To whom you are attracted sexually is mostly a subjective feeling (although there are some objective tests that can identify it) and therefore cannot reasonably be contested by an outside observer.
Where you decide to live your life on a spectrum of superficial, stereotypical male to female attributes (and we all do) is purely subjective and similarly cannot be questioned.
However, your biological sex reflects an objective reality which cannot be changed by your subjective personal view and futile attempts to do so can result in serious health impacts to you as well as harms to members of the sex you are impersonating (primarily women).
Others who are grounded in objective reality should never be forced to accept your subjective version of your actual biological sex.
Finally, it's past time for the LGB community to separate themselves from the trans activists who are trying to take away the rights of women to fairness in sports and to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons. They also advocate for the chemical and surgical mutilation of children many of whom would grow up gay.
Their actions are evil and the
understandable negative reaction to the harm they are causing is spilling over to innocent people who are just going about their business, marrying and leading their lives.
I realized, reading this piece and thinking about these ideas, that the new progressive bullying approach reminds me very much of the way “normal” people made me feel in high school.
The insider status they carried was an unspoken and unconsidered phenomenon, a sense of rightness that I don’t think was ever connected to self-awareness. “We’re the normal people, and you don’t fit because you’re weird.” This was implied, you’d get it from them mostly as body language and facial expressions.
I feel like the woke/progressive monolith operates in a similar way; there’s a sense of moral entitlement where it’s not up to them to explain things to you. You are the outsider, and you are the one who doesn’t belong.
I have empathy for the many people from oppressed groups who feel this table-turning is their due, after all the shitty treatment they’ve had, and still get from some people in some situations.
But the white straight liberals who are often the most militant and the most likely to snap and go into tirade mode just remind me of that arrogant entitlement that the normal and insider people had at my high school.
This is why I agree with much of the substance, but little of the method. It isn’t healthy, and the connection to “tolerance” is mostly a rationalization, I think.
It feels like a permit to act like an asshole.
Once I managed to erode my homophobic upbringing in a conservative family, I’ve found that I meet gay men and women who recognize me as a kindred spirit. There’s a kind of welcoming vibe, a sense of yeah, you’re not exactly like us, but we both have a sense of humor, and some appreciation for esoteric art and culture, and a feeling that we haven’t been entirely assimilated into “normal” society.
I went to a historically black college, where white people were few and far between, and I was treated similarly there. I didn’t get that attitude of “sorry, you’ll never fit in here.” It was more a message of “you’re different but that’s okay with us.”
The current progressive thing, in short, feels to me like outsiders saying “fuck you, we’re the normal people now.
Yes indeed. This is the product of the ideas of people like Ibram X. Kendi who says that in order to address past discrimination we need present discrimination. Two wrongs don't make a right.
My position is basically that I don’t object to followers of Kendi wanting that sort of privilege. I just think they should be honest about both the self-indulgence and unsustainable nature of it.
When will we move to a new normal in which nobody gets a special deal where they don’t have any accountability? They don’t say, and this seems like circumstantial evidence that they literally don’t ever want this phase to end.
This one is particularly brilliant and - as always beautifully written and logically presented.
You have the approach of a lawyer presenting a case of common sense that is so intelligently supported by your examples - coupled with the skill of a writer whose use of language is both creative and specific. Your sense of humor also keeps your essays entertaining, and never dogmatic. (Also loved the title of this one - a clever turn of phrase which gave me a chuckle).
To whom you are attracted sexually is mostly a subjective feeling (although there are some objective tests that can identify it) and therefore cannot reasonably be contested by an outside observer.
Where you decide to live your life on a spectrum of superficial, stereotypical male to female attributes (and we all do) is purely subjective and similarly cannot be questioned.
However, your biological sex reflects an objective reality which cannot be changed by your subjective personal view and futile attempts to do so can result in serious health impacts to you as well as harms to members of the sex you are impersonating (primarily women).
Others who are grounded in objective reality should never be forced to accept your subjective version of your actual biological sex.
Finally, it's past time for the LGB community to separate themselves from the trans activists who are trying to take away the rights of women to fairness in sports and to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons. They also advocate for the chemical and surgical mutilation of children many of whom would grow up gay.
Their actions are evil and the
understandable negative reaction to the harm they are causing is spilling over to innocent people who are just going about their business, marrying and leading their lives.
I realized, reading this piece and thinking about these ideas, that the new progressive bullying approach reminds me very much of the way “normal” people made me feel in high school.
The insider status they carried was an unspoken and unconsidered phenomenon, a sense of rightness that I don’t think was ever connected to self-awareness. “We’re the normal people, and you don’t fit because you’re weird.” This was implied, you’d get it from them mostly as body language and facial expressions.
I feel like the woke/progressive monolith operates in a similar way; there’s a sense of moral entitlement where it’s not up to them to explain things to you. You are the outsider, and you are the one who doesn’t belong.
I have empathy for the many people from oppressed groups who feel this table-turning is their due, after all the shitty treatment they’ve had, and still get from some people in some situations.
But the white straight liberals who are often the most militant and the most likely to snap and go into tirade mode just remind me of that arrogant entitlement that the normal and insider people had at my high school.
This is why I agree with much of the substance, but little of the method. It isn’t healthy, and the connection to “tolerance” is mostly a rationalization, I think.
It feels like a permit to act like an asshole.
Once I managed to erode my homophobic upbringing in a conservative family, I’ve found that I meet gay men and women who recognize me as a kindred spirit. There’s a kind of welcoming vibe, a sense of yeah, you’re not exactly like us, but we both have a sense of humor, and some appreciation for esoteric art and culture, and a feeling that we haven’t been entirely assimilated into “normal” society.
I went to a historically black college, where white people were few and far between, and I was treated similarly there. I didn’t get that attitude of “sorry, you’ll never fit in here.” It was more a message of “you’re different but that’s okay with us.”
The current progressive thing, in short, feels to me like outsiders saying “fuck you, we’re the normal people now.
Deal with it.”
Yes indeed. This is the product of the ideas of people like Ibram X. Kendi who says that in order to address past discrimination we need present discrimination. Two wrongs don't make a right.
My position is basically that I don’t object to followers of Kendi wanting that sort of privilege. I just think they should be honest about both the self-indulgence and unsustainable nature of it.
When will we move to a new normal in which nobody gets a special deal where they don’t have any accountability? They don’t say, and this seems like circumstantial evidence that they literally don’t ever want this phase to end.
This one is particularly brilliant and - as always beautifully written and logically presented.
You have the approach of a lawyer presenting a case of common sense that is so intelligently supported by your examples - coupled with the skill of a writer whose use of language is both creative and specific. Your sense of humor also keeps your essays entertaining, and never dogmatic. (Also loved the title of this one - a clever turn of phrase which gave me a chuckle).
Can’t wait till you start your podcasts too. 👏👏
THANK YOU. I'm excited to start the podcast too.
Awesome title. Very clever. You’re a fabulous writer.
Another brilliant essay.
I admit, the title gives me great pleasure.
You really hit a home run with that title. It ought to be adopted as a colloquialism.
I laughed aloud when it came into my head. Thanks, Karl!