The Womanliness Travels Backwards In Time
Further to the previous post, Charles Cooke on transgender activism and the price of indulging it:
That “as a mother” claim is utterly astonishing — a true jump-the-shark moment. Even if one were to agree with every single biological idea that is offered up by the transgender movement, there is simply no way of looking at history that could turn Don Ellis into the “mother” of the children he fathered. That Ellis is not his children’s mother is a fact, a certitude, a cosmic verity. It is true now, it was true then, it will be true forever.
I have two children. They were carried — and then delivered — by my wife. If I were to decide tomorrow that I identify as a woman, I daresay that some people would believe (or, at least, indulge me in) my fantasy. But that toleration wouldn’t — and couldn’t — change the historical fact that I did not give birth to my kids, and that I am, in fact, their dad. Perhaps, in such a strange circumstance, I would want to be my children’s mother. But I would not be so, and to say otherwise would be to tell a preposterous, revisionist lie.
The rather lively exchange mentioned by Mr Cooke can be found here, along with additional information:
Ennis (a biological male) was married to a woman and fathered three children. At the age of 49, he split with his wife of 17 years and publicly declared himself to be a woman. Ennis later went back to identifying as a man, then switched again for the third time, and currently presents as a woman.
At which point, readers may wish to ponder the assumption that Mr Ennis’ transition to an approximation of womanhood is something to applaud, and applaud wholeheartedly, as if brave but never selfish, as if such behaviour could have no hurtful consequences for others. One wonders, for instance, how the actual mother of his children feels about her erasure, her usurpation. Likewise, have his children not lost a father? Have his parents and siblings not lost someone who is, or was, as real to them as any professed identity?
Also by Mr Cooke and very much related:
I would like to know who is fooled by this. My suspicion is that almost nobody is fooled by this, but that almost everybody is scared to admit that in public.
The cost of indulging transgender activism has been illustrated here before, quite vividly.
Via Darleen.
the assumption that Mr Ennis’ transition to an approximation of womanhood is something to applaud, and applaud wholeheartedly, as if brave but never selfish, as if such behaviour could have no hurtful consequences for others.
That.
Standing for Woman
I do believe I have found a new worthy cause at which to throw some dollars. Oh, and this blog, of course – ping!
Oh, and this blog, of course – ping!
Bless you, madam. May your brie never liquify and dribble.
Right, taking father-in-law out for brunch. Back in a while.
What? David’s left the blog with no admonitions to behave?
Party time! I’ll start by not closing these tags…
That should fix things. Now, where the devil did David hide that bottle of Talisker?
Fortune favours the bold, but my eyes favour a normal font.
Children Behave!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkMFLUXTEwM
The British activist giving some stick to the big loon in a dress has a shop here: https://www.adulthumanfemale.store
I was hoping for a “fuck your pronouns’ t-shirt, but maybe later…
May your brie never liquify and dribble.
Mine host, your gourmet credentials are in arrears. That is when a Brie has just reached its orgasmic taste prime.
That is when a Brie has just reached its orgasmic taste prime.
I don’t mind a soft brie, especially when accompanied by bacon, but I draw the line when said cheese can quite literally be poured.
Mr Max demonstrates how to be Mr Minimum
Bacon?
Now I am a true believer in real bacon (as one who as a child helped home-cure sides of bacon) but, with cheese, Nah…
Sir, just imagine the exquisite pleasure of licking your fingers clean of the juiciness of an over-ripe Brie.
the exquisite pleasure of licking your fingers clean of the juiciness of an over-ripe Brie.
Prepare my galleons. We sail at dawn.
Prepare my galleons. We sail at dawn.
[ Touches forelock ]
Can ye use another gunner, m’lord?
Warm and runny brie en croute avec chanterelles et jambon…C’est magnifique!
Warm and runny brie en croute avec chanterelles et jambon…C’est magnifique!
I can donate a boatload of canister shot, David.
At the same time, the trans want to destroy the words mother, father, man, woman (a person with a beard being a woman, for example) and then desperately want to be the thing (a woman for example) that they can no longer define and whose definition they have screwed up. Sure, we are behind you 100% (sarc for the sarc challenged).
My friend had his wife leave him and their 2 kids because she decided she was a lesbian. He was just destroyed. If she had left because she hated him or couldn’t take the responsibility it would have been much easier on him.
Stilton, otoh, is best eaten with a spoon. Btw, David, where do you get the cheese used in your bar meals? (Or is it best not to know?)
Btw, David, where do you get the cheese used in your bar meals?
We milk only the finest rodents.
[ Strokes hamster. ]
Stilton, otoh, is best eaten with a spoon
The Other Half once bought some stilton that had to be wrapped in foil and placed inside a supposedly airtight container, which was then placed inside a second, supposedly airtight container, and which still stank up the fridge.
I think I may have threatened to leave home and wander the streets.
Thomas, a fifth-year senior
So, not academically inclined?
In unrelated news, these are among my regular Amazon purchases.
In unrelated news, these are among my regular Amazon purchases.
Hmmmmm…currently using el cheapo boxes of baking soda for the same purpose, but if these work well, last awhile, then they would be worth the expense. Have to see if they are available at Amazon.us.
the assumption that Mr Ennis’ transition to an approximation of womanhood is something to applaud, and applaud wholeheartedly, as if brave but never selfish, as if such behaviour could have no hurtful consequences for others.
This, with the added comment that the demands for affirmation and celebration come at the point of emotional blackmail: “If you do not affirm/celebrate/applaud my delusions, I will kill myself”. The trans mafia are using most people’s desire to be polite, civil, get along, and not hurt others against them, to great effect.
The man in the dress isn’t making a biological claim to have gestated a baby, he’s making a claim to the moral privileges of motherhood.
An immigrant who’s got their piece of paper can say “as an American, who we are is…”, and “as an American, our immigration policy should be…”. The mildest objection to this – your very presence enriches our whitebread community, your ten children and hundred grandchildren will be as American as George Washington, with the deep cultural understanding to say “who we are”, but as a recent immigrant perhaps you still have some learning to do – doesn’t matter how many concessions you make, any failure to commit fully will cast you as the redneck in the pickup.
It wouldn’t be beyond the bounds of possibility for a country’s immigration policy to grant full civil rights on a staged basis with N years of delay to adjust from the undemocratic society you grew up in, or for immigrants to be disqualified from voting on immigration issues because the conflict of interest is too obvious to be controversial. But in our current moral atmosphere, all of that would be discrimination, othering, etc. The moral blackmail: you’re treating our friend and fellow American as a second class citizen. Look him in the eye and tell him that you have more right to be here than he does.
Bringing up the banality that having roots in any country gives you the cultural basis and the moral authority to define “who we are”, you’ll get the “debunked by Snopes” tone: those rednecks in pickups think there’s some magical essence of Americanness that’s somehow conferred merely by accident of birth, rather than a freely chosen commitment to Our Values and Who We Are.
In our dominant moral atmosphere, it’s in bad taste and Not Who We Are to put any qualifications on the moral privileges we grant. If somebody is American or somebody is a woman, they expect to be unreservedly granted 100% of the associated privileges, and to quibble on the basis of paperwork at birth is seen as being hateful and low class.
but if these work well, last awhile, then they would be worth the expense.
I’m happy to recommend them, yes. Especially if someone in your household has a taste for sloppy, fermenting ghastliness.
Prepare my galleons. We sail at dawn.
The best part of the movie.
Since we’re on the subject of cheese, one of my favourites is “Barkham Blue”, a smallish, wheel-shaped blue cheese with a blue-grey rind that’s reminiscent of an ammonite in appearance. It’s not cheap, and it’s only available from certain stockists, but it is delicious and well worth the price. I heartily recommend it. And if you’re worried about potential pungency, relax. It won’t stick around long enough for the smell to become a problem. Not in my fridge, anyway.
I draw the line when said cheese can quite literally be poured.
It’s a bit runny.
My friend had his wife leave him and their 2 kids because she decided she was a lesbian. He was just destroyed. If she had left because she […] couldn’t take the responsibility
She did. The evidence is overwhelming that breaking up a family before the children reach adulthood does immeasurable damage to the children Once upon a time it was understood that “staying together for the sake of the children” was something one might end up having to do, because once you have children your prurient impulses have to take a back seat to other priorities. This is no different than the husband abandoning his family because he decided he’d rather be ****ing 20-year-old blondes.
currently using el cheapo boxes of baking soda
Baking soda doesn’t actually absorb odours. What it can do, after a fashion, is neutralize vapours that are acidic via an acid-base reaction, but even then that will only happen on the exposed surface of the baking soda (so the 1″ x 3″ area on top of the pile of soda in the box). Some food odours are acidic, but far from all, or even most. If you really want to get rid of fridge odours what you need is activated charcoal.
“If you do not affirm/celebrate/applaud my delusions, I will kill myself”
“Your terms are acceptable.” This isn’t a Mel Brooks movie.
An immigrant who’s got their piece of paper can say “as an American, who we are is…”
I’m going to reject your analogy because “American” has always been defined not by blood and soil, but by an ideal. The country’s not old enough for ethnicity or residence in a single region to define “American”.
It wouldn’t be beyond the bounds of possibility for a country’s immigration policy to grant full civil rights on a staged basis with N years of delay to adjust from the undemocratic society you grew up in
According to Mark Steyn, it took him thirteen years to become a US citizen, during which he had to pay taxes but could not vote, and could be arbitrarily deported at any time. Current US immigration law mandates a minimum of 6-7 years before an immigrant can become a US citizen, and that assumes no delays in the process (such as having to participate in the green card lottery).
What more delay would you consider appropriate?
“When it comes to people who aren’t trans, the typical motivations for immersion in trans activism’s foundational fictions seem of four main sorts. First, there’s a desire to be kind to trans people, without a lot of further thought about what that might look like. Second, there’s those who want to seem kind because of the social capital it brings these days. Third, there’s a desire to avoid ostracisation, since you know you will be socially punished if you don’t. And fourth, there’s a desire to undo human sexed categories with the power of words, because you heard from some whackjob academic that this was a coherent and politically desirable thing to aim for”
https://unherd.com/2022/03/the-fictional-world-of-trans-activism/
“american” –the US legal immigrants I know are more patriotic than most americans. One guy had to flee Iraq at night on a smuggler’s motorcycle while being shot at. While this ensued, the smuggler informed him that his last client was in fact shot.
fictions (at unherd.com): a particularly dangerous fiction is that we can simply stop using fossil fuels and renewables will fill the gap. All the testimony from engineers that the grid can’t handle intermittant sources and that batteries to handle it don’t exist are just brushed aside in favor of “I wish it therefore it is” as if we are the children in Peter Pan who can just wish ourselves to fly. Shutting down more and more pipelines, drilling, etc is now coming home to roost. It takes many months/years to start up new drilling. We are so screwed.
I may have mentioned that I have an acquaintance who is a bit of a proselytizer on electric vehicles. On one occasion when he was expounding about how we should all be driving e-cars I asked him how he felt about a new (large) dam being built in our neck of the woods. He was dead-set against it; environmental problems, indigenous claims, possible seismic risks (and so on). Altogether a bad project, in his view.
I commented that he had better support the dam project, as we would need (depending on assumptions) between eight and twelve such facilities to supply the energy required to replace gasoline consumption in the province (and so ignoring heavy diesel-powered transportation). He scornfully told me that we could make it up by “reducing inefficiency.” Going from memory, the “gasoline replacement load” represents about one-third of current electrical load – that isn’t going to be provided by efficiency improvements. But my friend will keep voting for the Greens – ‘because they can get us out of this energy mess.’
When have the Greens (official or unofficial) done anything but make the costs of living increase?
“-the US legal immigrants I know are more patriotic than most americans”
Well, I don’t know much about the American system. But I don’t have that view of Canadian legal immigrants – particularly those who identify themselves as hyphenated-Canadians. They may or may not have bothered to learn the language, may or may not interact with native Canadians. Subscribe to ethnic TV channels, shop at ethnic stores, and send their kids away for the summer holidays “back home”. The aspect of this practice that irked me the most was that many such “Canadians” would take their kids out of school two to three weeks earlier in order to get low-season airfares. School administrators would say nothing. Meanwhile my own native born Canadian kids were required to attend school until the very last day under the threat of not being allowed to graduate. Why could I not take my kids out a week or two earlier to travel around my “home country” of Canada? Election ballot instructions in 30 odd languages are a testament to how well immigrants actually integrate into Canada.
I know people will say NAIALT (not all immigrants are like that), but it is IMO a pervasive feature of Canadian immigration – and lack of enthusiastic support immediately brands you a racist (or worse)
a particularly dangerous fiction is that we can simply stop using fossil fuels and renewables will fill the gap.
and
I may have mentioned that I have an acquaintance who is a bit of a proselytizer on electric vehicles.
If I were Lord Vetinari, all these “green” fools would be last in line when there is a shortage of energy (or any natural resource). Analogous treatment for those who coddle criminals.
it is IMO a pervasive feature of Canadian immigration
No O about it – Canadian official immigration policy is “multiculturalism”. Immigrants are not required to, encouraged to, or given any incentive to assimilate. Nor could they if they wanted to, as Canada by design has no national identity.
If I were Lord Vetinari
And yet people scoff when I say Pratchett is a typical British statist authoritarian who writes apologetics for same in the guise of fantasy books for children.
He scornfully told me that we could make it up by “reducing inefficiency.”
If Greens knew anything at all about engineering they wouldn’t be Greens.
If Greens knew anything at all about engineering they wouldn’t be Greens.
I know several engineers who are Greens. Makes me wonder if they know anything about engineering.
And yet people scoff when I say Pratchett is a typical British statist authoritarian who writes apologetics for same…
Sigh. Still beating that dead horse?
For a statist authoritarian, Vetinari rules with an astonishingly light hand.
“I’m sure we can pull together, sir.”
Lord Vetinari raised his eyebrows. “Oh, I do hope not, I really do hope not. Pulling together is the aim of despotism and tyranny. Free men pull in all kinds of directions.” He smiled. “It’s the only way to make progress.”
I apologize, everybody. In future I will try to remember to say “if I were king” rather than “if I were Vetinari”.
I know several engineers who are Greens.
That’s a scary thought.
Then again I once worked in a office filled with geophysicist PHds who believed gasoline prices were high so G.W. Bush could help out his friends in the oil business.
A year later when oil prices had cratered, I asked them if they knew why Bush wanted to screw over his friends.
There was no answer, only awkward silence.
I wasn’t very popular there.
That’s a scary thought.
One of them was a next door neighbour. Bought an electric car, put solar panels on the roof (we live in Canada), changed his entire roof line on the house so the windows maximized sun exposure etc., etc. Like so many of these Greens, he doesn’t understand cost/benefit or the implications of scale–even with the subsidies his solar set up will never pay for itself. He doesn’t care about what pushing his power into the grid does to the grid etc. His worship at the altar of global warming is something else to behold.
He scornfully told me that we could make it up by “reducing inefficiency.”
Any time I hear “efficiency” touted, my first thought is to ask myself whether the messenger has any understanding of or regard for effectiveness.
he doesn’t understand cost/benefit
I imagine even if he did, it wouldn’t deter your neighbor, rather he would be proud to use his money to satisfy his religious yearnings. It’s a kind of Tithe, you see.
Also, Steve E, I don’t know where you and your neighbor live in Canada, but if it is anything like the Pacific NW, trying to satisfy our energy needs from the Sun is especially pointless.
And yes, there are many here in the land of no-sun, who have spent a small fortune on solar panels, electric cars etc.
To badly paraphrase the Great Oscar, One would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at the futility of it all.
The human religious impulse is indeed powerful.
Also, Steve E, I don’t know where you and your neighbor live in Canada
The western end of Lake Ontario. So in winter, between the snow and the early sunsets, there isn’t really much point to them. Built-in heaters and cleaners take almost as much energy to run as the panels generate.
I did have some fun with him though. I faked a mailer from the city that explained how our street had been chosen for a pilot project to plant mature trees (30 feet tall) on the boulevard to replace the ash trees lost to the emerald ash borer. That would effectively put his solar panels in perpetual shade during the summer. He was gullible enough to call the city.
Oh, and the local wild life took to building nests on his roof under the solar panels. That was fun too.
There was no answer, only awkward silence.
When I was young I believed the myth that PhD’s were Superior Beings.
And yes, there are many here in the land of no-sun, who have spent a small fortune on solar panels, electric cars etc.
Just the other day I drove by a house which had solar panels on the North and West sides of the roof. Latitude about 40 North. [ Rolls eyes. ]
solar panels on the North and West sides
Ready for the Great Magnetic Pole Flip?
Efficiency: there is an increase in efficiency with time purely because efficiency also saves money BUT it does not compensate for destabilizing the grid. The shortfall if everyone went electric would be massive.
Firemen are very reluctant to go up on your roof during a fire if you have solar panels–they can get electrocuted.
Engineers in many cases know one very narrow field such as motors or materials or lasers. It may not affect their religion (climate change)
Steve Wilhite, creator of the GIF file format, has died.
“would like to know who is fooled by this. My suspicion is that almost nobody is fooled by this, but that almost everybody is scared to admit that in public.”
I don’t know who is fooled by it. I am not. I am not afraid to admit that, but as I have exited the corporate world and rarely have an opportunity to interact with such degenerates, it hasn’t come up.
My suspicion is that almost nobody is fooled by this
Likely enough. Certain kinds of people have an almost infinite capacity for embracing lies. One set of lies this week, a different contradictory set of lies next week, according to the vagaries of the political culture. (The constantly changing lies are just one clue.) And they will invent or parrot rationalizations until they forget that they are lying.
I knew a father of two who transitioned to female. No longer “Father”, but never claimed to be mother, or even “co-mother”. The person was thereafter addressed by the children as “Aunt —-“.
This seemed to me be a reasonable solution to an awkward situation.
(BTW, “Aunt —-” was a very well-paid software developer, who continued to pay all the bills.)
(BTW, “Aunt —-” was a very well-paid software developer, who continued to pay all the bills.)
I wonder about the psychological effects of their father’s trans disease.