to stick.
So consumed we are with the trivial, we are ignoring what is really important in the world. Four more years of Trump will mean no rights whatsoever for transgender people - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
