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@badger
Freddy Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS. The "cure" probably killed him.
Put your unpopular opinions here and someone who disagrees will debate you
Posts
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@TheMorningsStar
Wait. Are you trans?
The size and scope of government is the largest problem with which we are confronted. That problem manifests at numerous different levels. The most egregious of the levels at which that problem manifests is by ceding essential liberty to technocrats, bureaucrats and so called "experts." There is no upper limit to the harm such technocratic, bureaucratic or other expertise-based alienations of liberty may cause.
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@coal
No, but I suffer from gender dysphoria.
I was born a man and still am one. Just as a person dying from malnutrition that thinks they are fat is not fat, my thoughts that I should have been born female does not make me one.
Suffered from this dysphoria since the 5th grade, never even heard about transgenderism until a few years later. I sought non-affirming therapy (in contrast to the affirming therapy the trans rights movement advocates) and my life has improved quite a bit. Does that mean I don't still have dysphoric thoughts? Of course not, I still have them. Not as often and I don't let them control me anymore, but people with such mental health issues never really get rid of them permanently.
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@TheMorningsStar
How old are you?
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@coal
I am now 26, why?
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@TheMorningsStar
Your perspective is interesting. Not one I would have expected from a teenager or younger adolescent. I wanted to confirm my impression was correct. And it was.
Your experience reminds me of someone I once knew. He and I were both involved in a common activity, so many years ago. I think he's about your age, maybe four years younger than me. Maybe five. I don't know. Hard to recall.
He was a cute kid, friendly and endearing. Or at least he was endearing, to me. Sandy blonde hair and taller than most of his peers. He played sports and was fairly athletic, as was I when I was his age. But among that crowd he was an outsider, as was I also. He came from a fairly conservative, religious family that almost certainly could not contend with the fact that he was (probably) gay. I doubt he had any clue I was gay, then or at any time after.
Once I moved away and he left for college, we lost touch. I later learned that he came out as trans, a few years after. He dropped out of college, had an Instagram which seemed to focus on personal art/graphics projects and some of what looked like sissy-type fetish wear. He also appeared to have other interests, including a few that I shared, from another social media account he has since deleted. Beyond that, it appeared he lived and presented as female for a period of time; makeup, clothing, hair and the rest. I understand all of that was very hard on him.
After living for a period of time in another state, he eventually moved back home. I don't know whether he and his family ever came to terms.
I'd known him since he was about 15. I wonder if his life might have turned out differently, if I'd said some of the things I thought he needed to hear but which I didn't believe were my place to say. I wonder whether he would have dated the girl or came out as trans in college. I wonder whether he'd have just had a boyfriend, perhaps gone through some counseling and came to terms with some of the sexual interests which appear to have contributed to the choices he made.
I tried to reach out to him a few times. But I am pretty sure he thinks I'm something other than what I am. The fact is that it's just the opposite.
Being trans is something that's a lot more real than the activists who purport to advocate on their behalf seem to realize. And it isn't just the kind of thing you wake up and realize, though as adolescents (especially boys) start to enter puberty their interests may lead them to think they're trans when, in fact, they are no such thing. They're just kinky. Over time, those appetites can grow into something unhealthy. That's what I've always thought with him, especially based on his social media. Sometimes therapy can help, but often just talking about it candidly with someone who isn't going to judge you is enough. I am almost certain he didn't have that.
I wish I'd been able to reconnect with him.
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@TheMorningsStar
Suffered from this dysphoria since the 5th grade, never even heard about transgenderism until a few years later. I sought non-affirming therapy (in contrast to the affirming therapy the trans rights movement advocates) and my life has improved quite a bit. Does that mean I don't still have dysphoric thoughts? Of course not, I still have them. Not as often and I don't let them control me anymore, but people with such mental health issues never really get rid of them permanently.
What’s interesting is that if we’re right (gender is a binary etc) you’re one of the only people who got ACTUAL gender affirming care…I’m glad you got the help you needed. Not to pry but since you’re already putting a lot out there…any idea why this happened to you, and what might be the cause in others? Any tips for how to prevent it?
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@badger
Not to rain on your parade or anything. Who the fuck knows what's going on tbh. World is bendy. People who think they know anything need to take more drugs. Whole world opens up a Cheshire cat smile sometimes. What is even real lol.
There’s definitely more going on than just what we see…or I could just be trying to find a narrative where there isn’t one. We really have no way of knowing!
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@coal
The size and scope of government is the largest problem with which we are confronted. That problem manifests at numerous different levels. The most egregious of the levels at which that problem manifests is by ceding essential liberty to technocrats, bureaucrats and so called "experts." There is no upper limit to the harm such technocratic, bureaucratic or other expertise-based alienations of liberty may cause.
I’ve always rolled my eyes are the argument that the post 2015 destruction of free speech on the internet is all good simply because it was private companies that did it. As if free speech isn’t a principle, that people value by itself
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@thett3
It's become impossible to distinguish the government from private interests.
Biden's administration has pushed all social media companies to censor anything that contradicts the current Democrat narratives. And they have.
So called "fact checkers," who are in fact no such thing, are bought and paid for by leftist interests to fraudulently hold themselves out as independent third parties. Which they are not. Rather, they are the cat's paws of Democrat interests funded by, among others, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Glaxo-Wellcome Trust and other such interests, at the behest of the same interests who own and control the current administration.
I can only hope Elon Musk accomplishes his hostile takeover and fires everyone at Twitter, which is a den of Ellen Pao-type vipers.
Trust the science, if you can find it, within of the conspiratorial falsehoods.
The internet has brought as global communication. How much of it is truth, and how to winnow out those truths ---or vice versa--- from the non-truths?
How is it a dictator led war/invasion --or other--- is still acceptable global phenomena, year after year after years since WW2?
Haves against the have-nots?
Greed against the poor?
Longer-term humanity survival vs other?
Nuclear weapons world vs non-nuclear weapons world?
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@TheMorningsStar
I honestly feel like if I had gone through an affirming therapy that I would have likely offed myself as I would never have felt right in my body.
This is exactly how I feel about the whole thing. It's entirely possible that some degree of "gender affirming care" is better than just letting the dysphoric person languish totally untreated, but it would be far inferior to a treatment regime that concludes with being comfortable in the body you were born with. It's not possible to change your body into the opposite sex, at most you can brute force it into a pale imitation, a cruel joke. From my experience trans people tend to by high IQ but often autistic or OCD so deep down they have to know that they're never as woman or man as someone born that way, even if growing "breasts" or whatever temporarily scratches an itch. Long term it isn't a solution to the real problem
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@thett3
any idea why this happened to you, and what might be the cause in others? Any tips for how to prevent it?
I do think that with a lot of people today it is influenced by the overly pro-lgbt movement, as there are record numbers of people coming out as trans and they usually have someone they know that has come out as well (or frequent websites that push any sort of discomfort with one's body, which is normal during puberty, as a sign of being trans).
As for me, no idea. I never even heard of the idea that you could have been born in the wrong body and I felt that way. I have no idea what might have been the trigger. I was bullied as a child because I was naturally a pacifist and so was an 'easy target' (that pacifism stopped after one incident in the 8th grade that forced me to either take anger management or go to juvie), but I don't think that is what would have triggered it.
you’re one of the only people who got ACTUAL gender affirming care
The frustrating thing was how difficult it was to seek out a therapist willing to do said therapy. The trans-rights movement is one that is trying to make said therapy illegal, which will only make it more difficult.
It wasn't even necessarily that I was against affirming therapy when I started (I was an adult by then, my family has never been informed of my dysphoria). I just figured that I needed help as I was at a really low point (fiancé miscarried our child and then called it off with me) and figured that if I didn't seek help I wasn't going to be around much longer. I figured that my grandmother, whom I am close to, is both pretty religious and conservative and that if I was to do affirming therapy that I should wait as to not strain that relationship. Sought and started non-affirming therapy, found it worked great. Then I started wondering why the trans-rights movement viewed it so negatively and started looking into the issue more and ended up becoming more and more against affirming therapy.
I know that non-affirming therapy is what most people need. Sure, there are some people that affirming therapy might work for, won't deny that, but I don't think it is the answer. I find it sad just how much more difficult non-affirming therapy is becoming and how easy it is becoming for people to be diagnosed and given affirming therapy.
Seriously, desistance is a thing, but the numbers of people that desist is significantly lower for those going through affirmation therapy.
Unpopular opinion: the Catholic Church is basically right about contraception, although there really isn’t any way to turn back the clock on it
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@ADreamOfLiberty
It's not possible to debate that, it's a matter of pure definitions. You either agree on the definition or you don't, if you don't there is no point using the word to communicate.
Exactly. It would be akin to debating whether Pluto is a planet or not. It used to be defined as a planet. Now, it is not. In the meantime, nothing about Pluto has changed.
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@thett3
You are a married/engaged man... are you telling me every time you and your non-pregnant wife have pleasurable... third base experience, you would want her to get pregnant as a result?
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@RationalMadman
You are a married/engaged man... are you telling me every time you and your non-pregnant wife have pleasurable... third base experience, you would want her to get pregnant as a result?
No, and I think since we can so easily control it now the Catholic Church asks a LOT of its members to not use contraception. Virtually nobody follows the teachings and those that do follow natural family planning which just means the woman tracks her cycle and they don’t have sex on days she could get pregnant. I view that as birth control as well even if the church approves of it through basically a loophole
What I mean is that the pill changed society in a negative way. Even leaving out how I feel about casual sex, it seems to me that reliable birth control demographically destroyed every developed country. In short the preference for number of children averages out to two, and a large number of people don’t end up reproducing…so the population continuously shrinks. This basically means either severe economic contraction or mass immigration. In the past people relied on more crude contraceptive practices that resulted in more unintended pregnancies. Bad for the individual people but better for society
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@thett3
Opinion: The Roman Catholic Church has never been right about anything really.
Although it is very good at making and hoarding wealth and not spending it on it's poorer members.
Possibly unpopular opinion: revealed preferences > absolutely everything else in assessing motivation and future behavior
The 2003 Invasion of Iraq was justified.
9 days later
Even if speech is sometimes an act, the mere utterance of words is never "violence." The political left's inability to distinguish between words and violence is a learned cognitive deficit.
Atlas Shrugged is better than The Fountainhead.
Bro what happened to your politics?
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@Swagnarok
People justify all sorts of stuff.
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@thett3
so the population continuously shrinks.
have you seen a world population graph lately ?
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@Swagnarok
Bro what happened to your politics?
I think some people, even those on the economic left, are alienated by the broader left's polarizing cultural/social stances.
Will Smith grew up jaded because his father abused his mother and he couldn't stop him
Jaded, lol.
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@Username
He's comparing and recommending Ayn Rand novels.
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@Swagnarok
Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead are both fairly famous novels. I don't think you necessarily need to be right-wing to read them or even recommend them.
I guess he could've changed his stances, but I still doubt it.