The Transgender Mind Virus

 

Think of all the kids who are perfectly normal until someone says, “If you are not 100% comfortable in your body, then you are transgender.”  And, since no child is truly comfortable in a body that is still growing and changing and that – in any case – is never precisely the way they would like it to be, then that child is infected with a mind virus. The mind virus, as we see all around us, can destroy the individual’s ability to live a purposeful and productive life.

The problem is that what is in the mind does not need anything physical in order to be real for that mind. Think, for example, of the experiences that changed us not because we broke our leg or lost a tooth, but because those experiences changed how we think. We all remember books or movies that gave us nightmares and shaped us, for better or worse. There was no physical damage, yet I still remember the deep depression that left me in a funk for weeks after reading Flowers for Algernon as a young child. So if a trusted authority figure like a teacher suggests that, really, the important thing to do is to spend our lives in self-examination, then what defense mechanisms are really available? After all, even the suggestion of being transgendered, like reading Flowers for Algernon, makes an impact even though our conscious mind may insist it is not real.

People who insist that “you are not entitled to your own facts” or, “facts don’t care about your feelings” are entirely defenseless against a teacher who implants the idea in our children that they are not who their parents think they are. Their “transgenderism” is, without a doubt, a fact. It may be a constructed and invented fact, but so are a great many of the ideas that provide purpose and meaning to most people most of the time (love, loyalty, faith, etc.).

There is even a Torah basis to this: a priest is forbidden to come near a dead body. But in the event that the priest (and any surrounding people) is unaware that human remains are in a place, then the priest is not spiritually unfit. In other words, what the priest knows is what ultimately matters, not whether or not remains are present. This is not merely a Talmudic argument that sidesteps “reality.” Knowledge, not reality, is what makes the difference.

So the questions we ask can be dangerous. If we ask a person to obsess over alleged abuse (whether real or not), then we increase the chances that the abuse will cause lasting damage. Jacob’s daughter Dina is raped, and her father and brothers call her “tamei”, which roughly translates to “spiritually spoiled.”  That event makes her a victim forevermore.  But Sarah and Rebekkah, her grandmother and great-grandmother, were taken by other men, and in those cases it made no such mark! Nobody in those stories thinks less of the women, and so they carried on their lives as if nothing had happened. The perception of what it means to be taken by a man who is not your husband changed the reality of what happened to the rest of those women’s lives, just as surely as a child who is told he is transgendered stands an excellent chance of changing his life forever.

Imagine being able to gift selective amnesia on a victim of horrible trauma. That victim might have undergone rape or combat, or any manner of things that would cause any reasonable person ongoing PTSD. But if they were somehow able to erase the experience, then they would be as if they had never suffered. So in many ways, ignorance is a blessing. An event that might otherwise scar, will leave no mark if it was somehow forgotten.

A more realistic way to gift amnesia on someone who is asking the wrong question might be to change the question around. Instead of “Am I comfortable in my own body?” for example, we might challenge them to think of other people: “How can I help other people be more comfortable in theirs?” This opens up a world of possibilities for replacing endless narcissistic recursions with acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. And it would make the world a much better place.

[an @iwe and @susanquinn and @blessedblacksmith work]

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  1. She Member
    She
    @She

    iWe: A more realistic way to gift amnesia on someone who is asking the wrong question might be to change the question around. Instead of “Am I comfortable in my own body?” for example, we might challenge them to think of other people: “How can I help other people be more comfortable in theirs?” This opens up a world of possibilities for replacing endless narcissistic recursions with acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. And it would make the world a much better place.

    I’m not sure about the gifted amnesia part, but I am totally on board with reformulating the question as you have.  “Endless narcissistic recursions” (excellent phrase) used to be frowned upon, and children and adults used to be taught to look beyond themselves with a view to serving and supporting others. Even the privileged were not immune, and were bound by the concept of noblesse oblige, something that’s been reduced to a punchline and indicator of white supremacy, but which was, for many centuries, the underpinning of a useful private social support system. (Hospitals and schools, among others.  Many of which are being torn down or defaced because their founders–hundreds of years ago–didn’t hew to twenty-first century values). 

    About the best many at all levels of human society seem to be able to do in that regard these days is something like, “Well, enough about me.  What do you think about me?”

    I don’t think there’s ever a reason not to turn one’s goodwill and charity (in the old-fashioned sense) outward, rather than eternally applying it to oneself. Just as I think that doing so only happens when one is at peace with, and content with, oneself.  The problem with most of the narcissistic recursors is–I think–that deep down they don’t really like themselves much.  Hence their ongoing, never-ending, primal screams for validation.

    Great post.

     

    • #1
  2. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Interesting post on an important topic, iWe et al.

    I’ve been considering a post on several aspects of the trans movement, which I consider wrong-minded and destructive in any number of ways. Bari Weiss had an interesting interview with Andrew Sullivan recently on the topic. While I often disagree with Sullivan, I am in complete agreement with him that young kids don’t need the confusion of gender identity talk and can’t deal with the issues involved.

    I also agree that there’s an anti-gay quality to the your-kid-might-be-trans thing. Sullivan says (I haven’t checked) that many/most little boys who present (for want of a better word) as little girls when young turn out to be gay adults. That seems plausible to me. Encouraging such a little boy to “transition” may result in a broken and gender-confused adult  man rather than a healthy gay man.

    The trans movement is broken on so many levels, destructive in so many ways, that it’s a challenge to choose the worst thing about it.

    • #2
  3. DonG (CAGW is a Hoax) Coolidge
    DonG (CAGW is a Hoax)
    @DonG

    The Left says gender is a social construct, then proceeds to treat it like a medical construct by doing surgeries and hormone treatments causing permanent damage.   That is idiotic.

    • #3
  4. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    Slightly off topic:

    I know a young actress ( I live in Hollywood) who has gotten a role in a new movie (bully for her; tough to do for a white person these days).  Due to some earlier misadventures in her youth her played around with some  Lesbian affairs, although now she is straight.  ( She comes from a dysfunctional alcoholic family background)

    That said, she can claim now in all honesty that she is bi-sexual. Since many of the roles now for women are bi-sexual these days that is a big plus particularly since now one cannot be cast in a role of a bi-sexual or homosexual if one is straight.  You must be made to care!

    However, there is one little catch; her new role is one a of androgynous transgender fantasy character   where now she needs to bone up in a real hurry of all the proper trans-speak or she    could easily loose that role due to some trans- faux pas.

    Just a little story of how things now work in Hollywood.

    • #4
  5. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    If I insisted that the reason I am uncomfortable in my own aged male body is that my real identity is that of a 26-year-old Latino 6’5″ fitness model named Raoul, people would laugh at me.  But if I tell them my real identity is Louise, a lesbian of color, they would not dare laugh, especially if I am in my colorful Caribbean-themed mumu from the Mama Cass collection for larger ladies.  (That is why I only identify as Raoul on weekends even though being Lousie is even more of a stretch.)

    I am opposed to most TV programming and movies for teens because the production invariably uses impossibly good-looking 25-year-olds to portray high school kids.  On top of that, there is heavy cultural pressure to become sexually active which is likely to provoke emotional disruptions and self-worth issues.

    And into this chaos now comes the novel perversion called transgenderism.

    • #5
  6. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    I am opposed to most TV programming and movies for teens because the production invariably uses impossibly good-looking 25-year-olds to portray high school kids

    Fixed it.

    • #6
  7. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    If I insisted that the reason I am uncomfortable in my own aged male body is that my real identity is that of a 26-year Latino 6’5″ fitness model named Raoul, people would laugh at me. But if I tell them my real identity is Louise, a lesbian of color, they would not dare laugh, especially if I am in my colorful Caribbean-themed mumu from the Mama Cass collection for larger ladies. (That is why I only identify as Raoul on weekends even though being Lousie is even more of a stretch.)

    I am opposed to most TV programming and movies for teens because the production invariably uses impossibly good-looking 25-year-olds to portray high school kids. On top of that, there is heavy cultural pressure to become sexually active which is likely to provoke emotional disruptions and self-worth issues.

    And into this chaos now comes the novel perversion called transgenderism.

     

     

    So YOU are Raoul? As in @HotIslandBoyRaoul96?

    Wish I’d known that before I booked my travel….

    • #7
  8. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    If I insisted that the reason I am uncomfortable in my own aged male body is that my real identity is that of a 26-year Latino 6’5″ fitness model named Raoul, people would laugh at me. But if I tell them my real identity is Louise, a lesbian of color, they would not dare laugh, especially if I am in my colorful Caribbean-themed mumu from the Mama Cass collection for larger ladies. (That is why I only identify as Raoul on weekends even though being Lousie is even more of a stretch.)

    I am opposed to most TV programming and movies for teens because the production invariably uses impossibly good-looking 25-year-olds to portray high school kids. On top of that, there is heavy cultural pressure to become sexually active which is likely to provoke emotional disruptions and self-worth issues.

    And into this chaos now comes the novel perversion called transgenderism.

     

     

    So YOU are Raoul? As in @ HotIslandBoyRaoul96?

    Wish I’d known that before I booked my travel….

    Not me.  I am @NVmeMuyEnorme1 –on weekends.

     

    • #8
  9. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    DonG (CAGW is a Hoax) (View Comment):

    The Left says gender is a social construct, then proceeds to treat it like a medical construct by doing surgeries and hormone treatments causing permanent damage. That is idiotic.

    All Trans people—every last one—is mentally ill in some other way.  Experience teaches me this.  Surgeries and hormones worsen their illnesses.

    • #9
  10. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    The Rubber Hand illusion.  

    Our concept of self is VERY flexible! And the effect works the most with children.

    • #10
  11. W Bob Member
    W Bob
    @WBob

    The debate seems to focus on the wrong issue. It’s all about whether the transgender “hypothesis” the left is pushing is true or not. Or good or bad for kids. That battle will never be won.

    But why don’t people ask the question, why are teachers involved in trying to get children to focus on their gender or sexuality. What if teachers started holding psychoanalysis sessions with kids? Or religious instruction? ( You say you’re Jewish but are you sure? Here’s a pamphlet on Christianity and some other religions). How is that different? If someone did those things to your kids, your response probably wouldn’t be “My child doesn’t need a psychologist” but rather “You’re not a psychologist!” It wouldn’t be a defense of the truth of Judaism, but rather, “Who are you to undermine my child’s religious upbringing?”

    This applies not just to teachers but any adults who are involved in pushing this on kids.

    The outrageousness of what they’re doing isn’t fully appreciated until you see how brazenly they cross very obvious boundaries to accomplish it.

    • #11
  12. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    W Bob (View Comment):
    It wouldn’t be a defense of the truth of Judaism, but rather, “Who are you to undermine my child’s religious upbringing?”

    You are absolutely correct. It is pure chutzpah.

    • #12
  13. TheRightNurse Member
    TheRightNurse
    @TheRightNurse

    There is actually a very real movement in therapy not to define oneself by one’s challenges or wounds.  Obsessing and picking at the wound keeps it open.  While it might scar, keeping it open ensures that the wound will continue causing pain and strife.

    The movement includes not obsessing over these problems, recognizing them and their impact (not minimizing it), but then moving on constructively and realizing that the impact will come in waves over time.  I think this is the healthiest way of looking at these problems.

    A woman assaulted or someone abused is not ruined.  That is very old thinking.

    We are resilient and we increase our resiliency by cultivating it, not denying it.  We increase the resiliency by recognizing our injuries but continuing on and learning.  We feel the pain but we keep going.  We find our resources.  But we keep going.  In re-experiencing the trauma, we simply continue to reinjure ourselves and stay frozen in time.

    What is the point of that?

    Yes, our experiences shape us.  Yes, we can be victims.

    But we do not have to identify that way and we do not have to make it a core part of who we are.  It is just another adjective applied to our identities.  Mother, sister, nurse, daughter, wife, victim, procrastinator… it’s just a part and describes one moment.  It is not my life.

    • #13
  14. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    TheRightNurse (View Comment):

    There is actually a very real movement in therapy not to define oneself by one’s challenges or wounds. Obsessing and picking at the wound keeps it open. While it might scar, keeping it open ensures that the wound will continue causing pain and strife.

    The movement includes not obsessing over these problems, recognizing them and their impact (not minimizing it), but then moving on constructively and realizing that the impact will come in waves over time. I think this is the healthiest way of looking at these problems.

    A woman assaulted or someone abused is not ruined. That is very old thinking.

    We are resilient and we increase our resiliency by cultivating it, not denying it. We increase the resiliency by recognizing our injuries but continuing on and learning. We feel the pain but we keep going. We find our resources. But we keep going. In re-experiencing the trauma, we simply continue to reinjure ourselves and stay frozen in time.

    What is the point of that?

    Yes, our experiences shape us. Yes, we can be victims.

    But we do not have to identify that way and we do not have to make it a core part of who we are. It is just another adjective applied to our identities. Mother, sister, nurse, daughter, wife, victim, procrastinator… it’s just a part and describes one moment. It is not my life.

    That makes sense. Focusing on your victimhood all but ensures you will be victimized again. And again. And again …

    • #14
  15. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    Interesting post on an important topic, iWe et al.

    I’ve been considering a post on several aspects of the trans movement, which I consider wrong-minded and destructive in any number of ways. Bari Weiss had an interesting interview with Andrew Sullivan recently on the topic. While I often disagree with Sullivan, I am in complete agreement with him that young kids don’t need the confusion of gender identity talk and can’t deal with the issues involved.

    I also agree that there’s an anti-gay quality to the your-kid-might-be-trans thing. Sullivan says (I haven’t checked) that many/most little boys who present (for want of a better word) as little girls when young turn out to be gay adults. That seems plausible to me. Encouraging such a little boy to “transition” may result in a broken and gender-confused adult man rather than a healthy gay man.

    The trans movement is broken on so many levels, destructive in so many ways, that it’s a challenge to choose the worst thing about it.

    Agreed. I’ve said for years that “transexualism” is anti-gay.

    And ironically so intolerant. My childhood included tom boys and feminine guys. Not all of them turned out to be gay. But now if your behavior doesn’t match your biological sex … you must be the opposite sex because those are the qualities society has ascribed to the opposite sex?

    Wait. What? 

    • #15
  16. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    TheRightNurse (View Comment):
    But we do not have to identify that way and we do not have to make it a core part of who we are.  It is just another adjective applied to our identities.  Mother, sister, nurse, daughter, wife, victim, procrastinator… it’s just a part and describes one moment.  It is not my life.

    This is a wonderful, practical approach to healing and living one’s life in a productive and positive way, TRN. Thanks for sharing it!

    • #16
  17. Taras Coolidge
    Taras
    @Taras

    Annefy (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    Interesting post on an important topic, iWe et al.

    I’ve been considering a post on several aspects of the trans movement, which I consider wrong-minded and destructive in any number of ways. Bari Weiss had an interesting interview with Andrew Sullivan recently on the topic. While I often disagree with Sullivan, I am in complete agreement with him that young kids don’t need the confusion of gender identity talk and can’t deal with the issues involved.

    I also agree that there’s an anti-gay quality to the your-kid-might-be-trans thing. Sullivan says (I haven’t checked) that many/most little boys who present (for want of a better word) as little girls when young turn out to be gay adults. That seems plausible to me. Encouraging such a little boy to “transition” may result in a broken and gender-confused adult man rather than a healthy gay man.

    The trans movement is broken on so many levels, destructive in so many ways, that it’s a challenge to choose the worst thing about it.

    Agreed. I’ve said for years that “transexualism” is anti-gay.

    And ironically so intolerant. My childhood included tom boys and feminine guys. Not all of them turned out to be gay. But now if your behavior doesn’t match your biological sex … you must be the opposite sex because those are the qualities society has ascribed to the opposite sex?

    Wait. What?

    Douglas Murray makes the same point his best-selling The Madness of Crowds:  Gender, Race and Identity (2019).

    • #17
  18. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Taras (View Comment):

    Annefy (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    Interesting post on an important topic, iWe et al.

    I’ve been considering a post on several aspects of the trans movement, which I consider wrong-minded and destructive in any number of ways. Bari Weiss had an interesting interview with Andrew Sullivan recently on the topic. While I often disagree with Sullivan, I am in complete agreement with him that young kids don’t need the confusion of gender identity talk and can’t deal with the issues involved.

    I also agree that there’s an anti-gay quality to the your-kid-might-be-trans thing. Sullivan says (I haven’t checked) that many/most little boys who present (for want of a better word) as little girls when young turn out to be gay adults. That seems plausible to me. Encouraging such a little boy to “transition” may result in a broken and gender-confused adult man rather than a healthy gay man.

    The trans movement is broken on so many levels, destructive in so many ways, that it’s a challenge to choose the worst thing about it.

    Agreed. I’ve said for years that “transexualism” is anti-gay.

    And ironically so intolerant. My childhood included tom boys and feminine guys. Not all of them turned out to be gay. But now if your behavior doesn’t match your biological sex … you must be the opposite sex because those are the qualities society has ascribed to the opposite sex?

    Wait. What?

    Douglas Murray makes the same point his best-selling The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity (2019).

    I unfortunately came to the conclusion through personal experience. We’ve been dealing with the issue with a very young person in our life since 2016.

    • #18
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