Sure, that was what I thought you meant. 
The emoji at the end of your sentence confuses me too.
It’s fine; there’s no disagreement. I think I just read what you wrote thinking a different context.
Ok, cool.
If the transgendered were mentally ill, why would the U.S. military tell them that they can enlist?
Win!
The article says
Not really that challenging. Every single transgender person I personally know who was forced out of the military would meet those guidelines. I could pass that, except I’m too old and too sick to be in the military even if I was cisgender.
It’s interesting that the military appears to be giving a giant middle finger to Trump.
Yes, they are.
If someone said that their arm wasn’t really part of their body would you indulge them and allow them to have it hacked off? I assume no.
But if their entire body is alien to them then they are just misaligned? Bullshit.
Most of them are severely mentally ill and indulging that illness does them as much good as telling a paranoid schizophrenic that aliens have actually put implants into them that the CIA monitors on the constant.
But it is their right to pursue their delusions and they should be protected against discrimination no different than anyone else. They are human beings and they deserve to retain, and pursue, their dignity and personal sovereignty by whatever means they consider requisite.
People that indulge their 6 year-old kids in this delusion, on the other hand, ought to be jailed and their kids ought to be placed in care no different than other child abusers.
Because the American army (like others) is having trouble convincing enough people to risk bullets for shit treatment and shit pay that they’ve “lowered the bar” in order to be able to meet targets.
I promise you that if enough non-trans people wanted to kill or be killed for dubious objectives then trans folks would be out on their collective asses.
Win!
If someone posted that and it was their first post to a four page thread, would we all assume they hadn’t read the thread before posting?
I’m curious, Zeke; you say “most of them are severely mentally ill”; who, to you, are the people who aren’t?
Opponents to transgender service claim that there’s “too few” of them to matter, so how can this “lowering the bar” as you put it make any difference?
You also are entirely ignorant of the many brave transgender troops who have served and are currently serving. Among my friends lists are combat veterans injured many times over, officers who led large forces of troops into battle in Gulf War 1 and 2, one who was injured by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, one who was a Chief Petty Officer and served in Vietnam, etc. All four branches plus Coast Guard are represented among my friends, who served with honor and courage, some for more than 25 years.
But you just shit all over them by claiming their service and that of those like them was due to “lowering the bar.”
Oh no, you misjudge him entirely. He’s actually a learned scholar on this subject with unparalleled qualifications and experience beyond compare, who has been sitting and contemplating what to write for days. He’s thought about it, discussed it in open community fora, composed slam poetry about it, took a long walk in the woods and prayed on it, and then…well, took a literary power dump on the thread.
Okay, let’s indulge this absurdity.
For one thing, just whacking off an arm is going to severely impact a person’s life. You’re getting rid of a major body part, and your ability to function is going to be diminished.
But who is being harmed by transitioning to the opposite sex? Nobody. Even a sex change operation – basically you’re just swapping one set of parts for another. They’re not harming you, or themselves. If this makes a person happy, why do you give a shit?
Seriously, this has no impact on me whatsoever. I’ll be honest and say I don’t know if I could date a transguy. (From what I understand, bottom surgery for FTMs isn’t usually as common as the other way around.) But Jesus, why are people so obsessed with the whole thing? Trans people don’t have cooties. Even if it IS a mental illness, obviously the best way to treat it is for a person to transition.
(And nobody just lets a child transition – you don’t just pass them drugs and have at it. There’s usually some very extensive counseling and examinations. I don’t think six-year-olds are on drugs. Even if all you’re doing amounts to letting the kid play dress up – who cares? It’s not permanent at this point)
I don’t know about their roommate, but I do - not all of them but a goodly number. Or are you unaware of the numerous, well-documented benefits that wars tend to confer upon their participants?
Fair question. I guess I see it as a sort of a continuum. There are degrees. Would I say that a chronically depressed person is mentally ill? Yes. Would I say that the one who is utterly bedridden and unable to face even the most basic of daily tasks is more severely mentally ill than the one who is able to “fake it” even though each moment is difficult.
And I am not suggesting that any who identify as such should “fake it” but rather that those who feel the need to undergo entire body and life transformations are severely afflicted.
Lowering the bar was a term used in many of the articles that I linked to. I concede that the term was provocative and I apologize for the implications of using it.
What I meant by that is that the US military is having trouble meeting it’s recruitment targets and thus are removing / reducing restrictions on enrollment criteria.
In addition I think you have federal legislation in the States that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity as well as Supreme Court rulings (though as I understand it the Supreme Court is considering a case relevant to this discussion so that may, sadly, change.)
What I said was in specific response to some monkey saying he’d somehow “[won]” something by asking why the military is now willing to accept trans-gendered people. I posited that he reason might be because they can’t be as picky as they once were due to the reduced number of people willing to take a bullet for a questionable cause.
In as much as I’m unaware of the precise numbers yes, I am ignorant. I’m certainly not ignorant as to their existence. Nor do I object to it. I can’t speak to their individual bravery but I can’t do that for any soldier. I’m sure there are heroes and I’m sure there are non-heroes.
Again, I apologize for the implication that those who identify as trans-gendered are intrinsically unfit for or incapable of serving and acting in combat.
With all due respect there are a fair number of people that can make the same and similar claims. I’m sure that all of your friends served with distinction - but I fail to see how they are, in any meaningful way, different than other soldiers, air people, navy people.
I did no such thing and I think it is a pretty punk move to say I did.
I’m sorry for using that term. I see now that one could infer that I was implying that the only reason trans-people are being allowed in is the “lowered bar” that allows for their deficiency. That is not what I meant at all.
But I certainly never “shit” on anyone.
Which I have undoubtedly claimed to be throughout.
Wow
Look at it this way: throughout history, women disguised themselves as men in order to fight in wars. Obviously not all of them were trans – some just wanted to fight, some wanted to join their husbands and/or their lovers, etc. But some of them were.
And a good many of them were pretty kickass.
But not to them. They feel they have gotten rid of something that was wrong and needed changing.
You are right. No one.
In real life I pretty much don’t. But the internet tends to make everyone feel that they ought to weigh in on everything and I guess I’m no exception.
Even on the internet I pretty much don’t. The question was asked and I answered and gave my reasons. I do believe that trans-people are mentally ill. That doesn’t mean that I think there is anything “wrong” with being trans anymore than I think there is anything “wrong” with being depressed or schizo or take your pick.
So long as they, as individuals, do no harm then they, as individuals, are free to do whatever the fuck they want.
[url=When Transgender Kids Transition, Medical Risks are Both Known and Unknown | FRONTLINE] I grant that saying 6 was maybe hyperbole/url] but yes, once puberty blockers are used the results are irreversible.
And being as how no one can meaningfully explain “gender” or why some people age-out of the dysphoria I think extreme caution is mandated.
If you, as an adult, decide you want/need to do whatever the fuck - you go ahead.
But when a pre-pubescent kid makes a life-altering decision it is up to the parents to stop that shit.
I’m not talking a kid with cancer deciding she’s had enough and wants to die now rather than six months from now and wants to forego treatment.
Keep in mind that at 11 kids aren’t allowed to decide who they fuck but you’d have me believe they are competent to determine that they have the wrong gender?
And NO I do not advocate 11 year olds being allowed to fuck.
There is no empirical science to support it and, as such, it oughtn’t be allowed. Isn’t that the scientific standard - empirical evidence?
No, the doctors who examine them are competent to determine that.
It seems logically inconsistent to admit to having posted something you thrice admitted was wrong, and then bristle at people’s reaction to your wrongdoing.
You found one article which states there could be risks to blockers, and then authoritatively state that “the results are irreversible.” You do understand that WPATH and many other major medical guidelines back the use of the blockers, right? And that the blockers, even some formulations did have some risks, also provide significant psychological relief? The many physicians I work with have read the research on the risks, and read the research on the benefits. Frontline is not a medical journal, nor is it peer-reviewed consensus of the medical community.
You entered the thread with inflammatory language about “lowering the bar” on transgender troops (which you admitted thrice), you admit to using hyperbole about 6-year-olds (again, already hashed over to death and not factually correct), and you refer to transgender corrective plastic surgery in terms of having things “hacked off.”
Can you imagine what sort of person that makes you look like? Like a person who does not do any research into a topic you seem very passionate about, and who is also disgusted by people like me. That’s how your posts are making you look.
really, you want to talk about doctors blessings as empirical? Fine, look at where the anti-vax movement got it’s origins, check out how the opiod crisis got it’s start. Fucking check out Doctor Oz. Tell me that because some doctors okayed it that it means it is fine.
How about the doctors that thought thalidomide was cool? Or how about the multitudes that thought that guys that wanted to fuck other guys was crazy.
You can’t rely on “doctors” to support your argument when many doctors have made - and are continuing to make - mistakes based on information that is other than empirical.
Here’s a challenge for you. Show me brainscans of a person born XY that correspond to to those of someone born XX or XX to XY.
Provide any empirical evidence for transgenderism that is demonstrable outside of anecdote. Surely if there is a fundamental difference between the male and female brain this can be seen in comparisons between scans of cisnormative and noncisnormative children? I’m sure there is a wealth of evidence - provide some.
Or does transgenderism only manifest later in life? Fine, show proof.
According to science it is demonstrable or not. Or, I guess, it falls into the "We really don’t know category. What does science say?
Not at all. You are looking for offense where none exists. I apologized for the poor choice of words. I acknowledged that trans-folk are likely to be as good and dutiful service-people as any other.
I have no problem with trans-folks None.
I absolutely believe that it is a mental illness and I absolutely believe that trans-folk are inherently equal to absolutely everyone else.
You accuse me of wrongdoing. What wrongdoing have I done? Seriously?
My belief that it is a mental illness is a wrongdoing? Okay. What effect? Have I once suggested that it is “wrong”? Have I advocated against trans right? No? Have I, even once, given a hint that I am anti-trans? No? So where’s your fucking problem?
No, I picked one out of many. The one I picked was from PBS because I thought that would be reputable enough to not engender arguments about political leaning. Clearly I was wrong.
Tell you what, you tell me what evidence is solid and unbiased that shows it is not irreversible. I mean really, you want to play that “your cite is unreliable” game so can I.
Sure I do. Just as I do the claims that tobacco companies made that smoking is basically harmless. The bias is in the organizations name (check out what the “t” in WPATH stands for. Clearly there is no agenda.
Come on! You are supposed to be a fucking scientist but you throw up stuff that, in any other context, you’d shoot down the equivalent.
Great, then you should have no problem coming up with cites from non-allied journals or bodies that substantiate that claim. You know, neutral third parties and such.
Sure. Show me a reputable, non-allied, cite that agrees that life-altering therapy ought to be delivered to pre-pubescent kids and that such therapy is reversible.
Should be easy right?
Somewhat disingenuous but I’ll play along. Yup, I admitted that I used a term that came up multiple times in the link I provided. I acknowledged my error and apologized for it each time you brought it up. As I am doing now.
One more time - for the cheap seats - I MADE A MISTAKE IN NOT FORSEEING THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT CHOICE OF WORDS!!! I’M SORRY, I WAS WRONG!!!
Now, can we get past that? Or do I have to reiterate when I reply to your next post?
Yes, I did both. But fine [here is a cite for you.url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3683633/It-worth-risk-Parents-six-year-old-transgender-boy-defend-decision-speak-publicly-son-s-transition-one-year-sharing-story.html There you go. The kid said she was a he when she was two years old and the parents went with it.
Years of therapy they underwent. I’d be curious about what the literature says about the efficacy of such therapy on children of that age. Please provide cites when you tell me that this is recognized as useful?
Don’t forget that many people (Doctors even) bought into the Satanic Panic so please provide something empirical and supported that demonstrates that I’m not wrong in thinking that these parents are fucked.
Their report about how their kid is doing is irrelevant. You are a scientist, as such you know that anecdote doesn’t equal data… right?
I don’t know… I suppose I look like someone that expressed an opinion on a message board. Why? What do I look like?
What passion I have about this topic is derived from the fact that I think that transgenderism has become a cause celebre since Jenner. I think that because of Jenner (and the Kardashian connection) transgenderism has become disproportionately prominent. And I think that it has lead to an acceptance that has potentially gone too far in as much as children are being allowed to make life altering decisions because their parents want to be uber-progressive.
Now, seriously, you have accused me of some heinous shit. I defy you to find one instance of me saying anything against the transgendered. Honestly, I’m asking you to find one instance in which I have attacked the transgendered.
You know, I had written a bunch about the two trans-people I’ve known and then I realized that there was no point. I’ve got my memories of them and there is no reason to use them as defense.
No, see what you are doing is demonizing me because you perceive a meaningful disconnect. There isn’t one. It is a matter of perception.
I perceive transgendered people as people - albeit mentally ill - but that in no way mean that I perceive transgendered people as lesser or inferior or freakish. I see transgendered people as people.
You folk ought to be able to live your lives and do what you want to do - no different than anyone else. It is wrong if you are persecuted. It is wrong if you are attacked.
It is simply wrong that you folks get fucked with. Period.
But to accuse me of shitting on you or being disgusted by you is both demonstrably wrong and counter-productive.
In the end it comes down to, regardless of whether I think trans-people are mentally ill or not, transpeople are deserving of the same rights, priveleges and opportunities as everyone else.
Now you can take it, leave it or stuff it up your ass -I don’t much care. But I’ll be fucked if I’ll take terms like “shit upon” and “disgusted” without expressing my ire.
Be you man, woman or whatever, had you characterized my statements in that way to my face I’d fucking drop you.
The first paragraph is over the line for this forum, and the second paragraph is over the line anywhere on the boards. This is a warning for personal insults and threats.
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