A semi-serious discussion on transgender issues

norton9478

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I'm still developing my political theory that will allow people to enjoy their freedoms of speech, assembly, the press and so forth, but with a closed off government that makes decisions behind closed doors so that the people won't feel exhausted and struggling with the problems of politics. I'll invite you guys to my new country when I figure it out.

Philosopher kings
 

evil wasabi

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I'm still developing my political theory that will allow people to enjoy their freedoms of speech, assembly, the press and so forth, but with a closed off government that makes decisions behind closed doors so that the people won't feel exhausted and struggling with the problems of politics. I'll invite you guys to my new country when I figure it out.

China has all those rights, amirite? It’s a free country.

But yeah, politicized life has to be a drain. At the same time, recognizing problems means you’re not drunk on government koolaid. It’s a good thing. More wages won’t mean that people have more needs met. I read a study that found giving people more money for food resulted in people buying more “interesting” food, rather than a more nutritious and complete diet.

So I don’t see how paying people $20 more a day will help them, even though it could conceivably become $7000 in savings each year. It will more likely go to Bezos. I’d rather see people push for lower costs, and less institutionalized pyramid schemes like college educations and health insurance.

We have allowed our world to be so complicated that people can’t afford to exist happily.
 

fake

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I read a study that found giving people more money for food resulted in people buying more “interesting” food, rather than a more nutritious and complete diet.

I had to take a decent amount of critical theory classes in college. A lot of it focused on the emptiness / spectacle of modern life. And some of it went into food. It rubs me the wrong way when people blame fast food for making us fat. That's passing the buck IMO. Parents and schools need to do a better job of instilling better diets. If the fast food restaurants want to include a toy in a kids meal, I don't see that as predatory. The parents are the ones going there and paying.
 

SouthtownKid

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China has all those rights, amirite? It’s a free country.

But yeah, politicized life has to be a drain. At the same time, recognizing problems means you’re not drunk on government koolaid. It’s a good thing. More wages won’t mean that people have more needs met. I read a study that found giving people more money for food resulted in people buying more “interesting” food, rather than a more nutritious and complete diet.

So I don’t see how paying people $20 more a day will help them, even though it could conceivably become $7000 in savings each year. It will more likely go to Bezos. I’d rather see people push for lower costs, and less institutionalized pyramid schemes like college educations and health insurance.

We have allowed our world to be so complicated that people can’t afford to exist happily.
All of this a billion percent.
 

Xavier

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Meh with food they are making stuff that is less nutritious and more poisonous daily.

There's something with the hamburger with most restaurants these days. I feel sick after eating it. It's all greasy in my stomach and makes feel lethargic.

Corn chips I don't know if it's because it GMO or the oils they use but most give me some sort of allergic reaction and indigestion. Same thing with peanut butter.

I've talked about it before but in order to save money and have nutritious food you need a stable home, investments in tools utensil and appliances. On top of that food prep and cooking take up a lot of time.

They put an Aldis a couple miles away from me, I've been shopping there lately and loving it.

Anyways people need to stop selling themselves and the neighbors out.

If you know things are wrong don't keep going along with it, most of all don't keep going around defending it.

It's not just food everything they make these days is pretty much trash.
Sink garbage disposals should last 8-10 years+.

I have two kitchens, ones gone through 3 in 6 years. The last one only lasted maybe 18 months before it rusted out and got all clogged up. It's the standard home contractor grade model so in the other kitchen I decided to try and get a better one so I shopped around and reviews said this models top plate it stainless steel. I bought it and it's not....rusted out in a few years. Maybe five years later this nicer model is just about burnt out as well.

It used to be you could buy a good name brand thing and not have to worry about it. Today there's no guarantee that tomorrow Tostidos won't sell you ground up enthonal corn fried in motor oil. You need to pretty much be a full time purchasing agent just to be able to find decent quality things anymore.

They've got everybody running around all day buying new clothes and shoes because you wore them twice and they fell apart. Gotta pick up your car from the service department. Change your cable company because it's not the advertised deal. May as well get a new phone too because the front camera stopped working for no reason and then you dropped it a foot and a half on the wooden kitchen table and the screen cracked.

Society needs all different types of people all with different skill sets and abilities to function properly. They are all important and need to be able to fill their basic needs. Not everyone is as equally important but that doesn't mean that the people who don't really do anything deserve to make 3000x as much as the people who actually make the products and innovations that we all need.
 

Xavier

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All of this a billion percent.

I dunno stuffs cheap enough and usually available, again IMO should be better quality though.

Yes insurance, college and medicine are not working.

We've got everybody running around talking about scarcity problems, there are not any it's a distribution problem.
 
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LoneSage

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China has all those rights, amirite? It’s a free country.

They don't have crushing student debt and loans for one. They'll work a summer part time job to pay it off, something the boomers enjoyed.

They also enjoy high marriage rates and single mothers are practically unheard of. High home ownership rates compared to Americans in similar age groups as well.

People pay in cash in many cases so not a lot of debt as well.

Expenses, such as winter heating, electricity, water, internet, cell phone service and data, etc. are ridiculously low even literal peasants can afford them without problem. Granted the quality of things isn't at American level but at least the people aren't living paycheck to paycheck.

No free public healthcare like the NHS but it's still cheap.

Numerous public transport options that are super cheap making it possible to get from one end of the city to the other without hassle.

Yeah, the lack of freedom of speech sucks ass. But the majority of Chinese history has sucked so much ass that as shitty as Mao was he's still revered as a hero. That's how bad things were. And now with how good things are in comparison to 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 years ago? It's easy to see how Chinese are OK without human rights as long as they have a stable life. And with the hammer of one party to get shit done and no wasting of time arguing with an opposition party, many Chinese even prefer their system.

Having said all that - only to give a brief insight into why Chinese dgaf about censorship and everything else - fuck the CCP.

edit: of course there are a thousand things better about America than China. Just explaining why the people won't want a revolution anytime soon.
 
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oliverclaude

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Great thread, well done Steven, especially your perfectly trimmed moderation. Being late to the party, there's hardly anything to add. That's about my opinion...

It's simple biology.

The problem is that we humans are not there yet to bring into being everything we can imagine w/o compromises, and those are often embarrassing and awkward. Imagine you can fly, anybody flu a lot of times in their dreams, I 'm sure. In reality, you need some sort of a machine to do that, something that'll cut down your dream as much as it expands on them, a compromise.

Those compromises mostly end with a kind of uncanny valley appearance, where you'll be as much away from your dream, and as near to it at the same time, that the emotional response to it will always provoke uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of eeriness and revulsion in observers. Think of this image as an example:

...pissing next to a old dude with a beard and titties wearing an ugly dress and a pearl necklace.

If human science could make a biological woman out of a man and vice versa, we probably wouldn't have that conversation. Anyway, one last though, I don't think that financial security would solve much, but give people eternal youth, their main obsession, and many other dreams, which are impossible to accomplish, won't probably matter anymore. Yet, since we can't do that either, let's carry on discussing compromises.
 

SouthtownKid

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If human science could make a biological woman out of a man and vice versa, we probably wouldn't have that conversation..

book-review-the-sneetches-by-dr-seuss.jpg
 

evil wasabi

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They don't have crushing student debt and loans for one. They'll work a summer part time job to pay it off, something the boomers enjoyed.

They also enjoy high marriage rates and single mothers are practically unheard of. High home ownership rates compared to Americans in similar age groups as well.

People pay in cash in many cases so not a lot of debt as well.

Expenses, such as winter heating, electricity, water, internet, cell phone service and data, etc. are ridiculously low even literal peasants can afford them without problem. Granted the quality of things isn't at American level but at least the people aren't living paycheck to paycheck.

No free public healthcare like the NHS but it's still cheap.

Numerous public transport options that are super cheap making it possible to get from one end of the city to the other without hassle.

Yeah, the lack of freedom of speech sucks ass. But the majority of Chinese history has sucked so much ass that as shitty as Mao was he's still revered as a hero. That's how bad things were. And now with how good things are in comparison to 60, 50, 40, 30, 20 years ago? It's easy to see how Chinese are OK without human rights as long as they have a stable life. And with the hammer of one party to get shit done and no wasting of time arguing with an opposition party, many Chinese even prefer their system.

Having said all that - only to give a brief insight into why Chinese dgaf about censorship and everything else - fuck the CCP.

edit: of course there are a thousand things better about America than China. Just explaining why the people won't want a revolution anytime soon.

It’s a good example of grooming society to see the problems you allow them to see, and to feel excitement about things you allow them to feel. I see this happen in the US too, but not to the same degree. I think that is gradually changing. And we will mostly cheer as we creep toward that event horizon, universal basic income and all, ignoring the overcast of government intrusion, and the ultimate annihilation of the nuclear family.
 

@M

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Chinese life sounds like a pretty good deal to me, other than the language barrier and healthcare. I want to move to China and sleep on LoneSage's couch until he tells me to get a fooking job and kicks me out.
 

LoneSage

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Chinese life sounds like a pretty good deal to me, other than the language barrier and healthcare. I want to move to China and sleep on LoneSage's couch until he tells me to get a fooking job and kicks me out.

I don't have a couch. You can sleep on the kang.

edit: wtf I typed job instead of couch.
 
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@M

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Are you sure that'd be wise? Kang and I barely know each other, and Dr. Doom will be rather upset if he finds out I'm cheating on him with that blue-faced time travelling supervillain.
 

lithy

LoneSage: lithy is just some degenerate scumbag
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lithy made fun of me because I sent my mom money home a few years ago. If it's gay to give your parents money then I guess I'm Rip Taylor.

I teased you because Mexicans or wherever immigrants are coming from these days do that all the time. Send money home. I just thought it was funny.

Do you call home with phone cards?
 

Lagduf

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With the Biden administration I assume we’ll see a repeal (if we haven’t already) of the ban on transgender military personnel.

My question is then who has to register for selective service?

Do transmen? Transwomen?
 

SouthtownKid

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With the Biden administration I assume we’ll see a repeal (if we haven’t already) of the ban on transgender military personnel.

My question is then who has to register for selective service?

Do transmen? Transwomen?
At this point, if we're still doing selective service registration, it should be everyone of all sexes and genders, ala Israel. It's beyond ridiculous how archaic it is that in 2021, it's still only males who have to register.
 

@M

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I agree, selective service should be required for both genders or abolished altogether. That's sexist, yo, and we should all burn our jock straps in protest (and/or bras/panties, if applicable).
 

Lagduf

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At this point, if we're still doing selective service registration, it should be everyone of all sexes and genders, ala Israel. It's beyond ridiculous how archaic it is that in 2021, it's still only males who have to register.

My intent was a bit disingenuous because I’d like to see selective service abolished. But if we’re not abolishing it then every 18 year old needs to register regardless of gender or sex.

Transgender rights becoming mainstream is the perfect opportunity to do so.
 

fake

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My intent was a bit disingenuous because I’d like to see selective service abolished. But if we’re not abolishing it then every 18 year old needs to register regardless of gender or sex.

Transgender rights becoming mainstream is the perfect opportunity to do so.

A judge agreed with you (in terms of women being compelled to enlist) but the process is slow. It was the judge whose husband was shot and son was killed by a rightwing nutjob. She oversaw his case and ruled in favor of him and his argument than both men and women should have to enlist in the draft, but he didn't see an immediate change to the law so he tried to kill her.
 

NeoSneth

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The military is not a community worksite. They need to people prepared to do a job. Mentally and Physically. There can be no question. Gender or Transgender. If you can do it, then you can participate. But... there can be absolutely no question that you can do it.

Do your eyes work well? No?, then get out of this Pilot seat
Can this person lift 80lbs for 20 miles hikes a day? No?, then join the Peace Corp
Is this person mentally stabile without any prior history of depression? Welcome aboard.
Are they mentally stabile enough to follow chain of command under stressful conditions? No, then you cannot join the military.

I don't believe they need to reduce minimum requirements for diversity. That makes zero sense for war.
The big hurdle for Trans will be proving they meet the mental standards. The statistics are against them and the military knows it, and no one is doing studies to help them show otherwise.
 

evil wasabi

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If some dude is insistent on being classified as a woman so that he can beat girls in sports, I want that dude on the front line of any conflict. She/they have what it takes


To get fucked.
 

smokehouse

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The military is not a community worksite. They need to people prepared to do a job. Mentally and Physically. There can be no question. Gender or Transgender. If you can do it, then you can participate. But... there can be absolutely no question that you can do it.

Do your eyes work well? No?, then get out of this Pilot seat
Can this person lift 80lbs for 20 miles hikes a day? No?, then join the Peace Corp
Is this person mentally stabile without any prior history of depression? Welcome aboard.
Are they mentally stabile enough to follow chain of command under stressful conditions? No, then you cannot join the military.

I don't believe they need to reduce minimum requirements for diversity. That makes zero sense for war.
The big hurdle for Trans will be proving they meet the mental standards. The statistics are against them and the military knows it, and no one is doing studies to help them show otherwise.


I have major mixed feelings about females in the service.

One undeniable thing is the issue it causes with fraternizing, which is a massive issue in most branches (especially the Navy). I'm not discussing nonconsensual contact, either. People have a hard time understanding that the UCMJ is NOT civilian law and it really makes things difficult with sex is involved.

Personally, I have some issues with females being in certain roles, like you noted. If a job requires you to perform a certain way to do a task and they have to lower those standards for anyone, wrong answer. I have long disagreed that they have female vs male fitness requirements for fighting MOS soldiers, that's complete bullshit. Either a female can meet minimum male req...or she should not have a field/fighting role. End of story.

Lastly...and this is the most important, is the rights of everyone else.

Let's have a hard look at this trans issue. Males and females, at least in the Army, have shard facilities segregated by sex. It is grossly unfair, and honestly offensive that a biological male, with male genitals, will be force fed on females who group shower. I'd say the same about a F to M...but the reaction in something like a group shower would be vastly different.

Because I strongly doubt that they'd force-mix people like that, I'm guessing the trans-person would get special bathrooms, showers, etc and that completely breaks down the entire system.

This transcends "well, if they want to go serve the country, then let them.", once again people taking a horribly complex situation and making it sound easy, which it is not.
 

Lagduf

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As an institution the military is inherently anti-democratic. It must be in order to function.

Anyone physically and mentally capable of serving should be able to do so. No one should get special treatment and there should be zero accommodations. All must be held to the same singular standard.

Smoke has a point with fraternization and bathrooms but I feel like it’s almost a distraction. If there was another real war, a total war, it wouldn’t matter and soldiers on the line would shit and bathe wherever they could. It’d only potentially be an issue back at base.

Dishonorably discharge fraternizers if it’s an issue. Put to death any military member who commits rape.

Let’s get real Draconian up in this bitch and show the rest of the world how a back to back World War champ fights a war.
 
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