Too worn out from the week. And anything I could say has already been summarized by better writers.
So, instead its an open thread with a few thoughts on Jenner.
My thoughts on Caitlyn Jenner and Transgenderism can be summed up like this:
"I don't get it and I find it a tad strange* but, whatever, its America so knock yourselves out."
A bit longer? I honestly don't care. Yes, I think it should be pointed out that if someone hated their body because their skin color or weight or height we would likely decide a therapist was needed but if its their sex we are told to treat this desire as perfectly normal.
As for Caitlyn Jenner, I think its nice that the American Left and the Trans community has found someone to be their "Trans hero" who is not a traitor that leaked thousands of military documents endangering the lives of American military personnel as well as Afghan citizens who risked their lives fighting people who do this. And did this (graphic).
I am referring, of course, to Bradley, now Chelsea, Manning.
I should point out that many military veterans in the Trans community were not amused by the LGBT Left's attempt to make Manning a hero. In fact a number were afraid that by making her into a hero the Left would be making things harder for transgenders in the military.
So, yeah, a person who is both a reality TV show figure and member of the Khardashian Clan is a step-up.
Two Links: Jonah Goldberg's Friday column on the amusing reaction to Jenner among some on the Left that has to be seen to be believed: LINK
His G-File is also great, especially this: "That only biologically female humans can get pregnant and give birth to babies is true no matter how inconvenient it may be. If that fact hurts someone’s feelings, that’s unfortunate. But that’s no reason to change the language to fuzz-up the facts." (LINK)
For a very sympathetic view towards transponders there is this post from web comic writer Maximillian Uriarte of Terminal Lance: LINK Anyway, open thread. Have a nice weekend. Sorry, it couldn't be more.
Oh, and apparently ISIS is morally opposed to raising pigeons on the grounds that when a pigeon flies overhead it exposes a person to a its genitalia. They are quite serious about it, too, having executed three boys for doing it. As Jonah Goldberg also pointed out, "So you can rape and enslave little girls, but don’t you dare look at a pigeon’s junk." LINK
*Note: "strange" does not mean bad or wrong. It just means "strange," or, as Merriam-Webster
Also, from the G-File: "The Chinese hack-attack on the United States is only shocking in its scale. Last night on Special Report, Charles Krauthammer said we need to threaten the Chinese with reprisal attacks of a similar nature. I agree entirely. But I wish I’d been on the panel last night so I could once again make the case for Letters of Marque for cyber privateers. Cyberspace today is essentially like the oceans of the 18th century: full of bad actors and vast realms of lawlessness. We don’t have the ability or the technology to police it all, but we can create incentives for others to police the digital ocean in ways the United States can’t."
ReplyDeleteIs there something wrong with me that I don't care about Bruce Jenner's bra size or a pigeon's junk?
ReplyDeleteKit, I honestly don't care either and I don't think conservatism should care. What does it matter what Jenner does? It doesn't affect other people. It doesn't change the world in the least. It doesn't encourage kids to follow in his footsteps. It's not even like this is new. This stuff has been going on since at least Ancient Rome. Big whoop. This is like a one in ten million mental condition, that's it.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, talk radio has gone to war against Jenner, which strikes me again as stupid. Rather than defining conservatism as a philosophy of small government, personal privacy and a willingness to make people make their own mistakes on their own dime... they have once again turned conservatism into a movement that wants to destroy those who do not toe their line of acceptable behavior. And thereby, they make us leftists.
"This stuff has been going on since at least Ancient Rome."
ReplyDeleteYep. Also, the Roman satirist Juvenal apparently spent a good deal of ink in the late-1st or early-2nd century AD raving against men marrying men.
"Is there something wrong with me that I don't care about Bruce Jenner's bra size or a pigeon's junk?"
ReplyDeleteOn the former, I don't care either.
On the latter, I don't care but apparently ISIS cares —a lot.
For some reason.
Kit, Maybe Muhammad was into pigeon sex? Or more likely, their Koran has a typo and they just aren't bright enough to notice...
ReplyDeleteal Muhammad: "It says throw gays from buildings because they are tempting, stay away from girls because they have kooties and they're scary, and playeth with the junk of a pigeon or a swallow."
el Muhammad: "A swallow? African or European?"
al Muhammad: "It doesn't say."
el Muhammad: "Are you sure it says pigeon junk?"
al Muhammad: "It's right here in blood and white."
el Muhammad: "Well, they are sexy."
al Muhammad: "Better than girls."
al Muhammad: "Not as tempting gays though."
//both look uncomfortably at each other.
al Muhammad: (nervously) "Let us go kill some Americans."
el Muhammad: (nervously) "Yes! Let's!"
I am in the "don't care, please go away" category. But that I wish on ALL Kardashians, Boo-Boos, and Duggars. They are the 21st Century version of the Circus Freaks and don't realize that they are the butt of the joke. The Duck Dynasty guys are different, because if you've ever watch their show, they are in on the joke...and I appreciate that.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate Jenner's effort, but I would like to see the real woman in Jenner. The one that's not all dolled up by professional dressers, makeup artists, and photographers. I actually have a high school friend who "transitioned" in the '80's and has always looked like a regular woman and now Marilyn looks like a normal middle aged woman. Her take is Jenner sets back women and transexuals back by perpetuating the objectifcation of women. Jenner can't spend the rest of his/her life dressing for the Met Ball. Though I do hear that Dennis Rodman is smitten and could there be date in their future??? I DON'T CARE!!!!
I agree with Jonah Goldberg - For all the "Science Is Settled" crowd crows about "science", this is just basic biology. Jenner will always and forever be a Y chromosome...that's basic biology. THere is no surgery that can change that. I can say I am a prima ballerina, but biology and genetics doesn't make it so. Though if I had my druthers, I would choose "billionaire"...
Hey, the Belmont Stakes is setting up...I hope that American Pharoah can do it! I tried to get tickets, but I waiting until after the Preakness and the tickets skyrocketed to $800.
ReplyDelete37 year drought OVER!!!
ReplyDeleteAmerican Pharaoh: Triple Crown Champion!
WOO-HOO!!! American Pharoah WINS THE TRIPLE CROWN!!!!!! YEE-HAW!!!
ReplyDeleteRustbelt: FYI - There was a typo when choosing the name. It is actually spelled "American Pharoah" He won as a typo!!!!
ReplyDeleteBev, I have a feeling that millions of voices of elementary school spelling teachers cried out in terror upon realizing that. It's uncertain when or if they may be silenced ;-)
ReplyDeleteBev, That's the one thing that bothers me in all of this. You may have spent a fortune changing your body to look like something else... but your genes tell us what you really are. Sorry. And it ticks me off that they keep insisting that these people are now something else. They aren't.
ReplyDeleteYou can paint your ass in stripes, but you will never be a zebra.
I got burned out on the Jenner story within 2-3 Facebook posts on the matter myself and Bev summed up my feelings on modern reality stars exactly. I find them all to be crazy jokes, though I agree that the guys on Duck Dynasty are at least in on it. I'm burned out on even them, though... Living in the south means you can't get away from them,
ReplyDeleteAll that said, and this part is primarily for Andrew (though anyone can answer of course), I'm wondering what all of you think the public's perception of it all is. From my own scattered observations is seems like transgender is the next big thing the Grievance Left is trying to push (adding cisgender to the privilege list, seeing them come down hard on opinions like some of the ones being expressed here as transphobic) and it seems like a lot of people in my age range and younger are quite sympathetic to the trans community. My personal take pretty much lines up with the others here: strange, but do what you want, it doesn't affect me. I do agree that, in the end of the day, it doesn't change genetics and that I also find it curious that someone wanting to change, say, skin color is referred to therapy while one wanting to change their sex is said to be normal. And the fact that there have been some high-profile people critical of Jenner and my observation of a notable negative reaction to a transgender character in the game Dragon Age Inquisition tells me that there's still some division among people about it all.
Ultimately, do any of you think this is going to make for any big policy changes, like with bathrooms and such due to public opinions on the matter? Right now I have a hard time believing that it will, but with some of my (admittedly small scale) observations and the fact that talk radio has decided to weigh in on it I'm wondering if they'll damage conservatism further over this and possibly create enough backlash to push the public in the opposite direction. Or is it just more likely they'll see this as fringe vs. fringe and ignore it as long as prominent politicians on either side don't do anything stupid with it? Sorry for all this, I've just been kicking these thoughts around since the whole Jenner thing exploded.
- Daniel
Daniel, The sense that I get is that the public views this as a freak thing that they find humorous or gross or both, but which they don't care enough about to stop because there are very few cases. They may say they approve (and from a legal standpoint they probably do) but I don't see much genuine acceptance. That said, I don't see any will to stop it either. So conservatives are making yet another mistake if they think they can rally people to this cause.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of policy, Colorado became one of the first states to let people pick which bathrooms they want to use, but I've never heard anyone mention it since. I suppose someone will eventually get arrested for peeping, but for now it seems to have been something no one noticed.
In terms of other policies, I think those have already happened. This has been added to the list with "gay" in terms of anti-discrimination laws, so all that has already happened, and some insurance carrier have decided to pay for it. Others view it as voluntary. Prisons pay for it, eventually. Beyond that, I don't see any additional laws that are likely to get passed related to this.
In terms of fringe v. fringe, the problem is that the public views us as largely fringe. So when our fringe acts up, we get tagged with it. I suspect this will just be yet another example of "conservative hate."
That sounds about right to me on it being tolerated but not genuinely accepted as well as the whole fringe mess. A lot of days I wonder if there's any hope for conservatism and the public because of fringe crap like this.
ReplyDelete- Daniel