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Peer Pressure
It was a long time ago… if you ask my kids, the earth was still cooling and the continents were stuck together… but I remember what it was like to be a teenager. A fat, unpopular teenager who had to ask a cousin to the senior prom.
I have ranted many times about the way boys and young men are treated by our present society. They are told their masculinity is toxic. They are told their country is something to be ashamed of, not proud of. Especially if they’re white, they’re told that everything is their fault, and they can never apologize or be sufficiently sorry about it. Few of them have fathers or father figures at home. Professions they aspire to, like cops, firemen, welders and plumbers, are sneered at. Then they’re told that the earth will burn up in ten or twelve years, and anything they do about it will never be enough. And we wonder why they commit suicide or go on shooting rampages.
I’m going to voice another unpopular opinion (I would never dare say this on Facebook). I think the increase in young men identifying as gay or trans is directly related to this. You want to go from being despised to being cool in one easy step? Come out as gay, or pick one of the other clickbait sexualities. Poof: you’re no longer the oppressor, you’re a victim.
It’s the only escape they have.
Published in General
you’re going to have to be more specific than that. And no – I ain’t clicking on your link
What “rights” are being denied ? Tell me and then we’ll talk
oh wait. Now respect is being demanded ? Mind read much? What do you care how I feel and whether or not I “respect” you if I treat you like a decent human being?
It’s the opposite of contempt. Which is what we were talking about.
Treating each other decently involves more than good manners.
Really? Please, do tell me what else is needed more than good manners? I am all ears. Because that rule has served me well for decades. And it has served well all those I’ve interacted with.
And you don’t get to demand my respect. If I behave badly, you’ve got every right to complain. But newsflash: you don’t get my respect. You earn it. And if I decide for any reason that I don’t respect you, tough. You get to complain how I behave; you don’t get to complain about how I feel.
I’m not demanding your respect. Don’t demand mine.
So many questions unanswered …
Some honesty? Some humility? Some consideration for others?
Fair call.
I think all human beings start from a position of getting some basic respect. Whether they gain or lose it after that is up to them. I just don’t think we start off in a neutral position
Just a click away.
More peer pressure:
https://www.wonkette.com/a-neo-nazi-upset-about-drag-queens-firebombed-a-church
I have no idea how you were raised, but if honesty, humility and consideration for others is not exhibited, that would fall under “bad manners”
When editing a comment, one should include the necessary parts.
The question that I am referring to is bolded above.
It’s at the link. You refuse to click on it? Fine.
The point is people can be externally polite but also (for eg) deeply dishonest in how they deal with others.
From my original comment regarding the matter:
“you’re going to have to be more specific than that. And no – I ain’t clicking on your link
What “rights” are being denied ? Tell me and then we’ll talk”
Why are you not clicking that link? What point are you making?
Edited to add:
I certainly don’t know the details of all these laws, some I would agree with, some I would think are wrong.
My point is that it’s a LOT of laws. Showing (?) a remarkable focus on this/these issue/s from both sides of the aisle.
I would like to step out on a limb here and oppose fire-bombing and shooting children regardless of whose ‘party’ the bomber/shooter happens to belong to.
More than that, I would ask whether a person crazy enough or evil enough to commit these crimes can actually be representative of anything larger than him or her (or whatever) self.
A woman pretending to be a man who kills a bunch of kids is certainly newsworthy, but this is one out of a much bigger population. How much bigger? No one knows because membership is completely voluntary and numbers are cooked to purpose.
Still, annoying as I find most trans the media subject us to, I am not persuaded their weirdness is innately murderous.
Their culture? Maybe. But I think the culture that is pushing these sprees is wider than we know and well-rooted in a generation of people.
btw, I don’t think coming out as gay has much social cache anymore.
Bi, maybe.
But trans is where the polarizing and hysteria center.
@Zafar: Comments like this make it clear why you don’t understand what “there’s no excuse for bad manners”means.
We are yesterday’s news….sigh…
Do you think both sides of politics are using it? Meaning, would it be as big a deal as it is if it wasn’t so politically useful as a polarising/motivating tool? Which is great for politics, but not so great for society.
With the JK Rowling thing, I ran into an article by a trans woman who is sympathetic to her, if not in agreeement. It ends with:
I’m at peace with my understanding of politeness.
I am deeply dishonest in how I deal with people a decent percentage of each day. So what? I am unfailingly polite to customer service people who have no idea how to competently provide service; my boss, who is suddenly bothered by spam texts and feels the need to text me to let me know whenever he has received yet another one; his wife, who has a deep disdain for the Catholic religion and finds a new challenge whenever we’re together; half the drivers in Los Angeles. Just a few examples from a very long list.
What differentiates this from dishonesty which did them harm?
Maybe? Probably? It’s doubtless pretty useful for getting campaign contributions from either side.
Within the context of school toleration/encouragement/collusion, I believe it is a fight worth having as it speaks to something more fundamental than sexual identity and self-expression.
Specifically what the hell you people (educators) think you are doing with my children.
I’m sorry. I don’t understand this.